ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on where there is spiritual union with other people, the love one feels for them keeps the circle unbroken and the bonds between us and them strong, whether they are dead or alive. Healing inner wounds makes reconciliation possible. Reconciliation is one of the authors' favorite words. The very word serves as a constant reminder in her life that we can come together with those who have hurt us, with those whom we have caused pain, and experience sweet communion. This powerful legacy, handed down by generations of caring black women, was undermined by contemporary black liberation struggles that devalued these women's legacy. The inability of the sixtie's struggle for black liberation to fundamentally transform this society by ending racism created a lot of despair in the minds and hearts of black people. If we forgive in words but continue to harbor secret resentment, nothing really changes. When forgiveness happens the groundwork for reconciliation is possible.
