ABSTRACT
We live in a world with a legacy of untreated trauma from harmful systems that shape how we see ourselves and each other, and how we lead, work, and learn. This legacy shapes us all – Black, Brown, Indigenous, White – and has led us to racialize universal human emotions within some and demonize those whose emotions were racialized. To heal from this legacy, I created Emotional Justice, a visionary roadmap and framework for racial healing. It names this legacy, identifies the untreated trauma, and reassigns humanity and emotionality to what has become a racialized emotionality. Narrative has been a huge part of racializing emotions in an effort to dehumanize some and then target them with ongoing violence. The Emotional Justice roadmap identifies and breaks down how this racializing of universal human emotions manifests and hinders our healing. The framework also names the emotional as structural, highlights the toll of this legacy, and breaks down how narrative continues to shape us. Crucially, it offers us the opportunity for fresh narrative to support our healing, inviting readers to revel in the Emotional Justice love languages I have developed. These languages offer the world tools to unlearn a narrative that has shaped us all, helping us to develop a sustainable practice that closes the door on racialized emotions and opens us up to a global healing that is centred on humanity.
