Trauma and Social Change

I have been thinking a lot lately about the trauma in our communities. I believe that our communities have the right to make decisions and create solutions for our communities. I do not believe that people outside the communities should be trying to implement their own solutions to our problems (even if they created the problem). I do however believe that they can provide us some advice and training, though both should ad to out knowledge not brainwash us.

What concerns me is the legacy of trauma. Oppression and colonialism have left their marks much deeper than infrastructure. Our families are or can be seriously fucked up.

Drug Abuse: Pick your favorite: Alcohol, Crack, Cocaine (less often), Meth, Heroin, and Weed. Anyone addicted to a these substances (I'm talking real addiction-life consuming) is going to have a difficult time, creating solutions to problems within our community. The harm of drug addiction is not necessarily the altered state of mind as much as the lack of love, for oneself, and ones community and family. Why are we addicted to drugs?

Well there is the introduction to our community through various contact with the oppressor, and then there is the issue of self medication. We are self medicating for the fucked up shit that happened. We have lost our family and friends at alarming rates from the beginning of colonization until now; due to genocide, slavery, disease, poverty, abuse, addiction and suicide.

Any combination or by themselves these things will harm your perception of yourself, how you treat others, and how you raise your children. Once you are messed up in the head its hard not to pass on that messed upness to your children, and have it mess with your relationships and friendships. Not to say this is a barrier to productive and positive social change but how do we combine the services NEEDED and the organizing NECESSARY to create change? If we have been hurt by others, why will we want to help them? I'm not talking in the broader since, like forgive white supremacy, but just within our own communities. Sometimes we hate and i mean hate some of our community members, because they abused or caused pain to us or someone we know. We think they DESERVE what they got (ie prison, addiction, poverty etc) How do we deal with the hate we hold for each other?

all of these are so intertwined....