In the first part of the book “Decolonizing Wealth, Indigenous wisdom to heal divides and restore balance,” labeled “Where It Hurts,” Villanueva gave us some of the problems and how to identify what is often overlooked as a problem because it is hidden in forms of colonialism. In the second part of the book “How We Heal,” he gives us seven steps to healing. But before getting to the list we need to consider a few more concepts.
Leadership. there are many styles of leadership, but most are colonial in that they focus on the individual leader, his/her actions, position, and/or charisma and separate the leader from the followers. Business has been at the forefront of innovations of leadership and some of those Villanueva lists: “The lesson is that thriving is not actually about the leader, its about the whole flock. Everyone has the potential to lead, and leadership is about listening and being attuned to everyone else. It’s about flexibility. It’s about humility. It’s about trust. Its about having fun along the way. It is more about holding space for others’ brilliance than being the sole source of answers, more about flexible shape-shifting to meet the oncoming challenges than holding fast to a five-year strategic plan…[we need to move] away from the colonized hierarchical pyramid structure, with its command-and-control leadership”.
The opposite of either/or is Both/and. In the author’s experience many Lumbee are both Christian and believe in traditional indigenous healing. Quoting a Lumbee elder “‘Blending Native tradition with Christianity made it possible to move through both worlds. There was not a rejection—it was not either/or—it was both/and. The both/and mindset influenced just about everything in the way I was raised within our clan. I think the word mutual captures it…Mutual means that both sides have something to offer, and that’s what is true.’” With reference to studies on this issue the elder claimed that those who could live with a both/and attitude to the two worlds suffered less alcoholism than those who adopted one and not the other. For the author, “Being native means living in the complex space where worlds meet. Members of native American tribes literally hold dual nationalities: first as citizens of their Native nation, and second as citizens of the United States…[we can work and thrive in the colonizer’s world] At the same time we’ve still got a connection to the land we’ve always lived on, to the places where our ancestors are buried, to our songs and our medicine.” Integration not assimilation. Assimilation is destructive; it forces an either/or choice. “‘Integration means we can lift up what we have. At the same time, we bring in what is needed’”.
In order to heal we need to understand what it is we are healing from. Trauma is what we all need healing from. Following on the work of Gabor Maté, Villanueva quotes “‘Trauma not terrible things that happen from the other side-those are traumatic. But the trauma is the very separation from the body and emotions.’ …Becoming reconnected—overcoming the mindset of separation—is how humans heal from trauma.”
One way that we do not heal is through revolution. Villanueva is very clear that in the debate between reform versus revolution he falls in the reform side. “I believe there are parts of the system worth holding on to. the both/and stance is how Native Americans have survived colonization. Evolution occurs both by holding onto the adaptations that keep us thriving, and also abandoning the elements that keep us from thriving.” The following steps were presented in the book as the steps to decolonize philanthropy but there is a universal element that can be applied in many fields of decolonization.
Step 1: Grieve
We all need to grieve the trauma of losing our connection to the land. Indigenous peoples are just the most obvious to have suffered this uprooting but the colonizer has too. The colonizers have been uprooted and the pain that this caused them has been imposed on others. But unlike many indigenous who recognize this alienation most white settlers are unaware of the intergenerational trauma they are experiencing and continue to inflict on others. Most are unaware of the apparent compensation that white privilege confers and that it does not make up for a rootlessness, fear, anxiety that come with separation and lack of belonging. “White people have to grieve the guilt that accompanies whiteness. You cannot and must not opt out of whiteness. You have to grapple with the messiness of the privilege….Settlers and their descendants have to grieve the lives of their ancestors, the culture that made their acts of domination and exploitation even imaginable, possible, and acceptable… [this is not a popular position in indigenous circles, but] the Native principle of All My Relations means that settlers are our relatives too. It means our interdependence is inescapable, so we may as well acknowledge each other’s trauma and engage in healing together.” In this sense everyone who settles in the Americas is an orphan whether your family arrived 500 years ago of 5 days ago lured “by the promise of work, wealth, and the American dream.”
“[T]he point of recognizing the victimization of perpetrators is not to excuse, forgive, or in any way diminish the destructiveness of their actions, but rather to develop an accurate understanding of how oppression works, how it is sustained and recreated over generations, how to end it.” we all need to grieve
Step 2: Apologize
A good apology can involve words but does not have to. “Apologizing turns us from the inward focus of grief, outward to the Others who were harmed….Apologizing requires that white people of wealth snap out of their paralyzing white fragility and guilt,…It requires that people of color and Indigenous people dismantle their internalized oppression and admit that they too were infected by the colonizer virus.” When notions of reconciliation follow the colonizer mindset of divide, control, and exploit they have been corrupted and this can happen, for example, when revenge is the goal or result of actions. It is also important to note that an apology does not entitle the apologizer to forgiveness or reconciliation, but it is a necessary step.
Step 3: Listen
Listening is a conversation about “us”; a monologue would be about helping “them”. “good listening includes being: [1] Open: not predetermining the appropriate content of communications [2] Empathetic: truly inviting in and making space for the feelings and wisdom of the speaker [3] Holistic: including what is said in ways that do not use words…. Replace advice with openness and curiosity.”
Step 4: Relate
Relating means prioritizing relationships. Most business and organizations focus on transactions rather than relationships. “To prioritize relationships means that cultivating strong authentic, caring human connection is valued over and above returns on investments and measurable results. It means recognizing that rather than cash, relationships are an institution’s greatest asset, even for one that is focused on money.” This often means we need to change architecture, layout, colours, strategic plans, and organizational design. Good relationships make resilient organizations – whereas transaction-based organizations survive at the whim of the market.
Step 5: Represent
The people who one servers in a financial institution should be represented at every level of the organization. “Those who are truly intentional about the work of healing from decolonization understand that representation of people of color alone is not sufficient—the outcome is simply token diversity. We must go beyond representation to sharing ownership and full inclusion.”
Step 6: Invest
Ethical investing means that you invest in decolonization. Foundations in the US need to give away at least 5% of their wealth each year but the other 95% should be transparently invested in mission-related investing. Never should the foundation benefit from the problem they are trying to solve.
Step 7: Repair
“Reparations are due….Poverty is the product of public policy and theft, facilitated by white supremacy.” After a long list [page161-2] of created and manufactured hardships that have worked to move wealth and privilege to the dominant white culture, Villanueva points out that in any white justice system restitution is an established legal principle that also should be applied equally to non-whites. This is the last step; the step that would bring closure to centuries of harm and imbalance.