About Systemic Oppression
Systemic oppression began long ago -- Those of us alive today were born into systems of oppression which historically and currently unjustly benefit some and marginalize others. Systems of oppression remain interwoven into all social systems, and tend to be invisible to those who benefit from such systems.
At the root, systemic oppression is about disconnection from our essence, our human dignity, and the sacred nature of interconnectedness and kinship with all beings and with earth. This fundamental disconnection is a symptom of trauma and is harmful for everyone.
Each of our well-being is irrevocably connected with the well-being of the whole, and our healing journeys are intertwined.
At the root, systemic oppression is about disconnection from our essence, our human dignity, and the sacred nature of interconnectedness and kinship with all beings and with earth. This fundamental disconnection is a symptom of trauma and is harmful for everyone.
Each of our well-being is irrevocably connected with the well-being of the whole, and our healing journeys are intertwined.
"Love and justice are not two. Without inner change, there can be no outer change; without collective change, no change matters."
--Reverend angel Kyodo williams
All of us live inside a world shaped by power, by history, and by systems of harm. This page names those systems, not to create separation or blame, but to deepen understanding—and to support liberation for all beings.
We live within overlapping systems of oppression that condition how we see, feel, move, and relate. These include but are not limited to:
These are felt realities in our nervous systems, communities, and ancestral lines. These systems show up in how we breathe under pressure, how we shut down when conflict arises, how we numb, dissociate, overwork, or control.
As a white-bodied practitioner, I am not exempt from these systems. I benefit from many of them. My practice is not about escape—it is about staying with the complexity, and learning how to turn towards what is happening and to feel more, not less.
This work is about increasing capacity to be with discomfort, grief, and collective truth as well as with greater connection, Earth wisdom, and joy. It’s about choosing presence over perfection, repair over avoidance, and aliveness over control.
Embodied witnessing is a form of social transformation because it helps us unlearn the conditioning of supremacy, rehumanize one another, and make room for liberatory futures.
Note: This is a living framework. I am committed to ongoing learning, unlearning, and staying responsive to the teachings, critiques, and realities shared by those most impacted by systemic oppression.
We live within overlapping systems of oppression that condition how we see, feel, move, and relate. These include but are not limited to:
- The system of white supremacy, which falsely positions whiteness as the norm and devalues cultures, bodies, and cosmologies of the global majority.
- Patriarchy, which distorts relational power and disconnects all genders from full emotional and embodied expression.
- Colonialism, which displaces people, knowledge, and land—and continues today through extractive economies and erased histories.
- Extractive Capitalism, which reduces human life to productivity and worthiness to profit.
- Ableism, heteronormativity, ageism, classism, and cissexism, which create systemic violence for anyone who exists outside dominant norms.
These are felt realities in our nervous systems, communities, and ancestral lines. These systems show up in how we breathe under pressure, how we shut down when conflict arises, how we numb, dissociate, overwork, or control.
As a white-bodied practitioner, I am not exempt from these systems. I benefit from many of them. My practice is not about escape—it is about staying with the complexity, and learning how to turn towards what is happening and to feel more, not less.
This work is about increasing capacity to be with discomfort, grief, and collective truth as well as with greater connection, Earth wisdom, and joy. It’s about choosing presence over perfection, repair over avoidance, and aliveness over control.
Embodied witnessing is a form of social transformation because it helps us unlearn the conditioning of supremacy, rehumanize one another, and make room for liberatory futures.
Note: This is a living framework. I am committed to ongoing learning, unlearning, and staying responsive to the teachings, critiques, and realities shared by those most impacted by systemic oppression.
My Identities
I receive unearned privilege within systems of oppression and domination related to my identities racialized as white, cis-gender female, heterosexual, and able-bodied. My ancestral roots are English, Irish, Scottish, German and Cherokee.
Being the change I wish to see in the world requires:
My ongoing commitment is to increase my capacity to perceive oppressive systems which shape the spaces I inhabit, speak to what I see, and act in ways that dismantle collective trauma-fueled systems of oppression and contribute energy towards living systems that benefit all beings.
Being the change I wish to see in the world requires:
- continuing to learn to recognize external and internalized systems of oppression
- willingness to learn in public
- willingness to make mistakes
- willingness to receive feedback
- humility, knowing there are things I don't know that I don't know
- offer my loving attention to what is unfolding locally, in our world, with our Earth
- regularly advance my learning about systemic oppression, collective healing, and related subjects
- integrating what I am learning and bringing it into my daily life, relationships, and work
- directing and re-directing myself to embody a trauma healing process - recognition, re-alignment, repair, restoration
- connecting and collaborating within a community movement of of healers, change-makers, activists, leaders, and creators, who share these perceptions and commitments
- continuing to dive into my family's history related to being racialized "white" along with how my various lineages adapted and survived, so I can draw on their strengths and move into right relation.
My ongoing commitment is to increase my capacity to perceive oppressive systems which shape the spaces I inhabit, speak to what I see, and act in ways that dismantle collective trauma-fueled systems of oppression and contribute energy towards living systems that benefit all beings.
