Letter to Nell Painter

Dear Nell Painter,
I loved reading your essay, Soul Murder. I was especially intrigued by the balance you struck between  acknowledging the hurt and trauma experienced by enslaved people and acknowledging the ways in which they aimed to rise above it. In other words, you, perhaps more than any author I've ever read, humanize the enslaved. Your essay gives a nuanced view of enslaved communities, showing that slaves experienced trauma just as abused and neglected people now do, and yet were able to band together to collectively begin to heal, again just as abused and neglected people do now.

As someone who has never faced the forms of trauma you discuss, I am consistently shocked when I read about the consistent fear and abuse inherent to life as an enslaved individual. You discuss these issues with a tone of compassion that is sorely lacking in so many essays, novels, and conversations on slavery. As painful as it was to read your essay, it was also refreshing to view the collective trauma of slavery in terms of modern psychology. It gives important insight into not only the hurt of slavery, but also the potential for collective healing.
Molly Culhane