In the same ways that we have to reckon with the transgenerational trauma of our history in the West, White people must also reckon with the trauma of complicity when it comes to the brutality that exists in their own bloodlines. The ability to enslave a whole group of people, to enjoy meals and laugh with their children as other humans are lynched from trees, undeniably created a multi-generational hardening of their own capacity for empathy and benevolence. This translates into being able to watch video after video of Black people being blatantly and obviously brutalized and still comfortably go about one's merry day. Meanwhile, Black folks continue to grip—though with less and less earnestness—our ace in the hole that wins every game, every time: our humanity.

— Black Joy by Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts (Page 109)