Black Grief and Healing: Why We Need to Talk About Health Inequality, Trauma, and Loss, edited by Yansie Rolston and Patrick Vernon, is an essential and deeply impactful exploration of the intersection between grief, health inequality, and trauma within the Black community. This powerful collection of essays highlights how systemic racism and social injustices disproportionately affect the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of Black individuals and communities, often leaving grief and trauma unaddressed or compounded.

The editors and contributing authors provide an in-depth examination of how loss—whether through police violence, historical oppression, or generational trauma—impacts the health and healing of Black people. The book shines a light on the often overlooked aspects of health care and mental health support, focusing on the gaps in resources and understanding for Black communities who are dealing with grief and loss. By incorporating personal accounts, historical context, and critical insights, Black Grief and Healing challenges readers to confront the uncomfortable realities of health inequality and trauma, while also calling for meaningful action and change.

What makes this book particularly compelling is its focus on healing, not just as a personal journey, but as a collective process. The authors advocate for creating spaces where Black individuals and communities can engage in dialogue, find support, and access healing practices that acknowledge their unique experiences. This includes exploring therapeutic methods that are culturally appropriate, as well as the role of community solidarity in overcoming grief.

Black Grief and Healing is a vital read for anyone interested in understanding the broader implications of health inequality, trauma, and loss, especially within marginalized communities. It is an invitation to engage in a conversation that is often ignored but desperately needed. This book serves as a reminder that healing, both individual and collective, is essential to dismantling the systems that perpetuate grief and suffering.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This is a broad and great collection of writing with very touching poems. The text accompanying poems helped to contextualise some potentially personal moments to the authors such as how/why Michael Hamilton’s daughter died. The notes at the end of each chapter are great but the highlights somewhat confused me although I understand it's the editor trying to make important things stick out in our minds. I thought that providing useful organisations and resources at the end is great especially for such an emotionally charged book.

Highly recommended

Black Grief and Healing" is a necessary read for those looking to understand the deep-seated challenges faced by Black communities and the importance of healing.It does a great job addressing the critical issues of health inequality, trauma, and loss.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for approval.

Black Grief and Healing delivers on its premise. This is a collection of stories and poems about collective black grief. The representation is rich and the causes of black grief, the systematic discrimination and unfair practices are discussed via the stories and poems. It is informative and engaging.

I genuinely feel this is one of the most important books that will come out this year. The grief as talked about here is overlooked in our society and racism impacts grief a lot. The essays offer many perspectives and talk about many types of grief and how they overlap for the Black community. I recommended white people to read this too but to reflect on this respectfully, bearing in mind that we are here to learn but this is not written for us, and this space is not ours.

A timely and important book that centers Black grief.

Powerful, informative, sensitively written - highly recommended reading for everyone.

Thank you very much to NetGalley & the publisher for access to this e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Grief is a strange thing. There is no true way to heal from the shock of losing a loved one, and the grieving process cannot be done linearly. However, the importance of sharing those experiences cannot be underestimated, especially as a Black person in the diaspora, to feel less alone. Black Grief and Healing does exactly that. An anthology of stories and poems, it delves deeper into the experiences of people from all walks of life, who have lost loved ones and how that has impacted them and their families. All this against the backdrop of systematic racism, the onslaught of COVID and more. Definitely a book to read if you are interested in any of these themes.