Giving Compass' Take:

• Marlon Peterson writes on his own painful experiences, ancestry and how he learned to not let his past traumas define him. 

• What really makes trauma traumatic? How can funders work to address the unique complications of abuse in the black community? 

• Here's how trauma-informed design can help promote safety and empowerment.

I celebrated the 10th anniversary of my release from a New York prison in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. I was there to participate in The Year of Return, a countrywide commemoration of the 400 years since the first Africans were trafficked to the British colony now known as Virginia.

Yes, I went to Afrochella. But on December 23—10 years to the day that I left prison—I was compelled to visit the Cape Coast Castle, a trading post and fort where Europeans brutally warehoused thousands of Africans and exported them to unknown lands. I walked through this door of no return because I needed to feel the spirit of resistance and be in community with the beauty of my ancestors who found ways to survive the ugliness of white people and their growing system of anti-black racism.

But my time in Ghana also forced me to consider how I was caring for my own freedom. Since serving a decade in prison for a crime I committed as a teenager, I’ve done countless presentations for youth. I’ve published numerous essays and delivered a bunch of keynotes, including a TED Talk with a million views. I also have a podcast, Decarcerated, where I interview people who have spent time in prison about their journeys to success.

But I have come to realize that there is a hidden cost to my work: my identity.

Read the full article about past traumas by Marlon Peterson at The Marshall Project.