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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does an embedded trauma response in the body manifest itself as?

2. What does Menakem hope to help people with in respect to their bodies throughout the book, as he outlines it in Chapter 2?

3. What part of our brain is similar to that of birds and lizards?

4. What is one main message behind micro-aggressions?

5. At the very end of Chapter 7, what does Menakem remind white people that whiteness does NOT equal?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did white Europeans treat each other centuries ago?

2. What do people often think of when they hear the phrase white supremacy, and what is the reality of the situation, according to Menakem?

3. What is one of the many paradoxes of race that Menakem mentions in Chapter 5?

4. Why will some people never be able to see Black bodies as "unarmed," according to Menakem?

5. What does our "lizard brain" mostly account for, according to Menakem?

6. What are micro-aggressions?

7. In Chapter 5, what does Menakem's mother sometimes say about skin color that aggravates him?

8. How does Menakem define the Jim Crow era?

9. What historical factor does Menakem argue white-body supremacy in America is linked to?

10. When does Menakem say our concepts of whiteness, Blackness, and race were invented?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the effect of the false perception that Black skin, and Black bodies, are somehow less sensitive to pain and injury than white skin and white bodies, according to Menakem? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

How does Menakem argue that the trauma white Europeans experienced centuries ago is related to white-body supremacy in America today? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

How does Menakem's nephew Xavier's encounter with the police in Chapter 8 affect his and his family's perceptions of police treatment of Black bodies? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

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