Chanequa Walker-Barnes
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drchanequa.bsky.social
Chanequa Walker-Barnes
@drchanequa.bsky.social
6.9K followers 600 following 520 posts
Psychologist, theologian, wellness activist, recovering StrongBlackWoman. I write about spirituality, wellness, & justice.
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drchanequa.bsky.social
A lot of us think we already know the answer to that.
June 22, 2025 at 1:14 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
160 years later, we’re still trying to make freedom a reality for everyone. Because as our beloved ancestor Fannie Lou Hamer taught us, “None of us are free til all of us are free.”

#juneteenth #juneteenth2025
June 19, 2025 at 11:53 AM
drchanequa.bsky.social
White progressives, y’all. Still up to the same old racist foolishness.

Cue the same-old excuses for an all-White conference lineup.
June 4, 2025 at 4:12 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
This is why I love bookstores and libraries. A @barnesandnoble.com staff member just spent a solid 15 minutes searching the store for a book that I need for my research. He and another team member came to the cafe to deliver it after they found it.
Deb Dana's book, "Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory"
May 21, 2025 at 3:38 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
Under this death-dealing regime it will be easier to equip a semiautomatic weapon to fire faster and harder to qualify for a COVID vaccine. Don’t ever believe the lie that they are pro-life.
May 20, 2025 at 4:53 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
A blessing for #MothersDay
Mother’s Day Blessing Blessings of joy for those who celebrate mothering and being mothered. Blessings of comfort for those who mourn the mothers who loved them and who have suffered the loss of children. Blessings of healing for those who live with the pain of hurt, abuse, and abandonment by their mothers, and for those whose pain and trauma prevents them from being good mothers. Blessings of fulfillment for those whose desire to be mothers has not been met. Blessings of peace for those who mother under the threat of war and violence. Blessings of abundant love, wisdom, and fortitude to all who bear the sacred responsibility of mothering. @drchanequa
May 11, 2025 at 12:23 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
Twenty years into my #selfcare journey, I’m working to unlearn some unhealthy messages about rest. open.substack.com/pub/drchaneq...
Quote from “Rest Is Resistance” by Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes at drchanequa.substack.com: “Many of us have been taught that rest is a reward for work. We are taught that both by capitalism and by our religious communities.”
April 30, 2025 at 3:30 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
Today I taught a 3 hour workshop on wellness and self-care to a group of psychologists. It was the training that I needed when I started my graduate program 30 years ago. I’m so grateful for the work that I get to do. #TherapistSky
PowerPoint title slide for “Psychologist, Heal Thyself: Being Well While Meeting the Needs of Others” by Chanequa Walker-Barnes, PhD
April 27, 2025 at 6:23 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
This trade war is further proof of the US’s failure to learn what Dr. King tried to teach us. We cannot succeed at the expense of the rest of the world, at least not long term.
Statue of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at the national memorial in Washington, DC, with text reading: ““We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.-Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”
April 9, 2025 at 6:53 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
Black people, especially Black women, have been carrying the fight for democracy and human rights on our backs for too long. It’s time for others to step up. This Saturday’s protests around the country are a good place to start if you haven’t been engaged. #HandsOff handsoff2025.com
Flyer for Atlanta location Hands Off protest to be held Saturday, April 5, starting at 12:30 at Piedmont Park with a 1pm march to the GA State Capitol, and then a 2:30 rally at Liberty Plaza.
April 3, 2025 at 12:42 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
Book cover for Courtney Thorsson’s “The Sisterhood: How a Network of Black Women Writers Changed American Culture,” which features an iconic photo with Vertamae Grosvenor, Alice Walker, Lori Sharpe, Toni Morrison, June Jordan, Nana Maynard, Ntozake Shange, and Audreen Ballard.
March 29, 2025 at 12:38 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
“He’s not really a Nazi. She’s not really a racist.” open.substack.com/pub/drchaneq...
Quote card: "It seems like everyday I read or hear some White person making excuses for their MAGA-loving kinfolk. I've been hearing the excuses since 2008 when the election of a biracial Black man to the presidency triggered a full-fledged meltdown among a large swath of White people. The excuses are always the same" Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes Tired of White Excuses DRCHANEQUA.SUBSTACK.COM
March 21, 2025 at 5:13 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
New post up at open.substack.com/pub/drchaneq...
Promo image for post at DrChanequa.substack.com titled “Tired of White Excuses.” Subtitle reads “Stop trying to make excuses for your racist kinfolk.” Background has image of White people at a street protest in an urban area. Protesters are wearing COVID-style masks. One carries a sign saying, “End white silence. Call out your racist friends and family.” Another carries a sign saying: “How long must we make P.O.C. wait for change?”
March 16, 2025 at 1:01 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
This is why White supremacy culture places so much emphasis on conformity. It’s all about conforming to the racial contract.
Determined in this way, whiteness became a matter not only of skin color and heritage, but also of conformity to community recognition and racial performance, particularly conformity to White middle-class ideals. As a performative identity, whiteness became "something that [had] to be acted out and constantly reproduced in everyday life." At the microlevel, therefore, European immigrants engaged in the quotidian project of proving themselves White by conforming to White cultural aesthetics, norms, interests, patterns of communication, dietary preferences, and so on. In other words, they proved themselves White by acting White. Chanequa Walker-Barnes I Bring the Voices of My People: A Womanist Vision for Racial Reconciliation (Prophetic Christianity (PC)) In essence, White culture is deeply concerned about fitting in both racially and socioeconomically. Failure to conform to the hegemonic ideals, after all, would jeopardize one's racial categorization, possibly putting one on the "wrong" side of the racial contract. Chanequa Walker-Barnes I Bring the Voices of My People: A Womanist Vision for Racial Reconciliation (Prophetic Christianity (PC))
March 12, 2025 at 5:45 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
White folks have really got to stop infantilizing and excusing their kin. That’s what got us here.
Screenshot of Substack comment by Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes, saying: “There really aren’t many White evangelicals who are also Christian. And that’s not a new development.” Screenshot of response to previous comment with respondent’s name blacked out: “Not true. Many don’t follow politics, many are deluded because they live in an echo chamber of right wing news seduced by culture issues. Most truly are Christians, just very misguided.”
March 3, 2025 at 10:40 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
From www.cnn.com/2025/02/28/b...
Screenshot from CNN article: “Although the response online appears to be strongest from the political left, Schwarz has no ideology that could be considered consistently progressive or conservative, at least along the traditional US political spectrum. He does not belong to either political party, but he supports Bernie Sanders. In recent posts, has advocated for the end of federal income tax, term limits in Congress, universal health care and price caps.”
March 1, 2025 at 1:38 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
Reminder
February 28, 2025 at 2:55 AM
drchanequa.bsky.social
I start each day by setting an intention. This one has been on repeat for the past week. It reminds me to do what I can, to accept my limitations, and to take care of myself. It works for justice and for life in general.
Decorative image of tabletop with writing utensils, tape, and a piece of light pink paper with the message: “I am present to what is possible, what is needed, and what is life-giving in this moment. @drchanequa”
February 19, 2025 at 7:40 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
Be sure to follow the authors in the first installment of my Black Women Teach Us series: @revdrmonica.bsky.social, @ynpierce.bsky.social, @pamelalightsey.bsky.social, @candicebenbow.bsky.social, @unfitchristian.com.

open.substack.com/pub/drchaneq...
QUOTE CARD FROM SUBSTACK "Womanist theologians approach scripture, Christian doctrine, and church polity in the “outrageous, audacious, courageous or willful” way that Walker writes about in her definition. We ask aloud the questions that other Christians repress or struggle with silently. We talk back to scripture as well as to people in political and religious power." Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes Black Women Teach Us to Decolonize Our Theology drchanequa.substack.com
February 14, 2025 at 1:35 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
We have to ask ourselves what limitations to our collective freedom we’re willing to accept. And then we have to hold fast to our boundaries.
Quote of the day from Insight Timer featuring words from Tara Brach: “The boundary to what we can accept is the boundary to our freedom.”
February 8, 2025 at 1:05 AM
drchanequa.bsky.social
The Woke Christian Creed is for those of us who take seriously Jesus's call to stay awake and to care for our neighbors as we care for ourselves.

Link to full text in comments

#StayWoke #WokeChristianity #TheGreatCommandment #LoveYourNeighbor
February 5, 2025 at 7:19 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
JUST RELEASED: guided meditation on surviving and thriving during this season of anxiety and uncertainty (links in thread)

#meditation #mindfulness #mentalhealth #emotionalhealth #anxiety #stressmanagement #SelfCare #SacredSelfCare
January 26, 2025 at 4:34 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
It’s okay to rest in this moment. In fact, it’s necessary. #selfcare #SacredSelfCare #Rest #justice

open.substack.com/pub/drchaneq...
January 20, 2025 at 10:14 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
And will Meta buying it become the way that he “saves” it? www.threads.net/@luvvie/post...
January 18, 2025 at 1:02 PM
drchanequa.bsky.social
I feel short on hope these days, but I found a glimpse of it in this article by Robert Reich

open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
Substack quote card from article by Robert Reich entitled, Can the Muskrat Shut Down the United States Government?” from robertreich.substack.com. Text reads: “A billionaire wielding his influence over the rest of us proves we are in a Second Gilded Age. But there may be a silver lining to this Gilded Age cloud. The lesson of the First Gilded Age is that when concentrated wealth, corruption, and ensuing hardship for average working Americans become so blatant that they offend the values of the majority of us, we rise up and demand real, systemic change.”
December 23, 2024 at 12:28 PM