Submerged. On Healing from Abuse While Navigating a Lifetime of Imprisonment
Sheena King
Synopsis "Submerged. On Healing from Abuse While Navigating a Lifetime of Imprisonment"
Fearless honesty. Deep despair. Resilient discovery. Profound forgiveness. Revolutionary hope and liberation.
Submerged is the story of one woman's journey from a nightmare of childhood sexual abuse through a world of drug gangs and murder to prison and, ultimately, personal redemption through faith and a dedication to helping others.
This is Sheena King's story, a raw, harrowing memoir anchored in revolutionary and transformative love. It is, at the same time, a story shared by tens of thousands of women, especially women of color who are incarcerated as the result of events that began with abuse by someone who should have been there to protect and nurture them.
During her years in prison, Sheena found the strength to free herself through the process of helping countless other victims of childhood abuse. Now she offers her memoir with the express hope that it will help many more.
As Rikeyah Lindsay of the Abolitionist Law Center writes in her foreword, “We must take our collective healing seriously, interrogating the root causes and demanding accountability not only for ourselves but also for the systems that create the conditions in which so much harm can occur.” With Lindsay's foreword and an introduction by Victoria Law, Submerged offers essential insights for all who want to understand and participate in the growing movement for alternatives to incarceration.
In her own introduction Sheena King writes: “I’ve told my story. Now tell yours. It will free you.”
Praise
“Submerged is a tidal wave that will leave you feeling as if you are drowning only to provide a lifeline to stable ground. Sheena King painstakingly notes how sexual predators and family violence deepen the wells of despair and expand violence and childhood trauma. Her memoir notes the casualties of damaged children, women, and men and family members. King and the poets who contribute to this important text offer a raw record of memory, shame and rage. They ask for and offer accountability. Their caretaking as healers acknowledges vulnerabilities and violations of incarcerated women; this author and her community aids and educates everyone with this powerful book of rage and sorrow, death, and redemption. Anchored in revolutionary and transformative love, Submerged also allows us to swim to shore with our souls intact.”
—Joy James, author of In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love and New Bones Abolition: Captive Maternal Agency and the (After)Life of Erica Garner
"Powerful. A moving and heartbreaking tale of innocence lost, two lives destroyed, and one woman's incredible journey to redemption behind prison walls."
—Tammy Mal, author of Convenient Suspect and Little Girl Lost
