Racism as trauma
Racial trauma or race-based traumatic stress, is the cumulative effects of racism on an individual's mental and physical health. It has been linked to feelings of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideations, as well as other physical health issues.
Understanding Racism as Trauma: The Impact
Roots of Systematic Racism and Racial Injustices
It is important to understand the roots of racism and the social injustices that black and POC face in today’s world in all systems from police brutality to inequity in the health care systems.
In this video podcast by Therapy for Black Girls, session 134: the Impact of Racial Trauma, unpacks the struggle that black people go through and how it affects all aspects of their life.
Helping CHILDREN Understand
Knowledge is power. Educate yourself on what it means to be black in America and how understanding intersectionality is essential to understanding one’s existence. Follow this link for a full PowerPoint on how to understand transgenerational trauma.
In this video Systematic Racism is explained for all to understand. This is a simple video to help children understand the tough conversations about race and what the Black Lives matter movement stands for. This video is brought by the Family & Children Services website, that also has a lot of helpful tools and articles on how to talk to children about race.
Sesame Street creates videos for communities to help students talk about racial identity and racism. In this video, when Rosita doesn’t want to play Veo Veo (I Spy), her friend Sophía asks why. Rosita shares it’s because she had a scary encounter at a grocery store where people told her to not speak Spanish and treated her unfairly. Rosita’s Mami explains that in situations like this where you feel unsafe, the best thing to do is walk away and find a grown-up to help you. Rosita realizes she is proud to speak Spanish, it’s like having a superpower!
The NY Times captures one students’ experience of Anti-Asian racism at her high school. What happens when stereotypes and fear about Covid-19 arrive before the actual disease does? In the video above, Katherine Oung, a 11th grader in Florida, shows what teenagers like her and her friends face as the coronavirus pandemic brings to the surface the racism underlying her community.
Experiencing life as an “other”
Listen to Sheila Wise Rowe personal experience as a black student in a majority white school back in the 1970s. Through this video, you can see her first-hand experience in navigating her blackness and being labeled as other. She also explains how the racism and torment she received significantly traumatically affected her life and her perceptions of self and other.
Articles on understanding Racism as Trauma
The article, How Systemic Racism Infiltrates Education allows readers to think of how racial trauma can occur in places of education.
Scientist Start To Tease Out The Subtler Ways Racism Hurts Health is a interesting article to understand how racial trauma can significantly affect peoples health.
The Childrens Law Center sent out a letter titled Racism as Trauma, in response to the current racial climate in the US. It sheds light on the systemic racism that causes trauma.
The article, Racial Trauma, explains how racism can be traumatic and certain symptoms can occur such as PTSD.
Although written in 2006, the article Race-Based Traumatic Stress, has a lot of good insight on racial trauma and how it affects the person. This is a good article to connect how people dealing with racism are currently feeling and experiencing.
“More people are waking up to truth. With more light, we expose whats been happening in the shadows” ”
Healing The Hurt
Working TOGETHEr: How to be an Ally and provide the best forms of healing
Dealing with racism is a traumatic experience that can change the course of a persons life. Utilize these resources offered by educated individuals on how to help with the healing of those affected by racism.
Articles on combating Racial Trauma
The article Uncovering The Trauma can be used a tool to learn more of how racial trauma comes about through a personal, what is racial trauma and ways to hep combat it.
Uncovering the Trauma of Racism is an article that explains how through these experiences people may suffer from PTSD(post traumatic stress disorder). It also explains how the distress a patient feels can also be challenging for those who are not educated on the properly on the topic of traumatic racism.
