USA Today (5/28, Dastagir) reports on the impact of black deaths on the African-American community. USA Today quotes experts discussing how the deaths of black people at the hands of police and from COVID-19 are taking a toll on the mental health of many black people in the US. For example, Dr. Danielle Jackson, a psychiatry resident and a board member of the American Psychiatric Association’s Caucus of Black Psychiatrists, said, “I can only describe the continued viewing of racial violence, torture, murder and disregard for the humanity of black bodies as repetitive trauma. Perpetrators of racial violence may have changed uniforms, speech, and coded message, but the message remains the same, ‘you – black person – are other, you are less than.’” Meanwhile, Dr. Roberto Montenegro, a chief fellow in psychiatry at Seattle Children’s Hospital who studies the impact of discrimination, “says living in a world where your body is a threat is painful and taxing.”
Related Links:
— “George Floyd video adds to trauma: ‘When is the last time you saw a white person killed online?’, “Alia E. Dastagir, USA TODAY, May 28, 2020