The AP (6/29, Nasir) reports that “racial trauma – the distress experienced because of the accumulation of racial discrimination, racial violence or institutional racism,” may “affect anyone who faces repeated prejudice,” but “in this moment, its impact on Black people is drawing particular attention.” According to the AP, “The unfortunate irony is that the very tool that may be helping to make more people aware of the racism and violence that Black and other people of color face is also helping to fuel their trauma.” In the weeks following the death of George Floyd, “the spread of the video that captured it has been a major catalyst for protests demanding a reckoning with racism – attended by people of all races, many of whom never before participated in such activism.” Past American Psychiatric Association president Dr. Altha Stewart said, “If you are in a situation where the danger seems ever-present, whether you’re seeing a bird watcher in Central Park being harassed, or someone falling asleep in their car in a parking lot … there is that constant physical presence of danger and the psychological awareness that danger is just around the corner.”
Related Links:
— “Images of brutality against Black people spur racial trauma, “Noreen Nasir, AP, June 29, 2020