![]() A person who feels learned helplessness, though frustrated, will stop trying to change their circumstances. Learned helplessness is the perception that no matter what a person does, they cannot change their situation or condition. For many Black youth, especially those from deprived and under-resourced communities, learned helplessness may be another consequence of intergenerational trauma. The negative racial stereotypes that have been applied to Black people throughout history may have been internalized and passed down from generation to generation. ![]() In the aforementioned book, Leary explains that one of the aftereffects of slavery that has been observed is vacant self-esteem, which can include feelings of hopelessness and depression. The results of this study have been replicated in recent decades. The results of their study found that a large portion of the Black children showed a preference for white dolls over Black dolls. In the 1940s, husband and wife psychology researchers Mamie and Kenneth Clark conducted a study to better understand the impacts of segregation on Black children. ![]() In each wave and each season of racial trauma, my desire for all of y'all is that you will gain deeper healing, but also brighter celebration of who you are.1. We can see that even in the Black Lives Matter movement that there are waves, that there are seasons. Racial trauma healing is going to be a process with seasons of work or cycles of work. They don't know the original traumas that happened that really made their ancestors have to decide ‘do I maintain my heritage or do I choose power?’ People also need to ask: ‘How have my ancestors and lineage benefited from systems built to advance white bodies and keep BIPOC bodies oppressed? How did my people contribute to these injustices, directly (through genocide and land theft) or indirectly (through complacency and silence)?’ 5 It’s thinking ‘how did my lineage get here?’ A lot of this work is demanded of by POC, but this work is never demanded of white people. White racial trauma goes deeper than just feelings of shame or outward violence or hatred. It just looks different for white people and for people whose ancestors may be oppressors or colonizers. We all need racial trauma healing - including white people. So there is the gratitude and the grief, and they can journey together. Don't forget that part, because that's all the awesome stuff that you get to keep. And so while you are doing this trauma healing work, while you are receiving care, connect with the joys, the vibrancy, the creativity of your culture and history. In the book, So You Want To Talk About Race, there's a quote that more or less says that race is more than pain or oppression, but also culture and history. There can be celebration in the midst of healing. Find people that you can tell your truth to and can share your experiences and microaggressions and they will believe you and validate you. Your people may or may not be your family of origin. Find your people - the people that get you. As you start looking at the layers of racial trauma and peel them back, it can be really painful. The historical - what happened to your people? How did you arrive here? The intergenerational - how did that trauma then get passed down from generation to generation? The personal - what are you experiencing now, in the day-to-day? And the systemic trauma - how is this system set up to keep you out and to keep you down? Resmaa Menakem writes about this idea in his book My Grandmother’s Hands. There are different layers of racial trauma. Melody Li, the founder of Inclusive Therapists, shared some thoughts and a few helpful reminders as you start doing the difficult work of racial trauma healing. This type of trauma may come from other people, or it can be experienced just by living in a racist system.Īll of us are impacted by racial trauma, and it plays a huge role in your daily life (maybe even more than you realize). It’s all about the mental and emotional impacts that are a result of racial bias, racism, and hate crimes. Racial trauma is a word that all of us should be a bit more familiar with because we all have some work to do.
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