![]() ![]() “We have a whole set of folks with badges and guns who are supposed to protect and serve and they do neither,” Robinson said. And many are experiencing further mental anguish while watching the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck. Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change, said the trauma has also created generations of Black Americans who have valid mistrust of law enforcement agencies. Venkataramani, one of the authors of the study and a physician at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia. “That effect was found only in Black (Americans),” said Dr. ![]() ![]() Nearly half of Black Americans who responded said they were exposed to one or more police killings of unarmed Black Americans in their state of residence - either through word of mouth or the media. In a 2018 study examining the mental health impact of police killings on Black Americans, researchers found exposure to police killings of unarmed Black Americans had adverse effects on mental health among Black people. “We’ve essentially handed down 10 or 15 generations worth of boxes of trauma that have yet to be unpacked, and that’s what’s contributing to a lot of those biological and mental health related issues that we’re having,” Kniffley said, noting the trauma extends beyond police violence. Kniffley said each generation of Black Americans since slavery has faced its own unique iteration of racism and discrimination, which has manifested into a form of intergenerational trauma. ”There’s no other way that we can explain that except for the unique experiences Black and brown folks have based on their identity, and more specifically, when they encounter racism and discrimination.” “A lot of cities across the country are realizing that racial trauma is a public health issue,” Kniffley said, citing health concerns such as increased rates of suicide among Black men, a life expectancy gap and post-traumatic stress disorder. Steven Kniffley, a licensed psychologist and coordinator for Spalding University’s Collective Care Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Racial trauma is a unique form of identity-related trauma that people of color experience due to racism and discrimination, according to Dr. It’s built upon centuries of oppressive systems and racist practices that are deeply embedded within the fabric of the nation. The racial trauma impacting Black Americans isn’t new. That collective mourning is a great concern to experts and medical professionals who consider the intersectionality of racism and various forms of trauma impacting communities of color a serious public health crisis facing America. Some see themselves and their children reflected in the victims of police violence, heightening the grief they feel. Many Black Americans are facing a collective sense of grief and trauma that has grown more profound with the loss of each life at the hands of police in America. ![]()
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