30 FEATURE
IT’S TIME TO END THE CYCLE OF RACIAL TRAUMA B Y R E V P R O F E S S O R K E I T H M A G E E A N D B R YA N B O N A PA R T E
As Black men living in London – one American and one British – we have both been struggling recently with a double dose of race-related toxicity. Back in March of this year, the opening sessions of the trial of Derek Chauvin – the White former Minneapolis police officer, who casually knelt on George Floyd’s neck until he stopped breathing – brought the visceral horror of that event flooding back. Like so many others, we found the tearful witness statements and the new video footage of the murder almost unbearable to watch. It felt personal, terrifying – that could have been one of us suffocating under that knee, calling out for his mother.
We didn’t even know we were turning the other cheek, and then came the second blow. The UK’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED) delivered its insulting report, concluding – incredibly – that systemic racism no longer exists in Britain. The commission was set up by No 10 in the wake of last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, sparked by the death of George Floyd. And so this grim wheel continued its nightmarish rotation: parts of the CRED report read like excerpts from Donald Trump’s playlist. The impact on Black British people was clear: by denying their lived experience of institutionalised racism, this report has and will re-traumatise many. Tragically, for most non-White British and American citizens, racial trauma and its Find us on Twitter and Facebook: @KeepTheFaithmag
consequences are part of everyday life, and the triggers come thick and fast: walking past statues of Confederate generals or slave owners; encounters with the police; interactions online; just watching the evening news... This profound anxiety is rooted in a collective pain that began when the first Africans were enslaved and transported to a life of unimaginable cruelty. Abolition did not bring healing. Instead, the trauma of freed slaves and their descendants has continued to be compounded to this day, as every subsequent generation has faced ongoing racism and injustice on both sides of the Atlantic.
‘History must be faced and learned from, so that we can take the best from it and leave the rest behind.’ The American psychologist and sociologist, Dr Joy DeGruy, has given this historical racial trauma a name: Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome. She points out that it is deeply embedded, community-wide and multi-generational. As a result, countless Black Britons and Americans suffer symptoms similar to those of PTSD, including anger issues, lack of self-worth and purpose, loss of identity, stress and anxiety. Although often unaware of the underlying cause, we are all too conscious of this trauma’s manifestations in the form of educational exclusion, incarceration, family dysfunction and substance misuse, to name just a few. We all experience things differently, of course. Black people have had to be highly resilient, and many have made extraordinary contributions to their communities and to their countries. Yet, however many equal opportunities we create, it will all be to no avail if some of our citizens continue to struggle under the weight of inherited racial trauma, while others are unencumbered. This is not just a Black problem. We are permanently woven into the fabric of these great nations,
so it is imperative we address this trauma. If we fail, we will all be the lesser for it. The first step is not to gaslight people into believing that systemic racism no longer exists, but to recognise the extent to which it is still a problem. Then we must allow ourselves to acknowledge old wounds and to grieve. It can be tempting, when you live with trauma, to avoid triggers, to turn away, perhaps even to topple things in an attempt to erase reminders of a harrowing past. But that is a grave mistake. The act of forgetting does not aid recovery; it makes it impossible. History must be faced and learned from, so that we can take the best from it and leave the rest behind.
WE NEED A CHANGE
