Racial trauma: ‘That trauma began with slavery and continues today’

While driving to his grandmother’s house in Pittsburgh 7 years ago, a man named Leon Ford was pulled over by local police. “Instead of giving me a ticket, they insisted that I was lying about who I was. And they told me that I was Lamont Ford, and not Leon Ford,” Ford, now a public speaker and mental health advocate because of his experience that day, tells Yahoo Life. When officers attempted to forcibly remove Ford from the vehicle, he began to drive away, prompting one of the officers to jump in on the passenger side.

“And he immediately began firing, point-blank rage,” Ford recalls. “I was shot five times.”

Black trauma: ‘began with slavery’

Ford’s experience is an example of the historical relationship between Black Americans and trauma, created by what experts like Kirstyn Nimmo, founder and managing director of social innovation consultant GOOD WORX, call white supremacy. “The Black community in America has navigated trauma, anxiety and other mental health challenges caused by the presence of white supremacy for centuries. That trauma began with slavery and continues today,” she says.

Jeffrey Robinson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Trone Center for Justice and Equality, says the trauma also has roots in the constitution, specifically, in the Fugitive Slave Clause. “An enslaved person who escaped — they're not free. They have to be returned to their owner, on demand. The document that founded America made Black attempts at freedom unconstitutional.”

In recent years, phone-captured footage of Black Americans killed by police officers has been shared to encourage citizens to take action against police brutality. But for many Black Americans, viewing such videos can induce trauma.

“The reality that Black people are facing, we have to make sure that we're not reinforcing the trauma that they may experience from the reality that they live,” says Rashid Shabazz, Chief Marketing and Storytelling Officer (CMSO) at Color of Change. “Our representation of how we show up matters — beyond just the depth that we may experience, or the devastation. That doesn't mean that we erase the reality, it just means that we show more of a nuance, and also reinforce the need that you shouldn't have to see a Black person die to take action.”

“I remember one of the officers kneeling next to my head while I was on ground, telling me repeatedly that he hoped I would die,” Ford recalls. Although he received medical treatment, his family members were unable to visit him because he was “under arrest” while medical professionals informed him that, because of the gunshot wounds, he would no longer be able to walk.

What does it mean to be an ally?

Ford, Nimmo, Shabazz and Robinson are just some of the 10 influential experts and activists along with dozens of creators who participated in the first part of a virtual Yahoo series, the Yahoo Allyship Pledge, bringing together leading voices to discuss urgent social justice issues involving race in America, and creating actionable tools for Allyship.

Allyship is a consistent and arduous practice of unlearning and re-evaluating, where a person holding privilege and power actively seeks to be anti-racist and to end oppression in solidarity with those who are systemically marginalized. Key components of Allyship include: acknowledging the reality of racial trauma and the experiences that create this trauma as well as understanding how this creates inequities and inequalities that affect Black Americans. Another key component is to self-educate on the issue.

PTSD and psychotherapy for Black Americans

Ford survived being shot five times, but it left him paralyzed from the chest down. He now dedicates his life to speaking publicly about his story, and to advocating for mental health. He says he has witnessed the ramifications of PTSD in his community, where members have been indoctrinated absorbed into the cycle of gun violence.

“Growing up as a Black person in America, you need therapy. I have several friends who have older brothers who were shot, who had siblings who passed away... The common thing is that no one’s seen a therapist,” says Ford.

Experts say it’s critical to deal with the trauma — not just for adult family members and the larger community, but for children as well.

“Children carry so much trauma in their bodies,” says Nicole Cardoza, social entrepreneur, investor and founder of the newsletter Anti-racism Daily. “And it's really difficult to process trauma for anybody, for any soul, if you can't understand it. And so when we don't talk about things like racism with children and they're experiencing difficult emotions… it actually takes away their capacity to heal.”

Leon Ford Jr., who was shot and paralyzed by Pittsburgh police, spoke from a wheelchair at a rally on the stairs of the Allegheny County Courthouse on June 21, 2018 in Pittsburgh, in the aftermath of a fatal shooting of Antwon Rose by an East Pittsburgh police officer. (Getty Images)

“We have more individuals behind bars than we had at the highest level of slavery,” she says.

“Not only that,” adds Jamira Burley, activist and head of Youth Engagement and Skills at the Global Business Coalition for Education, “for an industrialized country, we have more people in prison than every single ally around the world.”

For many Black Americans, experiences like Ford’s are commonly told and shared among community members. Burley says the crux of the issue is that, through the criminal justice system, Black Americans are forced “basically into labor camps” instead of learning to focus on rehabilitation and mental health programs to get them back into their communities.

Moving forward

This year, the world erupted in protests demanding change after the release of video showing George Floyd being killed by police. Such videos can move people to action, but Fredrick Joseph, author of The Black Friend, On Being a Better White Person, says there are other powerful ways to do so.

“What are the resources needed for the situation? Okay, George Floyd was murdered. Share the names of the police officers and share who people can call,” he says. “Share the names of the people who were involved in Breonna Taylor's case, because she still doesn't have justice… That's the conversation — not, ‘Oh, hey, look at another video of this person being killed.’”

Robinson asks people to study the history of policing in government documents, so individuals can learn the truth for themselves. “I think the key about where we are now is that we have the ability to look at the truth, to look at a history without it being interpreted by somebody else,” he says. “Because everyone has access to so much information. And all of these facts are in government documents and historical societies. The history that I'm talking about, people may not be aware of. It may be hidden, but it's hidden in plain sight.”

READ MORE:

Resources to learn more about allyship and racial trauma:

• Yahoo’s Black Lives Matter Hub: for resources, news, links and videos

• Whitney Plantation: educates the public about the history of slavery and its legacies.

• Color of Change For hands-on actions you can take for social justice.

• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): to understand current issues and what’s at stake.

• Mental Health America: resources for racial trauma

• Anti-Racism Daily: Daily actions to dismantle white supremacy.

• The Body is Not An Apology: international movement that fosters global, radical, unapologetic self love which translates to radical human love and action in service toward a more just, equitable and compassionate world.

• The Langston League: “Decolonized” Black history series for middle school students

ALLYSHIP QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF AROUND RACIAL TRAUMA:

When you consider widely shared videos of law enforcement violence inflicted on Black victims:

• How does seeing those videos impact you?

• Is widespread sharing of these videos still necessary to inspire change?

• What resources can you share in the wake of these events to support action?

• How can we take steps forward to ensure the Black community receives adequate mental health support?