Racial Trauma

What is Racial Trauma?

As a psychologist, I encounter and address trauma daily. Most of the time, I perceive this as an opportunity to support individuals on their unique paths toward healing. Recently, however, my identity as a Black man has broadened my “psychological perspective” to encompass a larger reality that many people of color have endured for generations: racial trauma.

Throughout my educational journey, I have been frequently aware of how both privileges and disadvantages have influenced my ability to navigate challenging times. Now, with “expertise” in trauma, I feel compelled to inform my community about the realities and symptoms they may be experiencing without fully comprehending them. So, let’s address these experiences with some information about Racial Trauma. When you get through this brief explanation, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or a desire to connect from this perspective.

Definition of Racial Trauma

Racial trauma, or race-based traumatic stress (RBTS), refers to “the mental and emotional injury caused by encounters with racial bias and ethnic discrimination, racism, and hate crimes.” Any individual who has experienced an emotionally painful, sudden, and uncontrollable racist encounter is at risk of suffering from a race-based traumatic stress injury. 

Vulnerability and Impact

In the U.S., Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) are most vulnerable due to living under a system of white supremacy.

In some individuals, prolonged incidents of racism can lead to symptoms like those experienced with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This can look like depression, anger, recurring thoughts of the event, physical reactions (e.g., headaches, chest pains, insomnia), hypervigilance, low self-esteem, and mental distancing from the traumatic events. Some or all of these symptoms may be present in someone with RBTS, and symptoms can look different across different cultural groups.

RBTS is not considered a mental health disorder. RBTS is more accurately a mental injury that can occur as the result of living within a racist system or experiencing events of racism. (Helms, Nicolas, & Green, 2010). This distinction emphasizes the environmental and societal factors contributing to RBTS, rather than pathologizing the individuals affected by it.

Trigger Warning

The following paragraphs will address sensitive topics that could evoke strong emotional/mind-body experiences. 

Individual Racism

Following the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., there were nearly 1,500 reported incidents of anti-Asian racism in just one month. Reports included incidents of physical and verbal attacks as well as reports of anti-Asian discrimination in private businesses.

In 2018, 38 percent of Latinx people were verbally attacked for speaking Spanish, were told to “go back to their countries,” called a racial slur, and/or treated unfairly by others.

Over the course of the last year,  X, aka “Twitter,” saw 4.2 million anti-Semitic tweets in just the English language alone. These tweets included anti-Semitic stereotypes, promotion of anti-Semitic personalities or media, symbols, slurs, or anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, including Holocaust denial. Pew Research Center, (2018-2023)

Systemic Racism

Black people make up 12 percent of the country’s population but make up around 33 percent of the total prison population. 

*This overrepresentation likely reflects the racist arrests and policing as well as racist sentencing practices in the criminal justice system.

Historical occupation segregation has made BIPOC people less likely than Whites to hold jobs that offer retirement savings, which are prioritized by the U.S. tax code. This helps create a persistent wealth gap between White and BIPOC communities.

The erasure of Asian Pacific Islanders (APIs) in the “Asian or Pacific Islander” category by U.S. Census data severely restricts access to opportunities in these communities by concealing the unique barriers faced by APIs that are not faced by East or South Asian communities.

Previous and current policies of racial displacement, exclusion, and segregation have left many BIPOCs less likely than Whites to own their homes regardless of level of education, income, location, marital status, and age.

Lack of cultural competency in therapy training, financial incentives, and geographical isolation have created barriers in providing appropriate mental health resources in Native American communities. Rates of suicide in these communities is 3.5x higher than racial/ethnic groups with the lowest rates of suicide. (Tomaskovic-Devey, et al., 2006); (Leavitt, Ertl, Sheats, Petrosky, Ivey-Stephenson, Fowler., 2014); (Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, 2022)

Conclusion

Understanding racial trauma is crucial for recognizing the psychological impact of racism on individuals and communities. Acknowledging and addressing RBTS can help in providing appropriate support and resources to those affected, fostering a more inclusive and equitable society.

References

• Asian American Center for Advancing Justice, “Native Hawaiians & Pacific Islanders: A Community of Contrast in the United States” (2022), available at http://www.advancingjustice-la.org/sites/default/files/A_Community_of_ Contrasts_NHPI_US_2014.pdf

• Helms, J. E., Nicolas, G., & Green, C. E. (2010). Racism and Ethnoviolence as Trauma: Enhancing Professional Training. Traumatology, 16(4), 53-62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534765610389595

• Leavitt RA, Ertl A, Sheats K, Petrosky E, Ivey-Stephenson A, Fowler KA. Suicides Among American Indian/Alaska Natives — National Violent Death Reporting System, 18 States, 2003–2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2018;67:237–242. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6708a1external icon

• Pew Research Center, October 25, 2018, “More Latinos have serious concerns about their place in America under Trump.”

• Tomaskovic-Devey, D., Zimmer, C., Stainback, K., Robinson, C., Taylor, T., & McTague, T. (2006). Documenting Desegregation: Segregation in American Workplaces by Race, Ethnicity, and Sex, 1966–2003. American Sociological Review, 71(4), 565-588. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100403