Research shows this, as well as that the health consequences of racism and discrimination can be passed down from one generation to the next.ĭata from the Jackson Heart Study (an ongoing study that started in 2000, following more than 5,000 African Americans to better understand disparities in cardiovascular disease) has revealed that higher levels of perceived discrimination among African Americans in the US are linked with poorer health behaviors, such as sleeping less and smoking, as well as worse health outcomes, such as higher incidence of obesity. The effects of racial trauma on health and well-being are complex and well documented and can be severe.įor marginalized groups, like Black people and other BIPOC communities, continuous discrimination and racism become a form of chronic stress. How Race-Based Trauma Affects Mental and Physical Health Addressing these intersections simultaneously is needed to prevent one form of inequality from reinforcing others. Today, the term “intersectionality” is widely used to describe how our various cultural identities, such as biological sex, gender identification, sexuality, class, ability, and race interact with one another to perpetuate various systems of injustice and inequality.

The already established feminism theory and antiracist policy discourse did not accurately describe the experience of Black women, she wrote in the paper: “Because the intersectional experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism, any analysis that does not take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in which Black women are subordinated.” Intersectionality Race scholar and professor at the University of California Los Angeles’ School of Law and Columbia University’s Law School, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Ph.D., coined the term “intersectionality” in a 1989 paper to describe the unique experience of marginalization that Black women face because of being part of two marginalized groups. The Holocaust, other genocides, and the intentional maltreatment of Black Americans who were part of the Tuskegee experiments are all examples of events that could cause historical trauma for people in subsequent generations of the affected communities. Historical Trauma Like intergenerational trauma, historical trauma is the distress descendants of a particular community, racial or ethnic group, or other group experience because of major oppression that group previously faced. And descendants of other groups who have experienced a trauma, such as descendants of individuals who suffered during the Holocaust, other genocides, or the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II, may experience intergenerational trauma, too. Black Americans who are descendants of former slaves may experience intergenerational trauma because of the injustice of the United States’ history of slavery. Intergenerational Trauma Intergenerational trauma is the phenomenon of descendants of a person who experienced a distressing event presenting with adverse behavioral, psychological, and emotional reactions to the event similar to those of the person who initially experienced the traumatic encounter.

These patterns and practices reinforce discriminatory beliefs, values, and distribution of resources. Structural Racism Structural racism as the multiple ways systems, policies, procedures, and laws perpetuate racial discrimination by mutually reinforcing racial bias in systems of housing, education, employment, earnings, benefits, credit, media, healthcare, and criminal justice. Some other terms and concepts psychologists and other mental health professionals use to understand racial trauma and its effects include: Other Terms Used to Understand Racial Trauma

Intergenerational trauma in africa