A Trauma Informed Approach to Anti-racism
Title
A Trauma Informed Approach to Anti-racism
Description
New scientific understandings about the impact of prejudice, bias, othering, and racism are presented. Two ground-breaking books are referenced: The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, and My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Menachem. Briere's widely used Trauma Symptom Inventory for diagnosing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and key findings from studies about Race Based Traumatic Stress (RBTS) are shared briefly.
The research shows that truama is not just a single life-threatening event. The lived experiences of everyday racism and microaggressions are daily traumas that have impacts on the body. Stressors may be direct, vicarious, and transmitted. Trauma is experienced and transferred between generations as genetic memory.
Some anti-racist skills that we can use from trauma sciences to help bring healing, and to make everybody feel included are: 1) active listening, 2) assertion, 3) counter story telling, 4) attend to microbehaviors (micro-affirmations, bridging, belonging for building safe spaces), 5) interrogating categorization and classifying, and 6) stop racializing.
The research shows that truama is not just a single life-threatening event. The lived experiences of everyday racism and microaggressions are daily traumas that have impacts on the body. Stressors may be direct, vicarious, and transmitted. Trauma is experienced and transferred between generations as genetic memory.
Some anti-racist skills that we can use from trauma sciences to help bring healing, and to make everybody feel included are: 1) active listening, 2) assertion, 3) counter story telling, 4) attend to microbehaviors (micro-affirmations, bridging, belonging for building safe spaces), 5) interrogating categorization and classifying, and 6) stop racializing.
Subject
Equity
Inclusion
Creator
Anita Coleman
Publisher
ADL
Date
27, October, 2021
Format
Adobe Acrobat (pdf)
Language
English
Files
Collection
Citation
Anita Coleman, “A Trauma Informed Approach to Anti-racism,” Antiracism Digital Library, accessed April 28, 2024, https://sacred.omeka.net/items/show/407.
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