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https://blackgirlnerds.com/recognizing-and-coping-with-racial-trauma/
Has there been a time when people of color weren’t experiencing racism? According to Pew Research, the mistreatment of Blacks by police and the criminal justice system happens more amongst Black individuals.
Police brutality, hate speech, and other racist moments leave recipients feeling traumatized. This type of trauma is known as racial trauma or race-based traumatic stress.It can become ingrained in the lives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, or BIPOC. It can lead them to live in fear, feel hopeless about the future, and prevent them from living out their potential. For those experiencing racial trauma, it’s important to understand the signs and symptoms. This knowledge can lead to better support, recovery, and mental peace for BIPOC communities.
Definition of racial trauma
Mental Health America states that racial trauma is the mental and emotional damage caused by racial bias, ethnic discrimination, hate crimes, and racism. It is experienced through direct means such as receiving acts of violence or discrimination.
It can also be experienced through indirect means such as watching racist moments on the news or being around others who don’t take racism seriously. Although there are many ways to experience this trauma, it is not considered a mental health disorder. Nonetheless, it is a condition that requires proper attention and care.
Living with racial trauma
Because BIPOC are the recipients of racism, it can negatively influence the mind and body. During trauma, the body releases cortisol, a hormone that prepares the body to react. In moments of stress, anger, or anxiety, the body will either combat the situation, pause, or run away. Also known as fight, flight, or freeze.
Constant exposure to racism, such as microaggressions at work, leads to an overproduction of cortisol. Without time and support for the body and mind to process these events and higher levels of cortisol, it can lead to problematic behaviors. Behaviors such as greater apprehension, anxiety and depression, nightmares, aggression, and substance abuse.
Greater apprehension: Events like the death of Ahmaud Arbery and the attacks on elderly Asians all contribute to heightened fears. This can manifest as tensing up when hearing police sirens or not engaging with certain people. Another manifestation includes avoiding everyday routines such as going for a jog or to the supermarket out of fear of racial attacks.
Anxiety and Depression: This can look like feeling anxious when hearing about an act of discrimination and extended periods of depression.
Substance abuse: Turning to alcohol and drugs to cope with the effects of trauma
Aggressive behavior: Feeling the need to show aggression or resistance to protect oneself or loved ones.
Black women can experience this trauma two-fold because of both racial and gender discrimination. Black women can carry a higher allostatic load according to a 2006 study by Trusted Source. This load refers to the “wear and tear” on the body.
With so many damaging side effects BIPOC must have systems and resources in place to cope with this ongoing trauma.
Coping with racial trauma
Coping with racial trauma is best combated in two ways. Supporting oneself and seeking professional support. Here are some examples to follow
Maintain a healthy lifestyle: With all the stress on the body, acts such as eating healthy and getting a full night’s rest can seem simple. Yet when healthy habits are consistent, they can prevent many severe health conditions.
Support a good cause: Activism, volunteering, and any similar community work can help one feel as if they are making a difference. It can offer a sense of control. This type of work is necessary but also very demanding. It’s important to balance this work with other hobbies and enjoyable activities.
Connect with others: Having a strong support system can provide a safe space for those experiencing racial trauma. Meeting with close friends, family, and members of different organizations is a great way to foster these connections.
Seek professional help: More organizations are forming and are in place to provide mental and emotional support for BIPOC. Some of these organizations include: the National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network, Therapy for Black Girls, Therapy for Black Men, Therapy for Muslims, Asian, Pacific Islander, and South Asian American (APISAA) Therapist Directory, Therapy for Latinx
It’s vital to recognize that racial trauma is a real issue affecting many BIPOC communities. A starting point is becoming aware of situations and people that may trigger negative responses. Awareness is powerful and allows one to either confront or avoid triggering situations.
Racism is something that can change over time. But in the day-to-day fight, taking care of oneself supports the long-term battle. For anyone experiencing racial trauma, remember to turn off the news when feeling overwhelmed. Cultivate joy daily. Maintain healthy relationships with friends and family. Continue to pursue goals because the hope and dreams of BIPOC are important and valid.
Has there been a time when people of color weren’t experiencing racism? According to Pew Research, the mistreatment of Blacks by police and the criminal justice system happens more amongst Black individuals.
Police brutality, hate speech, and other racist moments leave recipients feeling traumatized. This type of trauma is known as racial trauma or race-based traumatic stress.It can become ingrained in the lives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, or BIPOC. It can lead them to live in fear, feel hopeless about the future, and prevent them from living out their potential. For those experiencing racial trauma, it’s important to understand the signs and symptoms. This knowledge can lead to better support, recovery, and mental peace for BIPOC communities.
Definition of racial trauma
Mental Health America states that racial trauma is the mental and emotional damage caused by racial bias, ethnic discrimination, hate crimes, and racism. It is experienced through direct means such as receiving acts of violence or discrimination.
It can also be experienced through indirect means such as watching racist moments on the news or being around others who don’t take racism seriously. Although there are many ways to experience this trauma, it is not considered a mental health disorder. Nonetheless, it is a condition that requires proper attention and care.
Living with racial trauma
Because BIPOC are the recipients of racism, it can negatively influence the mind and body. During trauma, the body releases cortisol, a hormone that prepares the body to react. In moments of stress, anger, or anxiety, the body will either combat the situation, pause, or run away. Also known as fight, flight, or freeze.
Constant exposure to racism, such as microaggressions at work, leads to an overproduction of cortisol. Without time and support for the body and mind to process these events and higher levels of cortisol, it can lead to problematic behaviors. Behaviors such as greater apprehension, anxiety and depression, nightmares, aggression, and substance abuse.
Greater apprehension: Events like the death of Ahmaud Arbery and the attacks on elderly Asians all contribute to heightened fears. This can manifest as tensing up when hearing police sirens or not engaging with certain people. Another manifestation includes avoiding everyday routines such as going for a jog or to the supermarket out of fear of racial attacks.
Anxiety and Depression: This can look like feeling anxious when hearing about an act of discrimination and extended periods of depression.
Substance abuse: Turning to alcohol and drugs to cope with the effects of trauma
Aggressive behavior: Feeling the need to show aggression or resistance to protect oneself or loved ones.
Black women can experience this trauma two-fold because of both racial and gender discrimination. Black women can carry a higher allostatic load according to a 2006 study by Trusted Source. This load refers to the “wear and tear” on the body.
With so many damaging side effects BIPOC must have systems and resources in place to cope with this ongoing trauma.
Coping with racial trauma
Coping with racial trauma is best combated in two ways. Supporting oneself and seeking professional support. Here are some examples to follow
Maintain a healthy lifestyle: With all the stress on the body, acts such as eating healthy and getting a full night’s rest can seem simple. Yet when healthy habits are consistent, they can prevent many severe health conditions.
Support a good cause: Activism, volunteering, and any similar community work can help one feel as if they are making a difference. It can offer a sense of control. This type of work is necessary but also very demanding. It’s important to balance this work with other hobbies and enjoyable activities.
Connect with others: Having a strong support system can provide a safe space for those experiencing racial trauma. Meeting with close friends, family, and members of different organizations is a great way to foster these connections.
Seek professional help: More organizations are forming and are in place to provide mental and emotional support for BIPOC. Some of these organizations include: the National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network, Therapy for Black Girls, Therapy for Black Men, Therapy for Muslims, Asian, Pacific Islander, and South Asian American (APISAA) Therapist Directory, Therapy for Latinx
It’s vital to recognize that racial trauma is a real issue affecting many BIPOC communities. A starting point is becoming aware of situations and people that may trigger negative responses. Awareness is powerful and allows one to either confront or avoid triggering situations.
Racism is something that can change over time. But in the day-to-day fight, taking care of oneself supports the long-term battle. For anyone experiencing racial trauma, remember to turn off the news when feeling overwhelmed. Cultivate joy daily. Maintain healthy relationships with friends and family. Continue to pursue goals because the hope and dreams of BIPOC are important and valid.
First things first, it’s Geffri Maya, not Geffri Maya Hightower. This is the first thing I learned.
And, no, “Geffri” isn’t a stage name. Her mother liked the juxtaposition of masculine and feminine names and the combination of “soft and strong,” so they landed on Geffri. With her Instagram handle being “girlwithaboysname,” it seems like she’s owning it.
In fact, “Soft and strong” might be the best way to describe both Geffri and her All American: Homecoming character Simone.
Like Simone, Geffri has attended a historically Black college or university (HBCU). While Simone attends the fictional Bringston University, Geffri graduated from Clark Atlanta. I’m confused when she tells me this because multiple sites have painted her as a twenty-two-year-old, and I’m shocked someone so young could be this accomplished and composed. It turns out, according to Geffri, “that’s very incorrect,” but she’s not upset at the mistake.
This seems to be a running theme with Geffri: she is driven towards success, but she understands the occasional need for compromise.
Take, for example, the story of how she landed the role of Simone on the original All American.
Simone was originally written as a three-episode character, “maybe five.” Still, Geffri saw the silver lining: “In a sense, [a supporting role] is attractive because, if you’re connected to a lead, then you know you have some importance, and you know that you’re at least gonna be there for a while.”
“Long enough to at least pay your bills,” she adds.
Beyond the financial, however, Geffri saw the cultural importance of the role. When I ask what attracted her to the role, she clarifies that, although Simone’s original limited run didn’t have her necessarily sprinting to the audience, All American as a cultural phenomenon did.
“I was attracted to All American… It was one of those things where it was like, ‘I have to be on this show,’ because it’s about Black people, and I wanted to be a part of it because it had such an impact on the culture.”
With this, I see the “soft.”
The “strong,” though, comes out moments later when she describes the benefits of being on a popular program. “All American has a huge fanbase: from men to women, Black to white, rich to poor. That’s attractive in general because it allows you to solidify your legacy, in a sense” — the strong — “and to be a part of something that makes people feel good.” The soft.
Talking to Geffri, I begin to better understand Simone as a character.
Simone’s arc throughout the season has been one of moving on and growing up — the commonplaces of a college experience. But, of course, hers has been a different journey than that of the college students we usually see on television. She was married, then divorced. She had a child, and then she placed him with an adoptive family.
She comes from a nuclear family, but “nuclear” means something entirely different when it concerns her combative mother. Though Geffri has had a very different life from this, coming from a single-parent household in which her grandmother was also one of her primary caretakers, she still brings a lot of her own vulnerability and steadfastness to Simone. That said, Geffri is still learning about the character.
“Starting off All American, she was a fixture, to a degree, and support for a lot of different characters’ storylines. But now that we have Homecoming, it’s amazing to actually have an opportunity to get to know her, her experiences, her triggers, and how she moves with the ebbs and flows of being a college student, [with] being a young adult.
But I think that the most fun aspect of being to grow with the character is that you kind of creates this person. So, it’s kind of like everything that Simone is — to All American, to Homecoming, and to me — I just naturally pull from myself. So it’s fun to add little bits and pieces of Geffri to the role I’m playing because it makes it light-hearted, and it makes it authentic. And that’s what really matters.”
We discuss Homecoming’s focus on Black Excellence as a theme. When I ask Geffri about this phrase and her relationship to it, the soft and the strong cohere in a way that makes each one indistinguishable from the other.
“I just think that time has always been now for Black people to be celebrated for who we are. Like, truly authentically. [We’re] not looking to be received under a certain gaze. Unfortunately, we’ve had this mindset that for us to be taken seriously, we have to have our hair a certain kind of way; it has to be a certain kind of length; we have to have a certain kind of skin tone. All of that has been devastating for a people to try to progress past. But,” she adds, “I’m so proud of us as a community, as artists, as movers and shakers… there are so many things we as a people have done and continue to do.”
We circle back to HBCUs and their impact.
“I want kids to be excited to explore and experience what it may be like to be educated by people who look like you. To be in classrooms with people who predominantly look like you.”
The soft and the strong remain cleaved together as she makes a final statement: “I want kids to know that there’s not one type of way to celebrate being Black, to be a Black person. I just want Black people to remember we’re on a steady climb. But we’re here, you know?”
All American: Homecoming is shown Mondays at 9pm on The CW and The CW’s streaming service.
“We’ve always been here.”
There aren’t many vocalists whose voices embody a movement; their deeply rich tone can uplift and inspire. Mahalia Jackson had that effect on those who heard her sing. Now, Ericka Nicole Malone Entertainment is giving us the opportunity to learn more about her in Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story. Written and executive produced by Ericka Nicole Malone and directed by Denise Dowe, the film takes “a poignant look into the life and rise” of an iconic gospel singer.
Grammy Award winner Ledisi stars as Mahalia Jackson. She is accompanied by Columbus Short, Janet Hubert, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Vanessa A. Williams, Keith David, Corbin Bleu, and Keith Robinson. This ensemble cast pieces together Jackson’s early childhood trauma with her devout belief that her gift was God’s and God’s alone. The film chronicles how through many adversities, Jackson never gave in to the pressures of a husband or a manager to sing any other music besides gospel.
BGN had a telephone conversation with Ledisi about playing Mahalia Jackson, the parallels between herself and the gospel singer, and whether she’d like to do more acting.
How did you get the role of Mahalia Jackson? What interested you in portraying her?
I was actually on set at Pose working in New York. I got an email asking me if I would read for this part of Mahalia from Erica Malone. I sent it to management and wasn’t really interested because I had already played Mahalia in Selma. Doing a feature … I wasn’t really sure.
My management convinced me to just go ahead and audition at least. When I did, they really wanted me for the part. I got an email from the casting director and Erica, then I was on the phone with Denise Dallas, a wonderful actress who’s now directing; I didn’t know she was connected to the film.
Talking to them reassured me that I should try. I was very nervous. On the second day, I didn’t know if I could do it because it was overwhelming, but I had a wonderful experience. I’m glad I did it. It worked out, but I didn’t look for this part. It found me.
Besides music, are there any parallels between the two of you that drew you in?
When I did Selma, I studied a lot about Mahalia, even just to sing that little part I sang. With this, I dove in deeper. It started with the music, but you have to understand the reason why she’s singing and her anointing.
It was really studying more of the Bible and particular songs and what she wanted people to be ignited from. Her purpose was to ignite, uplift, and spread the word of the gospel of the Lord. So all of that mattered. I couldn’t ignore that part. That part meant more than anything, and then when you look at her life, she never let anything get in the way of that.
It wasn’t just the words and not performing here or performing there. She had a purpose. Understanding her purpose helped me get into the part. It also taught me that’s why I do what I do. What’s my purpose? It’s always to leave a legacy that’s rich, but for her, it was to tell people about God and remind them you can win and persevere with knowing Jesus.
Was there anything that you learned about Mahalia during developing this role that surprised you or gave you a new understanding of who she was?
She was a strong businesswoman. In that era, she was about her business. She knew when she was being cheated, and she would say it. She was not hiding. She was very vocal about everything. She was a superstar.
She was huge in her presence, not just globally but also as a human. That’s why she could stand next to Martin, give advice, and be a sister-brother relationship in that whole movement. She was the great Mahalia Jackson, so that’s her power. She knew her power, and I love that part. I did understand it fully, then I got it. I love that a woman who wrote this, Erica Malone, and a woman director were very clear about making sure that other women saw this woman in that way. We didn’t focus just on her relationships. We focused on her business etiquette as well. It took women to make sure that was seen. I love that.
What was the most challenging part of filming this movie?
Filming during COVID and it turning from a short to a feature. All of that was challenging because it started one way and ended up being bigger. The forces against it were bigger, but it prevailed. We still finished our work, but it was a lot. It was a lot going on. I’m very proud of the cast and crew and Erica for believing in it in a bigger way.
You mentioned you weren’t sure about playing Mahalia. After completing your first feature, are you interested in doing more acting?
Oh, absolutely! I would love to. What I was uncomfortable with was the weight of it. I started to understand the weight. It had nothing to do with being a feature. It was the weight of a character. Who wants to play Mahalia? Yeah, go ahead. No joke. I’m R&B. Gospel is different, so you really have to understand what you are doing.
Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story premiered Tuesday, April 19, 2022, at the 30th Annual Pan African Film & Arts Festival in Los Angeles, California. Tickets for the festival viewing are available here and make sure you keep your ear to the ground to find out when this film will come to a screen near you.