Racism, mental health crisis, and the Indian position (op-ed)
Historians know the 1896 Supreme Court’s Plessy v.
Ferguson decision legalized segregation in the United States, and 58 years
later the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision declared segregation
unconstitutional. Psychologists know the
Brown decision was influenced by psychological evidence that revealed, “Racial segregation
… Made black children in black schools feel inferior [undermining] their
motivation to learn.” (White children
were also damaged through segregation because it fostered a false sense of
superiority.)
Historians
also know the Brown decision launched the efforts that became known as the
“modern civil rights movement” which transformed American race relations for
the better, and Psychologists are fully aware that the “Great Society” programs
of the late 1960’s were attempts to repair the harm done by past
discrimination.
But
students of history and psychology might not know there was a lone voice of
dissent immediately following the Brown Decision
Zora
Neale Hurston, anthropologist and novelist, disliked the Brown ruling because
the NAACP argued racial segregation created feelings of inferiority among
blacks which stigmatized black culture and insinuated that all-black
institutions were second-rate. In 1955
Hurston said, “The whole matter revolves around self-respect … The American
Indian has never been spoken of as a minority … Because there is no whine in
the Indian … It is inconceivable of the Indian to seek forcible association
with anyone. His well-known pride and
self-respect would save him from that. I
take the Indian position.”
Now,
let's jump 64 years later to 2019, where a word like “microaggression” is used
to describe the height of racism minorities struggle to overcome in the 21st
century. This form of racism is
insignificant when compared to Jim Crow but the social scientist of this era believe
it produces the same psychological damage as segregation.
In
2014 the Journal of Counseling & Development did a study which concluded
racism affected mental health in direct and indirect ways. “It can inflict psychological trauma, create
unfavorable socioeconomic conditions that increase the risk of psychiatric
disorders by as much as threefold, and lead to negative feelings of self-worth
and wellbeing.”
In
2016 the Journal of Traumatic Stress published a study that said, Black
residents of Ferguson, who participated in the study had significantly higher rates
of post-traumatic stress disorders and depression than white residents in the
months after the Michael Brown police shooting.
In a
2017 article called: Racism and the Invisible Struggle of Mental Health in the
Black Community, the president of the Association of Black Psychologist, said,
“Racism and our response to it kills us more than anything.”
The
key phrase in that quote was: And our response to it kills.
Recently,
Milwaukee County declared racism a public health crisis. The executive director of the county believes
the declaration is a necessary step in addressing decades of race-based
inequality, and the county needs to engage every citizen in racial justice
work. The data cited to prove a crisis
showed “routine day-to-day discrimination - receiving poor service at a
restaurant or shop … managing a relationship with a bias boss or dealing with
regular microaggressions at work can, over time, lead to more rapid development
of heart disease.
To be
specific, this public health crisis is stating that microaggressions can kill,
but what’s killing me is no one, as of yet, took the Indian position.
First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 5/26/19
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