Racial Trauma, Say Their Names & America’s Longstanding Violence Towards The Black Community: We Are Not Going Anywhere
My community remains traumatized and exhausted.
Our relationship with the “United” States has been nothing but toxic since our ancestors were forced to come to this country to have their very humanity and identity stripped and replaced with being deemed “chattel”/”property”.
For centuries, this country has put in place laws and reinforced belief systems that seek to further deny our right to exist.
Through beginnings that were not chosen by us, and were instead designed to “break us”, we have attempted to shift the narrative from an abusive relationship with this country to one in which we demand to be valued, and still hold out hope that this goal will be attained.
Yet, at every turn, this country continues to disappoint.
From claiming that we would be compensated for centuries of enslavement, rape, physical brutality, and the decimation of our families — — to the newfound “investment” in “equity and inclusion”.
When our ongoing rage at having to prove that we are owed more by a country that was built for FREE on the scarred backs of our ancestors — -fueled by the “breeding” of our matriarchs — -we are met with an insistence that we should “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps”
When the only pull up this country has given us was the lynching of our grandparents when their successes jeopardized white supremacist systems
This country owes us EVERYTHING, and daily provides evidence that it will give us nothing but pain.
In the times when we claim that we are also its citizens and that our interests should be represented within government, boardrooms, and other places of power — -we are met with “if you don’t like it, leave then”. — -with those insisting such refusing to address how this country stole us in the first place — -and systematically stripped from us the identities that would allow us to call any place home but here.
We do not need to go anywhere.
This is our home.
YOUR ancestors made it so.
Although our presence here was not sought by our ancestors, it was thrust upon us and we have sacrificed more in the founding of this country than many others who consistently claim that they are its creators.
Our relationship with this country is toxic.
It is violent, and one from which there is no escape for us
because we have been isolated from our ancestral communities and have nowhere to go.
When we think that this nation is beginning to SEE us, it reminds us
Through #BreonnaTaylor, #TaylorMcDade, #GeorgeFloyd, #DaunteWright, and even before their stories were told
#TamirRice, #PhilandoCastille, #RekiaBoyd, #TarikaWilson
That we must justify that we deserved not to die
And that often, our murders will be sanctioned by the same systems that we hope will give us justice
Each time, we hope — -because we want to believe that our fellow citizens will believe we warrant justice
Yet, at the same time, we know that it is unlikely that those same systems that have thrived on our oppression/marginalization will somehow grant us such
The trauma of Living While Black in a nation that never truly wanted us to LIVE in the first place, is emotionally and physically exhausting for us
Our hope, our rage, our resilience — -are all embedded in our ongoing fight to make this country what it needs to be for us
What it owes us
So, as we continue to mourn state-sanctioned violence, to #SayTheirNames
We fight to dismantle the systems that foster this, and to build one that will benefit all of its citizens
Even the descendants of those to whom you had no intentions of giving rights in the first place
Dr. Dent is a licensed psychologist. Her hardest job is being a Black Woman who centers the experiences of Black women and girls. She is tired of hashtags marking the state-sanctioned murders of Black people. This is her country and she is not going anywhere. Make sure to “Like” her page.