All these news reports on racial injustice (and the absurd reactions) are not just disheartening, they can be traumatizing. This is a lot.
— Austin Channing (@austinchanning) March 11, 2015
— Zakiya Naema Jackson (@ZakiyaNaemaJack) April 30, 2015
I'm just at point where I don't want to further traumatize myself by watching them, so I don't. https://t.co/6lBa72ALAJ
— Question Everything (@SankofaBrown) May 14, 2015
This is a common theme on my Twitter feed these days -- black people mentioning that they are feeling traumatized by the continuous news reports, looping videos, etc. depicting police violence against black people.
This might be difficult for those of us who are white to relate to. We've grown accustomed to watching news of wars in far off places involving people whose skin is a different colour than ours, and this seems like a variation of that. Our senses have become dulled.
But for black Americans watching what is happening to their brothers and sisters in their own neighbourhood or in a city across a few state lines, this is real. Not just because real people are being killed -- in many cases, murdered -- by the police. But because they know it could happen to them just as easily. Just for walking down the street or looking at someone the wrong way.
The result is trauma, perhaps similar to being in a war zone. The world is not safe.
I think similar things also happen for lgbt people, when they read and see media accounts of anti-gay discrimination, bullying and violence.
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