Joy Leary, author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, is an Afro American with a doctorate in social work. Leary has applied the concept of PTSD to the damage done to American blacks by slavery, segregation, mass incarceration and the racial wealth gap. All whites need to read this fine book so they will stop blaming black dysfunction on supposed black interiority. All blacks need to read this book so they will better understand their own experience in America.
Leary defines and describes trauma in this fashion:
"Trauma is an injury caused by an outside, usually violent, force, event or experience. We can experience this injury physically, emotionally, psychologically, and/or spiritually. . . . If a trauma is severe enough, if can distort our attitudes and beliefs. Such distortions often result in dysfunctional behaviors, which can in turn produce unwanted consequences. If one traumatic experience can result is distorted attitudes, dysfunctional behaviors and unwanted consequences, this pattern is magnified exponentially when a person [and a culture] repeatedly experiences severe trauma, and it is much worse when the traumas are caused by human beings."
Leary adds:
The slave experience was one of continual, violent attacks on the slave's body, mind and spirit. . . . In the face of these injuries, those traumatized adapted their attitudes and behaviors to simply survive, and these adaptions continue to manifest today.
Leary continues:
With the endorsement of slavery as a legal, acceptable and justifiable institution, the founding fathers committed America's original sin. . . . Since that time black America has labored to recover from the dehumanization of bondage, the offense of peonage, the outrage of the black codes, the affront of convict leasing, the indignities of Jim Crow and the ravages of poverty.
I would add "the humiliation of unjust mass incarceration and the damage of the current racial wealth gap." Leary then states: "The indifference of most whites to this black experience is contemptible."
Then Leary comments on the sanitizing of American history:
Studying history in American schools, we learn about the excesses of the Roman Empire, the viciousness of Stalin's Soviet Union and the brutality of the Nazis. . . . the barbarity of the Mongols and the cruelty of the Huns. . . . But missing from this list is one society that is responsible for some of the most gruesome crimes against humanity---the United States of America.
Leary recounts her visit to South Africa in 1994 when she visited two black villages---the healthy Ndebele and the damaged Onverwagt. In Ndebele, the children were confident, humble and secure. In Onverwagt which had once been enslaved, the damage was obvious; Leary states:
It was here that I experienced what felt to be a journey back to the American antebellum south. The women and men wore clothing similar to that of southern sharecroppers. They held their heads low and seemed unwilling to look any of us in the eyes, The villagers had social problems which bore a remarkable resemblance to those of urban America. They had problems with drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, crime and poverty. . . . The children were unruly, dirty, and engaged in aggressive and sometimes violent play. This was in stark contrast to the poor, yet calm and gentle nature of the Ndebele children.
Most Americans are generally familiar with the damage slavery and segregation did in much of the black community in Mississippi. By sharp contrast, there is a black town that is quite healthy---Mound Bayou. Google 'Mound Bayou Movement History' for a detailed story of the difficult but largely successful story of this all-black town in Mississippi. While far from perfect,
Mound Bayou was an oasis in turbulent times. . . . no racial codes. . . . a proud history of credit unions, insurance companies, a hospital . . . a variety of businesses owned by blacks. . . . also a quality education system.
Freed from systems of oppression, blacks can succeed. PTSD need not have the last word.
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