We cannot truly understand The Faith of the Dreamer without understanding racial trauma
In this short video, Mercer Distinguished Professor Chester J. Fontenot Jr. and therapist and trauma expert Crescenda Jones explain the origins and impact of racial trauma, as well as factors which have helped Gwendolyn survive and thrive in spite of traumatic experiences of racism.
“What sets racial trauma apart from PTSD is the constant and cumulative impact of microaggressions and other forms of racial discrimination… The aspect of ‘post’ outlined in PTSD does not reflect racial trauma because BIPOC individuals continue to consistently live through societal oppression.”
— Complex Racial Trauma (2022)
“The kind of truth-telling that gives hope.”
“Racial trauma involves the experience of danger related to both past and ongoing prejudicial treatment, including physical violence, threat of harm, shaming interactions, and ongoing vicarious trauma due to witnessing harm to other Black, Indigenous, and people of color.
Beginning in childhood, Black people are often subject to a surrounding environment fraught with threats to physical and psychological safety and sense of self... ongoing insidious affronts to the emotional experience, identity, and core value of Black people – from microaggressions to overtly discriminatory verbal abuse. In addition, vicarious exposure to chronic racial violence – witnessing the denigration, invalidation, threat toward other persons and communities of color - represents a prolonged exposure.
Although racial trauma can lead to classic symptoms of PTSD, the long-term impact is more congruent with an understanding of complex trauma.”
— The Foundation Trust