Intergenerational Trauma. African Descendants. America and Brazil. System of Racism. (II)
The culture of African descendants has been disrupted for many years. Generations of African descendants keep having the same problems that their ancestor like, feeling of inferiority and powerlessness. “This can result in a collapsed family structure that is passed to subsequent generations, thereby increasing susceptibility to historical trauma while decreasing resiliency (Journal of Multicultural, 2018). This is one of the reasons PTSD (pos traumatic stress disorder) is often in the African descendants’ lives. The communities where there is the felling of the disempowerment, increase the stress, isolation, anxiety and negatively. “Post-traumatic stress disorder rates are elevated among young people and health-care workers amid the coronavirus pandemic, some studies have found. Psychologists and psychiatrists are bracing for rising rates of the disorder, which is characterized by nightmares, flashbacks, difficulty sleeping, avoidance of situations that remind the person of the trauma and other lasting symptoms that impair functioning” (Wall Street Journal).
My forefathers were brought to Brazil as slaves and I am the 4th generation descendant. In my country, Brazil, we see it very clearly. African descendants, in majority, leave in poor conditions and are employed in jobs where there are few white people, like housekeeper and doorman. Only 5% attend college and because of lack of opportunities they become despondent and this leads to a higher suicide rates in this community, very similar to the United State of America. The bias in the society still exists and they do think that the black people are incapable, less intelligent etc. This bias which I would call systemic racism is directly responsible for this community to remain poor and lacking in opportunities to better their future. This is like a vicious cycle that continues generation after generation. The social system is related to these issues too. The black Brazilians are not “included” in the human rights. The boys are frequently killed by the military police, the system is “normalized” to “protect” the white areas in Brazil. The black kids at an incredibly early age, understand military police don’t like them. Most of these black kids are frequently stopped by the police and suffer from such humiliating situation almost daily, it’s like the continuation of treatment that slaves were subjected to by their owners. Brazil was the last country to have the abolition of slavery. In Sao Paulo, a couple of years ago, the government decided to “clean” the city by undertaking the displacement of favelas (ghetto). I remember the police killed many black men and disappeared with a lot of black people.
Furthermore, Brazilian slaves was constantly raped by theirs master, man and woman, this was a way of manifesting supremacy physically. Black Brazilian woman are frequently physically and mentally abused by someone within the family, friends and several times by husband. The carnival is a “festival” of sexualization, where the black women bodies is exposed to an indirect “commercialization”. The black people were used as an object to be used and thrown, and these continues in the present day. Black children start their sexual lives very early, around 9 years old and they are victim of human traffic and prostitution. People who have undergone child abuse by their parents/family will have trouble having normal relationships in life. This is because at a tender age they have experienced distress at the hands of people who were supposed to be their protectors. This makes them wary of ever trusting anyone other than themselves and that makes them unable to form any meaningful relationships in their life. The lack of concern with victims’ suffering in Inquisition accounts of sodomy, and the erasure of black sexual victimization from the myth of racial democracy, however, seems to be a case of coincidence, not causation, stripping away the ideological conceits of Brazil’s racist and sexual myths (The Americas, 2020).
The most of black people in Brazil, don’t know how to defend themselves against racism. Self-segregation is a way that some African descendants must avoid it, and this results in keeping the white supremacy intact and growing. Unfortunately, people who do not have financial resources do not have treatment and knowledge about how trauma can destroy their lives. Their priority is to have something to eat, work and support their children. “My brain flashed back to roaming the streets of Haiti as a child in search of work, sweeping hair and painting houses in Brooklyn, diving into the criminal life as a teenager” (A stone of hope, p. 141). The racism most of the time is “masked”. As an example, the media avoided to hiring black people for their casting and families with biracial members start very early the process of whiteness to make the “Africanity” disappear. I feel that something starts to change now, and the people is become more “open mind” for these issues. “No matter where you are, the traumas and consequences of being Afro descendants will follow us for life. We live in a world where most people don’t care about each other. Many people do not see psychological problems as a priority. The government needs to do a campaign of awareness to achieve all this. Just one helpline in case of suicide is not enough, the healthcare system must be completely restructured to treat trauma victims. This will help the entire social, economic and political system. Recognizing and understanding the process, and especially making good choices, will help to change our history.
In my journey as a middle aged, immigrant black woman, I realized that the system of racism is in everywhere and the consequences of this is almost the same. My parents did a good job of breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma. They always give me advices and tell me their personal experience. My father used to work in the same company for 35 years, he was a victim of racism several times, but he never gave up. He received a quality education and encourages me and my siblings to do the same. Sometimes I faced with intergenerational problems, but now I know how to handle them and overcome them. Trauma is a long process of healing but is not impossible to be healed for it. I always educate myself and try to help others educate themselves too.
The difference between African descendants and white people still exist. The wages for black people are different than they are for whites, schools still have segregation and housing and neighborhoods do not have the same conditions than white people have, proving that the remnants of slavery still really exist in the present day. Just like the English brought slavery to this country, the Portuguese did the same to my home country. We also deal with the same traumas related to slave ancestors. I feel African Americans have more hope than African Brazilians. Not only hope, but the ability to win and attain their goals. I believe this is because they have more opportunities and unity. They know that if they don’t do anything for themselves, nobody will do it for them, but African Brazilians are somewhat discouraged, believing that the opportunities don’t exist for everyone. I also notice that in the book “Stone of Hope”, Jim St. Germain, has a lot of help from the institution and from the college. I believe if he knew how many opportunities this country has, especially in NYC, where they have so many free resources, he would have reached his goal faster.
Like Jim St. Germain, I also met someone in this country who encouraged me to keep going. Because in my short time in this country, I have been faced with most of problems that African Americans deal every day, including racism and xenophobia. My friend was 89 years old when I met him. He did not see me as a stranger with a different accent or color but immediately treated me like his own. He was an intelligent man and had a big family who loved him. He was a Jewish person who was persecuted too. He showed me how he also had to go through biases and racial discrimination through his life. One of the ways to get over these disadvantages is to get educated. With determination and hard work anything is possible.
Two years ago, the award-winning actress Viola Davis gave us a wonderful speech about opportunity. She said if we don’t have the opportunity to show what amazing things we can do, it’s hard to get across the line of racism and prejudice. I saw this speech several times, and she inspires me. She is a winner in her personal life and career, which is what I wish for in my life, to be successful, inspire and help others to believe in themselves. Break the cycle of intergenerational trauma, requires knowledge, educate ourselves to get better opportunities, motivate, and perseverance. Overcome it and encourage others in the same place to do the same. This nation is a place where everyone can have a chance, we need to do 99% of the work and leave the rest to destiny, but in the end it will be worth it.
