#probrown

Throughout the next couple of posts, you’ll be reading about long term effects of trauma, specifically transgenerational trauma, cultural trauma, and survivor syndrome. As a black youth in America, I noticed that some of the feelings and experiences I’ve experienced were not unique to me, my upbringing, or my location and as I grew older I realized they were the effect of long term disenfranchisement and the lack of identity created by intensive circumstances and oppressive systems. Many of the stereotypes and stigmas attached to black and brown communities in America are actually symptoms of a deeper rooted issue started many generations ago. As social media has become a bigger part of day-to-day life, The ability to communicate with peers nationwide has allowed this conversation to grow beyond advocators’ soapboxes. Issues that had been pushed aside we’re now getting the recognition and validation they deserved. One of those conversations being the discussion of transgenerational trauma, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. A term coined by Dr.Joy DuGruy, to describe the specific symptoms of the cultural trauma passed down to black Americans from their period of enslavement and ongoing oppression. As I begin to read some of the symptoms and hear more about veterans generational trauma I begin to identify it into everyday life, simple things that before would just seem like a difference in opinion, or values appeared to be long term negative mindsets passed on from people who raise them from a place of pain. Even with this pain, communities affected by cultural and transgenerational trauma continue to persevere, creating a place of refuge in culture for many generations, but as we get into a new decade it is time for us to begin looking at the unhealthy coping mechanisms we as individuals and communities have turned to in the midst of fear and oppression. It is time as young adults, for us to begin to and heal from these traumas and triggers and begin to prepare the next generations to be strong and capable adults, able to live up to their full potential, without feeling like they are inferior or incapable of success.

This descriptive video created by high school students, a psychologist, and other stakeholders shared a moving story of a true story of a Minnesotan family, that experience change transgenerational trauma. This video speaks on the historic racial disparity in school, housing, financial status, employment rates, and other areas of life in Minnesota. This video identifies the historic racial inequality are still apparent today due to the oppressive systems that are often unable to properly support clients. This concept is displayed through a full story that walks through the life of a young family trying to deal with everyday life while struggling to manage their natural trauma responses and maneuver through different systems. The story is shared by a physiatrist who worked with the mother in the story, she told it from a real point of view, even reflecting on her role in the story, and how her own implicit biases almost became a problem. I felt this video was a real example of what transgenerational trauma can look like in the community.

My name is Arthur Sangster and I am a Painter and Poet in training, who is studying at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. My work focus on my experience of being a Black queer navigating sexual spaces and microaggression plus figurative work. I am looking to volunteer and work with POC communities in Milwaukee and be involved in the Black community here Milwaukee and also, work with communities who face similar struggles like Black community in the US.