Thread by @Drnicolecb, Please do not share videos of amazing young black lives being stolen. [...]

Please do not share videos of amazing young black lives being stolen. Evidence shows that when African Americans watch videos of police brutality, racism and atrocious acts of hatred, our body reacts as if we are actually experiencing the event. 1/8

Cortisol levels rise, heart rate and BP become elevated, muscles tense and our body switches into survival mode - activating Fight/Flight/Freeze. Experiencing racism, microaggressions, systemic disenfranchisement and implicit bias is already traumatizing. 2/8

Witnessing the murder of our fellow man compounds that trauma. Trauma is cumulative. Long term exposure to toxic stress and trauma can increase the risk of developing significant physical and emotional problems (obesity, diabetes, hypertension, depression, cancer....
3/8

Substance abuse and even early death.) Our children should certainly not be exposed to these videos. There is a theory called the "Weathering theory". Basically, African Americans experience early health deterioration due to the chronic stressors we experience. 4/8

In some studies, African Americans were physiologically 10 years older than their White counterparts. These experiences literally wear us down!
So for your mental and physical health, please do not watch videos of black men, women and children being murdered.
5/8

We can still fight for them, speak for them and demand justice!

Resources
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/01/14/577664626/making-the-case-that-discrimination-is-bad-for-your-health

https://medium.com/racial-battle-fatigue/racial-battle-fatigue-what-is-it-and-what-are-the-symptoms-84f79f49ee1e

https://archive.thinkprogress.org/black-people-arent-making-things-up-the-science-behind-racial-battle-fatigue-9726fcebc938/

https://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicity-health/racism-stress

https://counselingcenter.illinois.edu/brochures/coping-race-related-stress

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://caps.ucsc.edu/pdf/coping-with-racism.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj8l87q2NbpAhUwlnIEHR1KDsoQFjAEegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw3pjgwfYr32fNUS1En9i4P_&cshid=1590673649946

6/8

Making The Case That Discrimination Is Bad For Your Health

The researcher who coined the term "weathering" talks with Gene Demby about health, hard data, and why it took so long for people to come around to the idea that discrimination hurts bodies.

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/01/14/577664626/making-the-case-that-discrimination-is-bad-for-your-health

Additional resources on how to manage race related stress

https://www.anxiety.org/black-americans-how-to-cope-with-anxiety-and-racism

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/culturally-speaking/201607/proactively-coping-racism

https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/cultural-psychiatry/race-based-traumatic-stress

https://csumb.edu/pgcc/coping-racism-discrimination

https://www.google.com/amp/s/today.uconn.edu/2016/08/mental-health-costs-racism/amp/

#trauma #racismistrauma #runforahmaud #adversechildhoodexperiences #aces #mentalwellness #
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How Black Americans Can Cope With Anxiety And Racism

Authors' Note: Within the Black community, we generally acknowledge and discuss experiences of racism and the detrimental impa...

https://www.anxiety.org/black-americans-how-to-cope-with-anxiety-and-racism

#mentalhealth

#guardyourheart #guardyourmind #guardyourspirit #anotherhashtag #notanotherhashtag #demandjustice #mindfulness #prayer #blackmentalhealth #weathering #BreonnaTaylor
#AhmaudArbery #GeorgeFloyd #weneedjustice #BlackLivesMatters

8/8

@shaunking please consider the above points and overall negative psychological impact that showing these videos has on black people. We don't need to see the murder to fight for justice

Great document with resources on how to be anti-racist https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BRlF2_zhNe86SGgHa6-VlBO-QgirITwCTugSfKie5Fs/mobilebasic

#antiracism
#antiracist #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #icantbreathe

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