Free Essay: Understanding and Addressing Racism-Related Stress for Healing and Unity

Intersectionality can be understood as the framework that describes the interconnection of different social categorizations like gender, class, and race and how they combine to create unique means of privilege and discrimination. This theory engulfs, taking into account the overlapping experiences and identities that define people to try and understand the complexity of the prejudice they face daily. Multiple sources of oppression can be used as an advantage or oppression; they include a person's religion, gender identity, race, and sexual orientation(Smith and Landor, 2018). These sources of oppression, coupled with other identity markers, have always been sources of oppression and advantage for a long time.

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Intersectionality helped me understand that various factors are used in defining a person and how society in general associates with the person. From the case study by Hart et al., Mychal is not regarded as a good person by Tamika's grandmother since he was locked up in prison. He is a convict who always makes the family view him as a lesser being who cannot handle the family's issues. Mass imprisonment has affected mostly people of color, with blacks being eight times more likely to go to prison than their white counterparts (Hart et al., 2017). Parents' incarceration often disadvantages the children since they tend to grow up without a single parent or both in extreme conditions. Black ex-convicts often find it hard to fit back into society due to the stereotypes they always have.

Intersectionality theory has enabled the understanding of the healing trauma caused by racism. Scholars have argued that there has been the marginalization of women of color based on the intersectional markers. They argued on the impact of classism, racism, and sexism on black women's everyday lives. An example is evidence of a black woman who is lighter in complexion being addressed as not being "black enough" Intersectionality addresses more than just race but is more concentrated on how the society associates with the people in the society (Smith and Landor, 2018). In order to properly understand the problems that people face and the trauma that they experience, there needs to be a framework that needs

Items I Would Wish Everyone in The Country Had to Engage With

"A Multidimensional Conceptualization of Racism-Related Stress: Implications for the Well-Being of People of Color" by Harrell.

The first item that I would wish that everyone in the country engage with. This item highlights the concepts associated with the stress levels that people experience due to racism. This is an important aspect for everyone to learn because it addresses great importance to the country. The world has evolved into a small, smaller place thanks to communication and advancements in travel. This has enabled people to move freely from one geographical place, searching for jobs and places to live. Over time people moved to different places, which brought about people of different origins to live together. The United States of America consists of groups of people from various walks of life and races (Harrell, 2000). These differences in color and origin brought about injustices such as racism.

Racism causes stress among the people experiencing it due to the discrimination that is associated with it. It can humiliate, confuse, hurt, traumatize, and even hinder individuals' or even communities' growth and proper functioning. Racism exists in most parts of society, and it affects both dominant and nondormant group members. Experience racism occurs in four general contexts, which everyone needs to understand in order to try and deal with them. These categories include interpersonal, cultural-symbolic, sociopolitical, and collective contexts (Harrell, 2000). Experiences of racism embedded in these contexts can be a major source of stress that can threaten individuals' well-being. Everyone must understand and embrace the challenges that define the true nature of racism-related stress and work towards avoiding it. When all people understand the problems behind racism-related issues and work towards dealing with them, it will address the context of racism in America.

"Toward a Psychological Framework of Radical Healing in Communities of Color" by French et al.

This is the second item that I would wish that everyone in the country engage with. There is a need for marginalized persons to heal from their trauma. America being the most multilingual, multi-racial, and multi-cultural country in the world, has a history of oppression against marginalized communities. This history of oppression was characterized by the enslavement of the population from Africa, labor-based exploitation of the Chinese and Mexicans, and indigenous persons' colonization (French et al., 2020). The people of color and indigenous individuals (POCI) require a framework that will assist them in healing the trauma faced due to racial injustice. The political climate in the United States has led to an increase in stress amongst POCI due to various occurrences that are racially targeted against them.

There is a sense of insecurity that is associated with being a member of a minority group. Recent occurrences have shown that Latino immigrants have started to implement policies blocking them from entering America. This has led to the separation of families as asylum seekers are always held in different camps with no definite assurance of how and when they will be united. This, coupled with the aggressive police treatment of the black community, has led to an increased risk for depression(French et al., 2020). There is an importance in dismantling the systems that contribute to race-based trauma to live in great harmony as a country.

References

French, B. H., Lewis, J. A., Mosley, D. V., Adames, H. Y., Chavez-Dueñas, N. Y., Chen, G. A., & Neville, H. A. (2020). Toward a psychological framework of radical healing in communities of color. The Counseling Psychologist, 48(1), 14-46. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0011000019843506

Harrell, S. P. (2000). A multidimensional conceptualization of racismrelated stress: Implications for the wellbeing of people of color. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 70(1), 42-57. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1037/h0087722

Hart, J. R., Roy, K. M., & Charkoudian, L. (2017). Clinical theory and intervention for families of incarceration. Contemporary families at the nexus of research and practice, 221-235. https://books.google.com/books

McNeil Smith, S., & Landor, A. M. (2018). Toward a better understanding of African American families: Development of the sociocultural family stress model. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 10(2), 434-450. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jftr.12260