Daily Archives: July 3, 2022

The more a congressional investigation reveals about the Jan. 6 insurrection, the more outrageous it is that anyone would try to compare it to the Black Lives Matter protests that swept the nation after George Floyd was murdered.

Its not even apples and oranges. Its apples and tractor trailer parts.

And the fact that an American football coach could still be employed after trivializing the violent assault on our government as nothing more than a dust-up says so much about whats wrong with our country right now.

In the days before the Jan. 6 hearings started, Jack Del Rio, the defensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders, weighed in with a controversial tweet.

Would love to understand the whole story about why the summer of riots, looting, burning and the destruction of personal property is never discussed but this is ??? the coach wrote.

Then he doubled down in remarks to reporters after a team practice.

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Peoples livelihoods are being destroyed, businesses are being burned down no problem, Del Rio said. And then we have a dust-up at the Capitol, nothing burned down and were gonna make that a major deal?

Del Rios specialty is defense, but he sounded more like the offensive coordinator.

Del Rio apologized, was fined $100,000 and deleted his Twitter account, straight out of the lack of accountability playbook.

But the damage was already done.

Add Del Rio to the growing list of big mouths who wrongly assume that exercising their First Amendment right to free speech means saying anything they want without consequences.

Dust-up, he said. Nothing burned down.

Because the one revisited last week by the congressional committee shows an angry lynch mob hellbent on literally hanging Mike Pence, the vice president of the United States, whose fuse-burning boss did all but tie the noose.

Maybe our supporters have the right idea, then-President Donald Trump told staffers at the time, according to U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the vice chair of the House select committee investigating Jan. 6.

What insurrection did Del Rio see?

Because the one revealed in new, behind-the-scenes footage during the hearings showed frenzied rioters and traitors relentlessly assaulting police officers, threatening elected leaders and storming the venerable halls of government.

Shots were fired in the Capitol, where elected officials were huddled under their desks. Insurgents were walking door to door shouting, Where the f--- are they, and Trump won that election.

It was carnage. It was chaos, Cheney said. It was just hours of hand-to-hand combat, hours of dealing with things that were way beyond any law enforcement officer has ever trained for.

At least the Black Lives Matters demonstrators were protesting something real, not some voter fraud lie concocted by the Contriver-in-Chief.

George Floyd died, with a police officers knee in his neck. He was on the ground in handcuffs. Everybody saw it.

Donald Trump lost an election. Nobody stole it from him. He sicced a mob on America, and everybody saw it.

We will never give up, Trump said that day. We will never concede. It doesnt happen. If you dont fight like hell youre not going to have a country anymore.

Apples and oranges. Its more like apples and costume jewelry designs.

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Black Lives Matter and the truth about Jan. 6 - Greensboro News & Record

Back in May, Patrisse Cullors, an activist and one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter Movement, took to Instagram to explain what had taken place outside of her home. According to her, Candace Owens, a conservative influencer, showed up in her neighborhood. Cullors claimed that Ownes, accompanied by a camera crew, was "demanding" that she come outside and answered her questions.

It didn't take long for Owens tosee Cullors crying on camera-- which urged her to issue a response. The political commentator defended her actions and labeled the co-founder as a liar, claiming her narrative was false and that she had no idea she was inside her home at the time.

Not only did Owens speak on the issue, but she also released camera footage of what took place that day. In the clip, Owens kept her composure while talkingto the security guard and she even offered tovacate the premises.

While the issue took place weeks ago, Owens, seemingly, isn't done talking about it. Recently, she appeared on Akademiks'Off The Recordpodcast, a show centered around entertainment, music, and culture. AK reminded the 33-year-old of the incident, to which she responded, "I would never be a person that would show up and be banging on somebody's door."

When speakingabout how she wound up outside of the property in the first place, Owens admitted that it had been a mistake. "There was a bunch of properties that we were visiting," she started, "and I was actually confused when I walked up to it. I thought that... was the community house-- we went to that one right after. They're both just mansions in L.A."

The Connecticut-born activist alsoexpressed her initial reaction to seeing Cullors weeping on social media. "She was on Instagram fake crying, pretending that she had survived some attack, and I'm like, 'Are you kidding me? I couldn't have been nicer,'" she stated.

Check out the clip below.

Excerpt from:

Candace Owens Talks Pulling Up To BLM Mansion & Patrice Cullors' Reaction - HotNewHipHop

This spring marks two years since Louisville, KY, police killed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor. Officers shot 36 rounds of ammunition into her home in a bungled raid serving a no-knock warrant, realizing later that the suspect they were looking for was already in custody. The police who shot her could have intervened to save her, but they didnt; in Kentucky, as in most states, police are not obligated to deliver medical aid to people theyve shot or maimed.1

In concurrence with the lynching of George Floyd, Breonnas death sparked nationwide uprisings and prompted vigorous debates about the polices role in public safety. Coalitions like the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) and organizations like Black Visions brought attention to abolitionist arguments that the only way to prevent deaths such as Mr. Floyds and Ms. Taylors is to take power and funding from police and reinvest those resources into other public safety measures.

Breonnas shooting was unusual in that, unlike most police shootings of Black women, it garnered significant media attentionalthough some argue only after the avalanche of news about the death of Mr. Floyd.

Police in America have killed 366 people so far this yearroughly three people a day according to data from Mapping Violence, a nonprofit research group. Their victims include Black women, amongst them Tracy Gaeta, a 54-year-old grandmother who was shot to death on February 22 in Stockton, CA. Ms. Gaeta backed her car into police officer Kyle Riberas police vehicle. In return, Ribera fired 30 rounds into Ms. Gaetas car, killing her. Although Ms. Gaeta was unarmed, Ribera was unrelenting, stopping briefly to load more bullets into the chamber of his gun then continuing to unload his weapon.

Black female victims of police violence also include children like 16-year-old MaKhia Bryant, who was killed last spring in her hometown of Columbus, OH, after police officer Nicholas Reardon was dispatched to quell a fight among foster youth. Within seconds of arriving, Reardon shot MaKhia. As police often do to Black people, Reardon justified his use of excessive force by attributing superhuman attributes to the adolescent; he claimed that MaKhia appeared bigger than him so he didnt think mace or other non-lethal approaches would be effective.2

This kind of excessive force by police isnt the exception when it comes to deadly encounters with Black women. Its the norm. Yet, while media attention of police shootings of Black men has increased dramatically thanks to the Black Lives Matter movement, the grievous violence Black women suffer at the hands of police continues to attract little to no media attention.

Rather, at present, Black boys and men remain the face of police brutality and state-sanctioned violence in the US. Their deaths and the organizing that follows have given rise to powerful mass uprisings for racial justice and Black liberation. Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Eric Garner, Mike Brown, George Floydwe know their names. This is important. Black women and girls deserve the same recognition, rage, and people-powered response. As professor Brittany Cooper smartly asks, Why does it remain so difficult for outrage over the killing of Black women to be the tipping point for national protests challenging state violence?

The relative invisibility of Black womens experiences of policing in the US is a product of Black womens social positionality: Black women sit at the intersection of patriarchal misogyny and anti-Black racism. Patriarchy deploys ideological and physical violence to objectify and repress women in the interest of male dominance, denying womens fundamental humanity. Anti-Black racism, an essential part of the racial capitalism that structures US (and global) society, involves, as a professor of African American studies Dr. kihana miraya ross explains, societys inability to recognize our humanitythe disdain, disregard and disgust for our existence.

Existing at this intersection means Black women are doubly disregarded, and they are plagued by both hypervisibilitythe experience of being overly scrutinized when our bodies are stereotyped or commodifiedand invisibilitywhere violence against us is ignored or disregarded. This dualism makes talking about state-sanctioned violence toward Black women and girls hard, and it makes communicating about and organizing for a world that keeps us safe even harder.

The fight to defund the police and reimagine public safety is part of a larger, long-term social justice strategy to divest structural resourcesi.e., tangible recourses such as money, member networks, and organizational power3from harmful institutions such as the police, and to reinvest those resources into common-sense approaches to public safety. However, money isnt the only currency organizers must rest from the powerful. They must also take ownership of symbolic resources, which shape how we valueor fail to valuethe lives of Black women and girls, including transgender women and girls.

Such resources include words, signs, images, music and even bodies [which] shape our perceptions of reality and invite us to act accordingly.4 Social movements use these symbolic resources to expose patterns, cultivate compassion, recruit members, inspire collective action, and build public will for sweeping social changes. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter is a symbolic resource, as was Emmitt Tills open-casket. Tills mother, Mamie, believed people should see what is often concealedthe ghoulish manifestations of white supremacy.

As we lay the foundation for new public safety infrastructure in the United States, the control and distribution of symbolic resources, including narratives, can be deployed to make the invisible visible. For Black women and girls that means exposing the underlying network of intersectional, systemic narratives, stereotypes, and myths that result in our hypervisibility, invisibility, and dehumanization in life and death.

Narratives are collections of stories, refined over time, through which we make meaning of the world. Narratives and stories differ. To quote the Narrative Initiative, What tiles are to mosaics, stories are to narratives. The relationship is symbiotic; stories bring narratives to life by making them relatable and accessible, while narratives infuse stories with deeper meaning.5 Such meaning frames our worldview and understandings of our daily experiences, including our relationships with others, peoples behaviors, social structures, and global events. In sum, narratives are the foundation of our ideologies and belief systems, which shape our actionsand theyre powerful.

In all societies, multiple, competing narratives circulate, but some narratives are hegemonicor dominantcentering the desires, beliefs, and values of dominant groups. Hegemonic narratives deploy science, law, and cultural difference to devalue and dehumanize certain groups of people, normalizing inequality and exploitation. These beliefs are then reinforced in social institutions, including churches, schools, and the media, and in interpersonal interactions.

Throughout US history, hegemonic narratives have portrayed Black people as inherently inferior, deviant, and shiftless. One such narrative appeared in the widely circulated1965 Moynihan Report. Rather than focus on systemic employment and wage discrimination, the report argued that single-parented households and the breakdown of the nuclear family led to a culture of poverty in Black communities. This narrative of Black pathologysingling out Black people as the source of our own, and the countrys, social problemshas old roots and persists today.

Anti-Black narratives are gendered, meaning they target Black women and men in different ways. In particular, they have consistently stereotyped Black women as sexual deviants and unfit mothers. Such narratives have accumulated power over time and hold sway over our capacity to empathize with Black women and our perceptions of who does and does not deserve to benefit from public safety measures.

Today, for example, more than a third of Black women experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime. Yet according to a Brandeis University study, prosecutors file chargesagainst just 34 percent of attacks reported by Black woman, compared to 75 percent of attacks reported by white women.6 According to research by the African American Policy Forum, the police are often perpetrators of sexual violence against Black women.7 Former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw, for example, raped and/or sexually assaulted at least 13 Black women over several years.

In a future where public safety includes the welfare of Black women and girls, we have to interrogate how narratives of sex and race determine who is considered part of the public and from what and whom they need to be kept safe. As NYU history professor Jennifer Morgan, author of Reckoning with Slavery: Gender, Kinship and Capitalism in the Early Black Atlantic, writes, you need so many lenses to see all the different ways in which we are still grappling with the legacies of hereditary racial slavery in this country that you cant just look at it from one perspective. Youre going to miss so many other ways that this is being made manifest.

The narratives circulating around Black women in America contribute in essential ways to the hypervisibility and scrutiny Black women experience when alive, and to the erasure and invisibility Black women like Ms. Taylor, Ms. Gaeta, and MaKhia share in death. As professor Cooper writes about police killings of Black women, in a world where the pains and traumas that Black women and girls experience as a consequence of both racism and sexism remain structurally invisible and impermeable to broad empathy, these killings recede from the foreground quietly.8

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The narratives that shape how we valueor fail to valueBlack women and girls have their roots in slavery; over time, they have accumulated immense power. To justify slavery, European and white settler experts exploited sciences growing influence, developing theories that argued that Black people were the result of an evolutionary diversion. According to such scientific racism, while white people evolved thanks to their environments and inherent biological traits, Black people remained evolutionary stagnant or regressed, resulting in a host of inferior qualities, including laziness, stupidity, hypersexuality, and deviancy. In other words, Black people were more akin to beasts of burden than people, and it was justifiable if not laudable to treat them as commodities from which enslavers extracted value.

The slave plantation was essential to the national and global economy, and it took shape within a patriarchal society that reduced women of all races to mens sexual objects and breeding machines. While white womens sexuality was policed to ensure the purity of the white race, Black womens reproduction became a brutal business enterprise designed to perpetuate the institution of slavery. Stated otherwise, the first role of Black women in US society was not that of a mother, let alone citizen, but as producers of an enslaved labor force.

While white women bore responsibility for transferring superior whiteness to their offspring, Black women bore responsibility for passing down inferior Blackness. As professor of law, sociology, and civil rights, Dorothy E. Roberts, writes in her classic book, Killing the Black Body,

For three centuries, black mothers have been thought to pass down to their offspring the traits that marked them as inferior to any white person. Along with this biological impairment, it is believed that black mothers transfer a deviant lifestyle to the children that dooms each succeeding generation to a life of poverty, delinquency, and despair. A popular mythology that portrays black women as unfit to be mothers has left a lasting impression on the American psyche.

In other words, according to hegemonic narratives, Black people were to blame for their own problems, and this blame resided in particular with Black women, the producers of Black children.

After emancipation, this myth that Black women wereby virtue of their reproductive powerthe source of Black inferiority continued to permeate US culture, and stories of bad Black mothers were ubiquitous. Eventually, these stories gave rise to the welfare queen narrative, according to which Black women took advantage of social programs, misappropriating the tax dollars of hardworking Americans. Given that anti-Black racism barred many Black women from accessing public services, this narrative, which had no factual foundation, rendered Black female welfare recipients hypervisible. It also burdened Black women with the stereotype of the welfare queen who, as the Frameworks Institute writes, is portrayed as a pathologically greedy, lawbreaking, deviant, lazy, promiscuous, and Cadillac-driving Black woman who cheats the system and defrauds the American people.9

For much of US history, law enforcement meant implementing laws designed to subjugate Black people and uphold white supremacy. The first slave patrols, created in the Carolinas in the 1700s, were made up of volunteer white men who hunted enslaved escapees and squashed rebellions led by enslaved people to free themselves. Such policing continued in southern states through the end of the Civil War.

Even after emancipation, southern plantation capitalism relied on cheap Black labor. So, although the 13th amendment technically freed some four million Black people in 1865, southern states swiftly implemented Black Codesa combination of harsh vagrancy and contract lawsto keep Black people indentured. The police were responsible for enforcing these laws.

In 1868, the 14th amendment was ratified, and Black Codes were abolished, theoretically granting Black people equal protection. However, Jim Crow laws that legalized racial segregation quickly took their place. Black people were forbidden from living in predominately white neighborhoods. Theaters, restaurants, pools, and even water fountains were segregated. Black people who violated these rules risked violent interactions with police, resulting in unjust arrests, beatings, or death.

As Jim Crow evolved so too did the violent and lethal relationship between police and Black women. During slavery, hegemonic constructions of Black womanhood invisibilized Black womens humanity, propagating stories that justified our rape and forced reproduction. Such stories alleged that Black women were easy and responded eagerly towards any sexual advance. During Jim Crow, the stereotype of the promiscuous Black woman converged with growing anxieties that promiscuous women destroyed families and communities. Increasingly, cities passed laws against public-disorder, including vagrancy and prostitution. In her book, The Streets Belong to Us: Sex, Race, and Police Power from Segregation to Gentrification, Anne Gray Fischer argues that the police who enforced these laws targeted Black women, whom they viewed as both sexually deviant and likely to produce a new generation of criminals. According to Fischer, sexual policingthe targeting and legal control of peoples bodies and presumed sexual activities10disproportionately impacted Black women, as did the mass misdemeanor policing that followed in its wake.11 In other words, by virtue of racist patriarchal narratives, Black women were hypervisible to police, with often violent results.

As the cases of Breonna Taylor, Tracy Gaeta, and MaKiah Bryant reveal, today, when Black women interface with police, the outcomes are still violentand sometimes fatal. According to reporting from the Washington Post, Black people are killed by police at more than twice the rate of white Americans, and Black women are fatally shot at rates higher than women of all other races. Since 2015, police have fatally shot 247 women. Of these women, 48 were Black, accounting for 20 percent of the women killed.12

Though pervasive, however, police violence against Black womenand to a more severe degree against Black transgender womenremains structurally hidden. This means that when you look at the most obvious places these stories and experiences should be documented and contended within the media and policy documentstheyre absent. This invisibility is a product of long-standing narratives that rupture empathy and compassion with Black women and exclude Black women from the public.

Narratives are part of the activists toolbox of symbolic resources, and indeed, the Black Lives Matter movement has changed many of the narratives around Black people, crime, and policing. The movement has embraced a framework of narrative power, whereby social movements take advantage of political opportunities to construct counter narratives that disrupt hegemonic thinking and expand collective perceptions of what is socially, economically, and politically possible. Narrative power goes beyond a cursory understanding of a problem, using symbolic resourcesincluding ethical storytellingto radically shape the rules and norms by which we live.

This type of analysis has its roots in Black feminism. A framework that insists on the simultaneous eradication of racism, sexism, and classism, Black feminism articulates Black womens experiences where the feminist and civil rights movements failed to do so, making the invisible visible through intersectional analysis and storytelling. Indeed, Black feminism inspired intersectionality, the recognition that many of us hold concurrent identities that impact our lives. Today, Black feminism continues to expand as a framework, as organizers and thinkers like Charlene Carruthers build on it by making explicit the influence of queerness in the politic of reimaging society away from patriarchal sexism and anti-Black racism.13

The Black Lives Matter movement has followed in the footsteps of Black feminists. In a recent interview with Jacobin Radio, historian Donna Murch argues that through the use of symbolic resources, the Black Lives Matter movement delegitimized narratives of Black pathology that were used to justify the wars on poverty and drugs and the militarization of police in Black communities. In turn, the movement put the blame for Black suffering where it belongson the staterecasting Black pathology as state-sanctioned violence, which includes any forms of harm produced, promoted, and/or institutionalized by the state to the detriment of Black women, their families and communities. Through decentralized organizing, policymaking, electoral justice, a narrative power strategy, and other tactics, M4BLan ecosystem of Black-led organizationsis using symbolic resources to reframe how we understand Black suffering in America and offer a vision for how to reduce it.

Increasingly, organizers and scholars are also intervening into the erasure of Black women and girls. One such intervention is the #SayHerName camping launched by the African American Policy Forum in 2014. #SayHerName is a symbolic resource that provides communities routinely excluded by mainstream media institutions with a platform from which to speak our truths and replace narratives that reflect a single subjective angle with those that include our voices, stories, and lived experiences.

BYP100s She Safe We Safe is another campaign to put an end to violence against women, as well as gender non-conforming people.She Safe We Safe uses counternarratives to call for the reallocation of funding from the police to community-run programs that address gender-based violence in Black communities. In 2021, in collaboration with Times Up, me too international launched We, As Ourselves, a narrative power campaign to make visible the stories of Black survivors of sexual violence and to reshape the narrative around sexual violence and its impact on Black survivors. These are critical interventions by Black-led organizationsand we need more.

The humanity, freedom, and self-determination of Black women and girls are directly connected to the symbolic resources and power we have to define the problems we are working to solve. Who we collectively agree has the power to define both these problems and their solutions matters. In the next part of this series, Ill explore the elements of the narrative power framework. In the third and final piece, imagining were in the near future, where what was once invisible is now common sense, Ill explore how we use symbolic resources to reimagine public safety for Black women and girls.

Link:

To Build a Public Safety That Protects Black Women and Girls, Money Isn't the Only Resource We Need - Non Profit News - Nonprofit Quarterly

The term gaslighting, as you might already know, refers to a particular type of emotional abuse where someone is made to question the validity of their experiences, feelings, and beliefs.

When this form of manipulation is used specifically to undermine or minimize someones experiences of racism, its called racial gaslighting.

Racial gaslighting mostly affects People of Color, according to Jason Cunningham, LMHC, a therapist at Alma.

One of the earliest mentions of racial gaslighting occurs in a 2016 research paper by Professor Angelique Davis and Dr. Rose Ernst. This study highlighted the ways individual acts of racial gaslighting can contribute to white supremacy at large.

Racial gaslighting can be intentional or unintentional, explains Heather Lyons, a licensed psychologist and owner of the Baltimore Therapy Group. But regardless of whether someone actually intends this manipulation or not, racial gaslighting can still lead to mental and emotional harm.

Learning to identify it when it happens can help you handle it more effectively. Heres how to recognize racial gaslighting and what to do about it.

Racial gaslighting is unfortunately very prevalent, says Dontay Williams, a licensed professional counselor and CEO of The Confess Project. It happens in the education and healthcare systems, at workplaces, and in the mainstream media.

The spectrum of racial gaslighting can range from direct statements like, Not everything has to be about race to subtler comments like, Are you sure thats what really happened? explains Krystal Jackson, LPC, founder and clinical director of Simply Being Wellness Counseling.

A few examples of racial gaslighting in various contexts:

If a teacher attempts to undermine the ongoing impact of racism, that can be considered racial gaslighting, says Shontel Cargill, a licensed marriage and family therapist and Regional Clinic Director at Thriveworks.

For example, they might say something like, Yes, slavery happened, but thats in the past, or We shouldnt focus on just the faults of [problematic historical figure].

Say one of your colleagues repeatedly calls two Asian American employees by each others names.

When you call this out, your colleague says, I dont mean to be rude. Its just because they look so much alike, you know?

This response shifts the conversation to your colleagues intention, not the impact of the microaggression an indirect or subtle discriminatory slight against members of a marginalized group.

In short, Lyons says, they miss the point that these interactions can have severe emotional and professional consequences.

Cargill offers another example to consider: A co-worker who dismisses your experience with racism by saying something like, Stop playing the race card.

Maybe your partner makes a racially insensitive comment and you confront them about it, pointing out why the remark is problematic.

They say, Dont be so sensitive it was just a joke. That also counts as racial gaslighting, Lyons says.

Racial gaslighting can also show up in friendships, according to Cargill. Maybe you have a friend who says things like, I dont see color. This misguided attitude minimizes and dismisses the racism, discrimination, and microaggressions People of Color face on a regular basis.

Video footage of George Floyds death clearly shows a white police officer kneeling on Floyds neck for over nine minutes while he pleaded about breathing difficulties, Williams points out. However, officials initially claimed his death was an accident.

This contradicted what we had watched, says Williams. Its a clear example of a situation where reality was dismissed in the context of race.

Another example of racial gaslighting? The All Lives Matter movement. This racist rebuttal to the Black Lives Matter movement effectively dismisses the issue of racism, even prompting some Black Lives Matter supporters to reconsider their beliefs.

Racial gaslighting can negatively affect your physical and mental health, not to mention your sense of identity, safety, and self-worth. As a result, it can have a far-reaching impact on your job and school performance, relationships, and other aspects of your life.

A few of the potential consequences include:

When it comes to race-related microaggressions, research has found that the denial of racism in other words, gaslighting remains a very common theme. Researchers call this type of microaggression a microinvalidation.

In one small 2020 study, Black college students on predominantly white campuses reported numerous microaggressions. These experiences caused distress and confusion, but they also led students to question their own perceptions of events.

Racial gaslighting can be harmful because you need to trust yourself to feel safe, says Jackson.

As a result of racial gaslighting, you might find it more difficult to recognize instances of racism in the future.

A 2019 review found that microaggressions may cause feelings of:

Racial gaslighting reinforces systemic racism, thus perpetuating racial trauma that often leads to long-term effects on mental health, says Cargill. Furthermore, the accumulation of stressors such as racism, discrimination, colorism, microaggressions, intergenerational trauma, and more race-related stressors may lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

But experts have found plenty of other potential impacts:

Williams notes these effects are particularly problematic, given that People of Color remain notoriously underserved when it comes to mental health resources. This often makes it more difficult to access professional support when coping with experiences of racism, racial gaslighting, or any other mental and emotional health concerns.

A 2013 review linked perceived racism to lower psychological well-being and self-esteem in addition to physical health concerns like:

If others fail to believe and validate your experiences of racism, you might feel even more distressed or disoriented as a result, which can worsen the potential physical impact.

Gaslighting, in general, effectively keeps victims isolated and entrapped so perpetrators can control them further. Experts say racial gaslighting similarly fuels racism.

Racial gaslighting allows white groups to assuage their guilt and shirk responsibility while continually laying blame at the feet of those their privilege harms the most. The effect is a rigged inequitable society that calls itself fair and just, Cunningham says.

Racial gaslighting reinforces systemic racism, in part, because it can trigger deep feelings of self-doubt.

You might, for instance, catch yourself thinking, No, I mustve heard that wrong, or Maybe I am just too sensitive. As a result, you might feel less confident in your ability to acknowledge racism when you witness or experience it, and more hesitant when it comes to calling it out.

Perhaps a co-worker uses racial gaslighting to shut down your observations that in the last 5 years, only white people have received promotions at your company. Consequently, you may decide not to mention those concerns to your human resources department.

Its a denial of systems of oppression that turns the conversation from creating change to creating exhaustion, says Lyons, explaining that racial gaslighting puts you in a position where you have to argue your point, rather than work together to fight racial injustice.

Gaslighting decreases your ability to detect abuse in the future, which allows the behavior to continue. In a nutshell, thats what makes it so psychologically damaging.

The first step, then, to coping with the harmful effects of gaslighting involves learning to recognize it.

After having an experience with racial gaslighting, experts advise taking some time to check in with yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Trust what your body is telling you, Jackson emphasizes.

If the situation feels unsafe, Cunningham advises removing yourself as quickly as possible without engaging any further.

But if you feel comfortable doing so, you can feel free to address the racial gaslighting and why its harmful, Cargill says.

Rather than making an accusation that might put someone on the defensive, you could start by saying, I feel like Im not being heard when you say things like that. Why do you think you have trouble believing what I experienced and felt?

This approach can be disarming because it forces the person to reflect on their unconscious assumptions and instincts.

Just remember, youre in no way obligated to correct or fix someones racial gaslighting.

Its up to you to decide if you want to assist the person or educate them, says Cunningham. Its up to the privileged group to change.

Even if you dont feel up to confronting that person, you may want to share your experience of racial gaslighting. Lyons suggests doing so with a trusted friend or family member someone you know you can rely on for emotional support and validation.

Process the experience with people who understand and dont need education, she says.

Finally, know that racial gaslighting could contribute to emotional distress or other symptoms, including:

But you dont have to deal with these concerns alone.

Cargill recommends finding a therapist, particularly another Person of Color who specializes in racism and trauma, who can help you process and move forward from the experience.

Inclusive Therapists offers a database of mental health professionals you can search and filter by:

Get more guidance on finding and funding therapy as a Person of Color.

Maybe youre wondering whether youve ever been guilty of racial gaslighting yourself.

Its quite possible racial gaslighting can stem from beliefs or biases you didnt know you had, so it often happens unintentionally. It can also be triggered by white fragility. In short, you might end up rejecting someone elses experience to diminish your own guilt around racism.

Its important to first reflect on why you believe your opinion is more valuable than anothers, says Jackson. Self-reflection and the ability to be corrected are important if you want to avoid racial gaslighting. I would encourage you to be in a space of learning and observation, ask questions that are supportive, and take inventory of your own biases.

A few additional tips:

It also helps to maintain some awareness of your internal responses. When someone tells you about racism they experienced, what thoughts or feelings come up for you?

If you first find yourself evaluating the credibility of the claim, Lyons recommends getting curious about why that is.

Maybe you reject the idea because you find it too painful to imagine someone else being hurt, or worry about being lumped in with the bad guy.

Shift your attention to listening and getting curious, Lyons encourages.

Cargill advises getting educated on the who, what, where, when, and why of racial gaslighting, as well as its effects.

The more you know about racial microaggressions and systemic racism, the greater your chances of avoiding words or actions that perpetuate racism or at the very least, recognizing when youve made a mistake.

Also, stay open-minded and willing to learn about all communities and cultures, adds Williams.

Remember, its not your place to decide what experiences people have or havent had, and how they should or shouldnt feel about them especially when you can never fully relate to that groups experiences.

A crucial first step to promoting change is taking the lived experiences of People of Color at face value.

It may feel very uncomfortable to accept and admit to an act of racial gaslighting, but Cargill says accountability is key.

Mistakes are human, and most people mess up from time to time. The best thing you can do is acknowledge your behavior, take responsibility for it, and apologize. Then, take steps to learn from what happened so you can avoid it in the future.

Participating in efforts to address racial inequity and injustice can help you on your quest to educate yourself and unpack your own potential biases, in large part because it exposes you to new perspectives and solutions.

One option Cargill suggests? Joining a diversity, equity, and inclusion committee or council at your school or workplace.

Many employers offer diversity and inclusion training, which can teach more essential skills for identifying and addressing racial inequities and injustices like racial gaslighting.

If your company doesnt offer this training, you can seek it out on your own, or consider proposing it to your HR department.

Racial gaslighting downplays or outright denies the racism experienced by People of Color. This type of manipulation can reinforce systemic racism by leading you to question your thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

If you feel safe calling it out, you can try starting with an I statement about how their words made you feel or asking a question that prompts them to reflect on their behavior. Just know its never your job to educate or correct someone, and you should always prioritize your own well-being first.

After experiencing racial gaslighting, take care to give yourself space to process your feelings, remind yourself of the facts, and seek out whatever emotional support and encouragement you need either from trusted loved ones or a therapist.

Rebecca Strong is a Boston-based freelance writer covering health and wellness, fitness, food, lifestyle, and beauty. Her work has also appeared in Insider, Bustle, StyleCaster, Eat This Not That, AskMen, and Elite Daily.

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Racial Gaslighting: Definition, Examples, and Impact - Healthline

Wes Alcenat connected the conversation about the struggle for Black liberation to his research and racism today

The Office of the Chief Diversity Officer, in partnership with the Offices of Multicultural Affairs and the Provost, sponsored a conversation on June 16 with Wes Alcenat, assistant professor of history and urban, American and African American studies at Fordham. The talk, which was held over Zoom, consisted of a dialogue between Rafael Zapata, the universitys chief diversity officer, and Alcenat regarding the Haitian Revolution and its implications on Juneteenth today.

Juneteenth is an annual federal holiday celebrated on June 19 that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people in Confederate states and the abolition of slavery. Although U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, freedom was not extended to enslaved Black people in Confederate territories until June 19, 1865, when troops from the Union arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, and announced the executive order. Juneteenth did not become a national federal holiday until June 17, 2021, when U.S. President Joe Biden signed legislation into law.

The talk also focused on the Haitian Revolution, which Alcenat noted is relevant to Juneteenth due to the suppression of Black freedom. He referred to the news of the French Revolution being kept from enslaved Black people in Haiti and the two-year delay of the Emancipation Proclamations announcement to enslaved Black people in Confederate states as examples.

We have to look at Juneteenth as being directly connected to the legacy of the Haitian Revolution (and) this pattern of trying to undermine Black freedom, even as it actually exists on paper, he said.

Haiti, formerly known as the French colony of Saint-Domingue prior to its independence in 1804, was heavily relied on by France and the rest of Europe for its robust production of sugar and coffee. This demand led to the exploitation of Black Haitians, who were forced into indentured servitude on plantations.

When word of the French Revolution reached Haiti in 1791, the enslaved Black people of Saint-Domingue saw an opportunity to revolt, led by Toussaint LOuverture. The Haitian Revolution lasted until 1804 and is the only instance where an enslaved population successfully overthrew their colonizers.

In his response, Alcenat also highlighted the significance of another one of Haitis constitutional principles at the time, which stated that in order for an individual to become a Haitian they would have to first declare themselves Black; this principle set a precedent for Black Lives Matter as a slogan today.

During the talk, Alcenat highlighted the constitutional principles the Haitian revolutionaries were championing in response to the principles of the French Revolution that were not afforded to nonwhite people. One of those principles included the automatic guarantee of citizenship to anyone who was of Indigenous or African descent. Zapata connected this extension of citizenship and freedom from the revolutionaries to Black and Indigenous people from the diaspora and asked Alcenat about what this invitation meant to enslaved people in the United States specifically.

I call it, sort of, Haitian constitutionalism, whereby they constructed what I call a sort of a political reparations project that restored, in essence, symbolically, dignity to those who had previously been the indigenous inhabitants of the island, he said.

Zapatas question touched on Alcenats research, which focuses on the migration of Black people to Haiti throughout the 19th century in the years leading up to the Civil War. In his response, Alcenat also highlighted the significance of another one of Haitis constitutional principles at the time, which stated that in order for an individual to become a Haitian they would have to first declare themselves Black; this principle set a precedent for Black Lives Matter as a slogan today.

What it is saying ultimately is (that) the degraded, the dehumanized, the oppressed, those who are at the very bottom of society, were going to reverse this order, he said. Those who really do know what freedom is, because they also know what non-freedom looks like, are the ones who are going to define what freedom, what liberty is going to mean from now on.

Alcenat went on to describe that the assertion of Black freedom as a principle was the most expansive form of freedom that was allowed. He noted that in the context of a discussion on Black liberation, the conversation warrants shedding ones whiteness in order to identify with those who really know what freedom is because they have lived the experience of not being free.

It was the most universal and capacious way that they could reframe citizenship and freedom while, at the same time, cutting out whatever the moral hazards of race as a construction would be in the process, he said.

According to Alcenat, the Haitian Revolutions legacy recognized the concepts of race only historically without giving any validity to the white supremacist lens.

The second half of the call consisted of a Q&A session with Alcenat. Anne Hoffman, professor of English at Fordham, asked Alcenat about Haitis constitutional principles and whether or not they affected discussions of race in the greater context of history throughout the 19th century. In response, Alcenat noted that recognizing peoples history and what that history made of them needs revitalizing. He also outlined the legacies of the Haitian Revolution and the multicultural American abolitionist movement as an evolution of racial concepts and related their significance to Black Lives Matter today.

According to Alcenat, the Haitian Revolutions legacy recognized the concepts of race only historically without giving any validity to the white supremacist lens. He also added that the American abolitionist movement was the first mass multicultural, multiracial movement to indicate a new concept of what it means to be an American regardless of your shades of color and related this to the Black Lives Matter movement and its significance in defining freedom, Americanism and inclusion.

The point here is those who are the most dead, denigrated, the most despised, the most oppressed, those are the people who are to define what freedom is, he said. Once those people get to define freedom, thats when freedom really becomes universal.

The talk yielded nearly 80 people in attendance and concluded with a conversation between Alcenat and Zapata about what the future holds.

The talk yielded nearly 80 people in attendance and concluded with a conversation between Alcenat and Zapata about what the future holds.

Im still trying to make sense of this post-George Floyd moment, Alcenat said. I am still grappling with these legacies of Juneteenth and of the Haitian Revolution and what we now do in the post-George Floyd moment.

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Fordham Professor Speaks on Juneteenth and the Haitian Revolution - Fordham Observer

When True Whitaker was in the third grade, she had a school biography project. The assignment was to pick a famous person, do some research, and write a little bit about their life. Pretty normal stuff for an 8-year-old, and, one would think, a rather simple task for a kid whose dad is Forest Whitaker.

It was around the time my dad was shooting The Last King of Scotland, True, now 23, told The Post. My mom, my sisters, my brother and I flew out to visit him in Uganda.

Now for the plot twist: He was having a meeting with Nelson Mandela.

So I got to sit and talk to Nelson Mandela, and I was able to interview Winnie Mandela, who was his wife at the time. Theres a photo of me and Nelson Mandela holding hands and talking, and Im, like, eight years old, she laughed. I wish I was older so I could have really understood the importance how insane and iconic that moment was. Those types of experiences Ill cherish forever.

Such is the life of a celebrity scion, and a refreshingly self-aware one at that. True, the youngest of four children, was raised in Los Angeles by her mother, actress Keisha Nash-Whitaker, and her actor/director/screenwriter/producer dad, who has co-starred in Panic Room, Black Panther, The Butler and countless other films.

I feel like Im half my mom and half my dad. My mom has put a lot of her energy into me. Shes very outgoing, very funny I feel like the comedic side of me has been perpetuated by my mom, said True of Keisha, who split from Forest last year. My dad is funny too, but hes a little more quiet in public spaces. My mom is always on 10, in a good way.

True has inherited a lot of traits from her father, too: My wit and my empathy. I feel like hes taught me and my brother and sisters to approach life with a sense of understanding and openness to different types of people in this world to embrace different types of people, with different energies and from different walks of life.

Ive always been really close with both of my parents. Sometimes a little too close, maybeI feel like I share everything with them. Even if its like, Oh, Dad, I followed a cute guy [on social media] today! added True, who is single. Its literally just anything and everything. But I love that I feel like I can just be myself and not be scared of being judged by my parents. Im really grateful for the close relationship weve always had.

Another thing that runs in the family is a penchant for film and television. At 18, True moved from LA to New York City to pursue a degree in creative writing from NYUs Gallatin School of Individualized Study.

I feel like I took every creative writing course they had to offer, to figure out what part of writing I really wanted to hone in on. She graduated last year, and lives in New York.

Writing has always been an emotional thing for me. Whenever I felt overwhelmed with joy or sadness or any other type of emotion, Ive always turned to writing. I feel like sometimes when I speak Im not as concise as I could be when Im writing. It gives me a different sense of power, so Ive always loved it.

And yes, shes also interested in acting.

I acted in the last season of Godfather of Harlem, starring my dad. I had a character named Sandra. She was definitely a challenge, but I loved every second of it and, hopefully, because its shooting right now, shell come back, she said of the Epix series.

Although she didnt have any scenes with her father, True recalled the first time she saw him on set which was also her very first day of filming.

I didnt even know he was there at first. But when we wrapped, I walked off the set, and a guy came up to me and was like, Oh, you just missed your dad. I was like, What? I guess he was secretly watching with a little monitor somewhere.

Hes very supportive, she laughed. When I went back up to my dressing room, I found him in there with balloons and a bottle of Champagne, congratulating me. It was really special, of course, to be able to do that with my dad.

Ultimately, True hopes to continue both acting and writing professionally. In fact, since graduating from NYU, shes been working on a treatment for a TV series with playwright, screenwriter and director (Almost Christmas, First Sunday) David Talbert, who is also one of her mentors.

Im a trillion drafts into my series. Im hoping in the next few years you guys will see and be able to feel and hear my voice and understand the things that I care about, she said. Anything I work on will be something that means something to me.

While it remains to be seen whether shell star in the show if it gets made, she plans to continue pursuing other acting opportunities.

Ive been doing a lot of auditions. Im signed at William Morris [Agency], and I love my agent hes been giving me a lot of opportunities, she said. So hopefully thatll pick up soon, because Im really passionate about acting.

Whitaker is also passionate about social activism, as is her father. (Forest is an official advocate for the UNs Sustainable Development Goals, UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation, and the founder of Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative.)

No matter who I am, what family I came from, what my dad does, or what success he has, anywhere I go, I am a Black woman. So I will face the challenges that this country presents us due to its horrible history. As a very tall, dark-skinned Black woman, I feel my Blackness everywhere I go. Even when I go into a store, sometimes I feel like I have to either buy something or keep my hands in plain view, she explained. Im always gonna feel the weird microaggressions. But I also have a sense of power, of course, being a Black woman. I want it to be known that we deserve this type of recognition and success, to be able to live in the way that Ive lived. Im so proud that my dad, as a Black man, has been able to give this life and this legacy to us, a Black family.

Trues Instagram bio reads Black Lives Matter / Protect Black Women!, and in between family photos and selfies, youll find photos from marches and protests.

I stand up when I see things in the world happening that I think are wrong, she said. We need to put a little peace into the world, put some love and care into it.

Trues Instagram also features photos and videos from the most glamorous side of her life like debutante balls, red carpets, and celeb-studded nights out but she insists that her day-to-day reality is pretty normal.

I just try to work on my writing, and I spend time with the people that I love. Obviously, if theres an event that Im invited to, its sick to go and I love to be included. I always love to be thought of! But I wouldnt say Im doing it that often.

In fact, youre more likely to run into her at a karaoke bar.

My sister and I, actually. In our own time, we, like, practice. Well perfect a song, and then well just hop into a karaoke bar. Well be harmonizing, doing way too much, showing off our skills. We literally did it the other dayit was so much fun, True said.

Their current song of choice is an oldie but goodie, from 2007: Potential Breakup Song by Aly and AJ. Theyre kind of having a resurgence, so were embracing that.

Photos: Tamara Beckwith/NY Post; Stylist: Heather Blair; Hair: T. Cooper/crowdMGMT using Cricket Company; Makeup: Markphong Tram/ABTP using Maybeline; Location:PHD Rooftop at Dream Downtown.

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Meet Forest Whitaker's daughter True, a Hollywood star in the making - New York Post