In 2013, Emory University conducted an experiment on mice to determine if trauma could be passed on from one generation to another.

The first generation of mice was exposed to a certain smell. Each time the smell was introduced to the mice, they were given a small shock on the bottom of their feet. The consistency of the process led the mice to avoid the smell whenever the source of the smell was introduced.

Initially, scientists weren’t sure if it was learned behavior passed on to the offspring by their parents or if it was a neurological development. When the offspring were removed from their parents and placed under the care of unrelated adult mice, the mice still avoided the source of these smells.

The results were prevalent from generation to generation, indicating that the trauma was passed along biologically.

Dr. Joy DeGruy, author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, establishes that the same thing takes place in humans. The trauma experienced in one generation is biologically passed to the next, and so on. In other words, even if family secrets are kept and avoided, in an attempt to protect oneself and/or their offspring, the trauma they experienced is nonetheless passed along, leading to stress, depression, and various mental and even physical conditions.

The problem in the Black community is that racism/white supremacy has collectively had unparalleled effects on this demographic, from enslavement to Jim Crow to marginalization.

Making matters worse is the issue of a lack of health care options for a population that has been historically locked out from basic health care and generational wealth that would allow one to afford it. Added to that is the stigma our community often imposes on people struggling with mental health issues. It can be seen as a weakness.     

Consequently, we end up with related societal problems, including self-harm via drug and alcohol habits, gambling, and suicide. It can also lead to harming others. As the saying goes, hurt people hurt people.

In the 1940’s, Dr. Kenneth Clark and his wife, Mamie, studied the effects of segregation on Black children using dolls that only differed by skin color. Their findings led to school desegregation under the Supreme Court decision Brown vs the Board of Education.

What they found was that children were racially conditioned during their formative years, from birth through age 8, and even beyond. The children, regardless of skin color, consistently chose the “white” dolls to possess positive attributes and the Black dolls for negative attributes.

In 2010, journalist Anderson Cooper conducted the same test with similar results.  

Dr. Francis Cress Wesling, author of The Isis Papers, determined from her research that racism/white supremacy was based on the fear that those classified as “white” were afraid of being bred out of the human race.   

Today, we are seeing this fear manifest in aggressive efforts to erase the history of African Americans by redefining it as Critical Race Theory. In addition, Black people have been used throughout America’s history to create the wealth and power of “the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.” This structure has yet to change.

Healing must occur before we can move forward as a nation, and that must take place not only on a collective level but also on an individual level. As Dr. DeGruy states, this healing cannot happen without justice. And justice must take place with acknowledging a wrong done, repentance, recompense, and reparations.     

Dr. DeGruy shares an exercise she presented to elementary school children, where she gives one child a crayon and has the child walk out of the classroom, leaving the crayon on the desk. When the original owner of the crayon comes back into the room, she notices that her crayon is gone.

She asks who stole her crayon, and the class tells her which child stole it. Dr. DeGruy has that child come forward and acknowledge that they stole the crayon. She has her apologize to the victim of the crime and returns to her seat.

The children are all in an uproar, noticing that the crayon had not been returned. So, Dr. DeGruy asks, why isn’t an apology enough? The children replied because the stolen object had not been returned.

She makes the point that this is why a mere apology and seeking forgiveness are not enough to equate justice without changing one’s behavior and restoring what was stolen.

When it comes to generational trauma, African Americans have over 300 years of trauma that is passed along their bloodline, as individuals as well as communities. Our cultures bear this out in how we can be overly protective of our children stemming from enslavement when our children could be sold away to another plantation, raped, and even killed, i.e., Emmett Till and so many others, over 4,400 known lynchings.

These traumas affect how we relate to each other and even how we see ourselves. We still have much to overcome, and it is imperative that we change our thinking in how we see therapy and mental illnesses. We have yet to be treated for the generational trauma we have experienced and continue to experience.

We deal with encounters with law enforcement differently from our “white” counterparts. We speak to and treat our children differently. We not only tend to relate to our fellow Black folks in one way but code-switch for “white” folks in professional settings to make them feel comfortable around us.

So much of this takes place at subliminal levels until it is brought to our attention. This in itself tells us that we still have a lot of work to do.

In the meantime, we must not lose heart in the fight for true justice and avoid falling prey to what Dr. DeGruy refers to as “the illusion of inclusion.”