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Dana Brown, California's ACEs Science Statewide Facilitator, and Tracie Travers , Jobs for Maine's Graduates, JAG Main State Trainer, discuss the importance of acknowledging fear, loss, and vulnerability during the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes: Tips to build resilience Self-care strategies Multiple resources with hyperlinks are provided in this video designed to support school partners and their employees as they support students and communities. Video Link: Collective Trauma Healing...

By Melody T. McCloud, PsychCentral, June 10, 2020 It is past-time that this be publicly said: The term “African-American” is a misnomer for native-born Black Americans; and the media, and many Black Americans, need to stop using it . When you hear “African-American,” do you think of Charlize Theron, Elon Musk, Sienna Miller, or J.R.R. Tolkien? Probably not . You probably think of people naturally-blessed with various, rich skin tones; people who look like me, no tanning beds required. But...

By Christy E. Lopez, The Washington Post, June 7, 2020 Since George Floyd’s death, a long-simmering movement for police abolition has become part of the national conversation, recast slightly as a call to “defund the police.” For activists, this conversation is long overdue. But for casual observers, this new direction may seem a bit disorienting — or even alarming. Be not afraid. “Defunding the police” is not as scary (or even as radical) as it sounds, and engaging on this topic is...

By Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, June 10, 2020 On Monday, in response to the killing of George Floyd and nationwide protests against police violence, Democrats in the House of Representatives introduced a bill to reform America’s police departments by banning choke holds and tracking police misconduct nationally. The bill is unlikely to make it through the Republican-controlled Senate, but criminal-justice reform is now certain to be one of the top items in a potential Biden...

By Anne Milgram, CNN Opinion, June 13, 2020 In the wake of the tragic murder of George Floyd , the City Council in Minneapolis announced that it will disband its police department . The decision aims to reverse the unacceptable status quo, and face the reality of decades of failed attempts to advance police reform. And so, to eradicate the systemic racism that is woven into the fabric of our criminal justice system, the City of Minneapolis is pursuing a new model of policing. This is a bold...

Trauma Matters Delaware (TMD) feels it is important to share our thoughts with our community regarding recent incidents of violence against and deaths of African-Americans. We believe it is important to acknowledge that these incidents are not new, but rather evidence of long standing systemic oppression and structural violence that has traumatized African-Americans and communities of color. Expressions of pain, anger, and anguish shown over the past few weeks are symptomatic of this...

By Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, Medium.com, June 11, 2020 Like many of you, I have experienced the events of the past weeks with a profound sense of anguish. My heart goes out to the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. My heart breaks at the incomprehensible number who have been harmed by racist violence and by the inaction that has allowed those harms to take place. The images of protesters wearing face-masks in the streets, carrying signs that say “Black Lives Matter,”...

Americans were already struggling with historic levels of mental health problems amid the coronavirus pandemic. Then came the video of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police. Within a week, anxiety and depression among African Americans shot to higher rates than experienced by any other racial or ethnic group, with 41 percent screening positive for at least one of those symptoms, data from the Census Bureau shows. The findings — from a survey launched by the federal government...

The founder's voice from Arizona Trauma Informed Faith Community (AZTIFC) on racism and trauma informed care movement

Members of the 1199SEIU union, the nation’s largest healthcare workers’ union, kneel for eight minutes and 46 seconds, during a vigil. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters Long before a white police officer killed George Floyd and sparked nationwide outrage, long before Covid-19 began killing Black people at twice the rate of their white counterparts, doctors and health experts were raising alarms that systematic racism is itself a pervasive, deadly pandemic – one that kills both instantaneously...

By W. Ryan Powell, William R. Buckingham, Jamie L. Larson, et al., JAMA Network Open, June 11, 2020 Key Points Question Can neighborhood disadvantage, a social determinant of health, be incorporated into existing brain bank data to evaluate the risk of biological outcomes, such as Alzheimer disease neuropathology? Findings In this cross-sectional study using autopsy samples from 447 decedents, living in a disadvantaged neighborhood at the time of death was associated with an increased risk...

From The California Endowment, June 2020 Pain. Grief. Rage. Outrage. Frustration. Hurt. Ironically, at around the time that George Floyd pleaded for air while a police officer’s knee was lodged into his neck, our Board of Directors was scheduled to have visited the Equal Justice Museum and the Lynching Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama – a trip postponed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Lynching exhibit was thoughtfully constructed as a powerful reminder of America’s terrible past and history of...