Thread replies: 11
Thread images: 4
Anonymous
"Telling it like it is" is detrimental to black people's mental health
2016-04-19 12:05:56 Post No. 71413440
[Report]
Image search:
[Google]
"Telling it like it is" is detrimental to black people's mental health
Anonymous
2016-04-19 12:05:56
Post No. 71413440
[Report]
>http://qz.com/663520/respectability-politics-are-making-black-americans-sick/
>According to the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, attributing success to personal characteristics instead of biased structural systems may negatively impact black Americans’ health.
>The psychologists found that participants who both strongly believed that the world was a just place and reported experiencing high levels of discrimination were more likely than other blacks to suffer from chronic illnesses and increased blood pressure. Why? Because respectability politics tells black Americans that what is happening to them in this country is our fault. In other words, we’re to blame for the 9.5% unemployment rate among black Americans, the police who fatally shoot unarmed black men, and the teachers who expect less academic success from black students. If we just pulled our pants up a little higher and turned our music down, the systematic discrimination that informs nearly every sector of American life would disappear. If the world is just, then the injustice we experience in it is on us.
>This thought is literally making people sick.
>Health care and mental health practitioners should work to educate themselves on the current status of racial issues in the United States. And they should encourage their black patients to reframe how they look at their experiences.
>By seriously considering the social systems and racist encounters experienced by black Americans, health practitioners may help their patients better assess their experiences and select tailored methods for health improvement. Those charged with caring for black lives should be among the first acknowledge that they matter.
