Collective Trauma

The Southern Poverty Law Center reported more than a thousand hate incidents in the first few weeks after the election. Immigrant and refugee youth are taunted at school and told they’ll be sent ‘back.’  Blacks, Muslims, Jews, people who identify as LGBTQ, and women are threatened and harassed.

There is a collective sense of trauma over this shift in our moral order. Even people who are typically stoical and unemotional are consumed with anxiety, depression, emotional exhaustion, sleep problems, sadness, and fear.

But it is necessary to go forward with energy and conviction in this challenging time. At the individual level, there are self-care recommendations for exercise, meditation, healthy eating, connecting with friends, and disconnecting from the news for a while.

Because the sense of trauma is collective, the response ultimately must be collective as well – to organize, advocate, and get engaged. Begin with your local city. See important initiatives that passed in Minneapolis recently to stand up against a national registry and to protect school youth from checks into their immigration status. The first steps start in our own neighborhoods.