Article: The impacts of racism from the Academy of Pediatrics
Please check out this article on the impacts of racism from the Academy of Pediatrics.
The Traumatic Impact of Racism and Discrimination on Young People and How to Talk About It
Why This Matters This chapter describes the pervasive negative effects of racism on youth development, as well as on their health and well-being, and the toll it exacts on families and communities who have been racially marginalized. Approaching the topic of racism may not be easy. It can generate empathy, concern, and compassion as much as it can stir defensiveness, anger, hostility, and a wide host of reactions that lie along this continuum. We each approach racism differently according to our lived experiences, self-awareness and critical consciousness, and position in our stratified society. Approaching racism requires us to bring our most compassionate and mindful selves, to suspend emotional reactivity so that we can remain open to viewing the world from the perspectives of others, and to remember that we belong to each other. This chapter, especially crucial in these times of heightened social division, invites all of us to put ourselves into other’s shoes, regardless of who we are, our individual origins, or where we come from. In so doing, we may come to recognize our habits of harm, find our pillars of strength, discover the ways to heal, and come to a deeper understanding of what it means to care for one another. Because we belong to each other.