Erasing Fact-Based History, Impact on Mental Health

If we read that “Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat”, wouldn’t most of us question why the arrest was even possible and at least try to understand why such laws were even put into place? If we add in that statement, “Rosa Parks, an African American, was arrested for not giving up her seat due to laws prohibiting blacks from sitting in the front of the bus.” Wouldn’t that contextualize the reality and facts of that time during U.S. history? Wouldn’t it also illustrate specific examples of how segregation played out in society? Furthermore, it allows us to engage in critical thinking about social structures, equity, and inclusion amongst the many things that affect our society, community, and individual mental well-being?

It appears political pressures happening in Florida are pushing publishers to remove race in some social studies textbooks. It’s not just in Florida, Texas has banned more books than any other state due to racial themes. There are some extreme cases where even math textbooks are banned. Yes, even math textbooks are being banned, claiming critical race theory.

Going back to erasing parts of the U.S. History, if we erase the fact that there were laws which required African Americans to sit in the back of the bus because the front was reserved for Whites, how do we as a society examine and have honest conversations about racism, abuse of power, and damaging forces that impact our mental health? The trauma experienced by marginalized groups can last for generations, known as generational trauma (Chokshi et al., 2022; Josiah et al, 2023). Moreover, studies have demonstrated that structural racism impacts health outcomes (Ahmed et al., 2023; Bailey et al., 2017) and according to Medical News Today, increases depression, stress, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Racism, even when experienced online, can increase mental health distress, loneliness, and alcohol use (Keum & Li, 2022).

The impact of banning honest, fact-based discussions about race in U.S. history would also leave significant gaps in understanding how it affected not only African Americans, but everyone else deemed “non-white”. In Gong Lum v. Rice (1927), people of Chinese descent were barred from attending “white” schools. Whites could not marry non-whites due to anti-miscegenation laws up through 1967. One might think that because they are White and thus unaffected by racism, that is not what the research shows. The consequences of racism also impacts Whites such that emerging adults who are white and witness racism online experienced greater loneliness (Keum et al, 2022). As Heather McGhee wrote in her book, racism affects everyone and there's growing research showing the inter-relationship of racism's impact on all groups (Selvarajah et al., 2022).

Racist power structures are embedded in many systems and the White House acknowledges this fact. As mental health professionals, understand how the act of trying to erase mention of racism in U.S. history might impact your clients. What is the meaning for your clients when they are exposed to reading materials dismissing or watering down their community's experiences? Be open to conversations, ask questions, and be curious. Are there ways to advocate? How do we support and deliberately seek out banned books, often talking about racism? Most public libraries have a list of banned books available for check-out. For those with children, teach them about the complexity of U.S. history not just through the lens of a majority group. Show our children how to engage in perspective taking, an important aspect of learning empathy, and introduce books beyond what is just available in school or look at their reading list to see what might be lacking. The other important consideration is to bring to light the reality and lived experiences of communities of colors. Understand that just because a history textbook removes the mention of racism issues, does not mean that racism does not exist or impact people of color and our society. 

References:

1. Ahmed, Md & Scretching, Desiree & Lane, Sandra. (2023). Study designs, measures and indexes used in studying the structural racism as a social determinant of health in high income countries from 2000–2022: evidence from a scoping review. International Journal for Equity in Health. 22. 10.1186/s12939-022-01796-0. 

2. Bailey ZD, Krieger N, Agénor M, Graves J, Linos N, Bassett MT. Structural racism and health inequities in the USA: evidence and interventions. Lancet. 2017 Apr 8;389(10077):1453-1463. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30569-X. PMID: 28402827.

3. Chokshi, Binny & Pukatch, Catherine & Ramsey, Natasha & Dzienny, Alexa & Smiley, Yael. (2022). The Generational Trauma Card: A Tool to Educate on Intergenerational Trauma Transmission. Journal of Loss and Trauma. 1-8. 10.1080/15325024.2022.2091315.

4. Josiah, Nia & Shoola, Hakeem & Rodney, Tamar & Arscott, Joyell & Ndzi, Maureen & Bush, Ashley & Wilson, Patty & Jacques, Keilah & Baptiste, Diana & Starks, Shaquita. (2023). Addressing systemic racism and intergenerational transmission of anxiety using Bowenian family therapy with African American populations: A Discursive paper. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 10.1111/jan.15610.

5. Keum, Brian & Li, Xu. (2022). Online Racism, Rumination, and Vigilance: Impact on Distress, Loneliness, and Alcohol Use. The Counseling Psychologist. 10.1177/00110000221143521. 

6. Keum, Brian & Waters, Emily & Wong, Michele & Salim‐Eissa, Rangeena. (2022). Witnessing racism against racial minority individuals online and loneliness among White emerging adults: Anti‐racism advocacy as a moderator. Journal of Community Psychology. 10.1002/jcop.22944.

7. Selvarajah, S., Maioli, S. C., Deivanayagam, T. A., De Morais Sato, P., Devakumar, D., Kim, S., Wells, J. C., Yoseph, M., Abubakar, I., & Paradies, Y. (2022). Racism, xenophobia, and discrimination: mapping pathways to health outcomes. The Lancet, 400(10368), 2109–2124. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(22)02484-9

Recommended Books:

1. Teaching Black History to White People

2. The Color of Law

3. The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together

4. White Fragility