Racism, Power and Trauma
A statement from Breakthrough
We at Breakthrough are appalled and ashamed that it has taken the recent killings of George Floyd and others to bring the issue of racism to the forefront of our awareness. We recognise that racism has been endemic in Western culture for centuries. Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people face persecution and discrimination from white people, on a regular basis. Racism, along with all the social, economic and health disadvantages that go with it, is deeply and systemically embedded in the social and political fabric of life in the western world. It represents a chronic and ongoing trauma that the BAME community are living with on a daily basis.
As a charity working with survivors of trauma, Breakthrough is committed to anti-discriminatory practice, and we are seeking actively to develop ways of working that include and empower those from the BAME comunity.
At the same time we also have to recognise that psychotherapy is an overwhelmingly white, middle-class profession. Therefore, we believe that we have to work more diligently to listen to the BAME community and to educate ourselves about their experience of racism. We also acknowledge the need to challenge our own conscious and unconscious racism, and to seek to address the personal and systemic power inequalities that give rise to racism and other forms of discrimination.
Working in the field of trauma, we are very aware that the same power inequalities that give rise to racism and discrimination are also a major contributor to much of the trauma experienced by people from every ethnic group and social-class — in particular childhood abuse, sexual assault and domestic abuse. In choosing to stand with the BAME community in their struggle to challenge and dismantle the systemic racism in our society; we are making a conscious choice to stand with all those who have been the victims of oppression by those exercising privilege and power in abusive ways.
In the midst of the undeniable tragedy and suffering, we are choosing to see this pivotal moment history as an unprecedented opportunity for recovery, growth and healing.
Breakthrough is a UK Charity providing specialist therapy and other support for survivors of abuse and trauma. You can find out more about our work at traumabreakthrough.org, or you can follow us at facebook.com/traumabreakthrough or twitter.com/_breakthroughUK
