The Enemy Is In The House

Trauma. We’ve all been through it one way or another. If you’ve been on the internet, I bet your bottom dollar you’ve heard of generational trauma.

What is yours?

Before you jump down to the comments and tell me, just know— you don’t have to share…unless you really want to. If so, I’m all ears.

We’ve touched base on trauma and mental health before, but this time, I’m taking it deeper. I’m going to be real with you —this involves American history, and I strongly recommend that you stick around and read this. Whether you realize it right now or not, this will help you in the long run.

ROLLERCOASTER QUEASINESS

Good ol’ generational trauma. It keeps you connected to people you don’t want to be connected to. So, to justify it, people call it a lesson or “karma.” And that may be true…to some extent.

Your question for me is, “How is this connected to the entertainment industry?'

Well, my friends, remember I said I was going to dive deeper? This is it.

I say certain extent because the root of this all… drumroll please…is American history.

SNAP-CRACKLE-POP!

If you cared enough to open your history textbooks or even pay attention in history class, there would be sprinkles of the history of marginalized groups. There was never enough to paint the full picture. Well, folks, I’m going to paint it for you today.

I would recommend you get a strong tea, maybe even coffee, because it’s a doozy. Let us start with the basics. The Trail of Tears or Broken Treaties—when indigenous people were forced from their homes or killed by genocide.

I’m not a historian or a history teacher, but I can tell you the Trail of Tears started after the Indian Removal Act of 1830, leading to the forced relocation of about 100,000 Indigenous people during the 1830s and early 1840s. Over 4,000 Cherokee people died.

During the 1830s and beyond, the U.S. Army was legally restricted to white men. Black people had no place at all in military command. The Navy used some Black Sailors, but white officers controlled the power, and policies later pushed to limit those numbers dramatically.

A fair warning: I’m not trying to divide any race or gender; these are just facts. Will I give my opinion? Maybe. Everyone has a right to their own opinions, but mine will 100% be backed by facts.

Now let’s finish this. This is also called ethnic cleansing.

Ethnic cleansing is the mass expulsion or killing of members of an unwanted ethnic or religious group in a society. Simple question: do you see how this is harmful? I will get into the generational pattern we struggle with and how it correlates from back then to today.

AND THE PATTERN CONTINUES

According to eji.org, in 1932, a group of scientists at the United States Public Health Service wanted to conduct research on untreated syphilis, so they chose 600 black men, only 399 of those men had syphilis, meaning 201 did not. In 1932, the majority of scientists you would see would be white because they were said to be the superior race.

Many who joined were promised hot meals, free medical exams, and burial insurance. Researchers told participants they were being treated for “bad blood” while administering only iron tonic and aspirin. After penicillin was discovered to be the cure for syphilis in 1947, the researchers continued the experiment without providing treatment to the patients.

128 of those men died from syphilis or related complications. 40 wives were infected, and 19 children were born with congenital syphilis. The reason they suffered is that black people were deemed less intelligent and more likely to be infected with a disease.

If you still don’t understand, I can bring up the case of Emmett Till , if you look at the Library Of Congress, 14-year-old Till traveled from Chicago to Mississippi to visit relatives. In Mississippi, Till, along with some cousins, visited the Bryant store, where he may have whistled at Carolyn Bryant. In retaliation, Roy Bryant, her husband, and J.W. Milam, her brother-in-law in-law kidnapped and brutally murdered Till, dumping his body in the Tallahatchie River.

Carolyn Bryant later admitted that her accusations were false. A grand jury still declined to indict her, and she died on April 25, 2023, without consequences. The public and the legal system chose to believe the deception of a 21-year-old white woman over a 14-year-old black boy who should still be alive today.

BETTER DAYS ARE COMING

The pattern was clear as day back then, but hidden in our entertainment industry today. I love diversity and celebrating our cultures together, but there’s a huge problem that will never be solved because you keep trying to cover it with a diversity or pride sticker and call it progress. Telling POC to stop bringing up the past or to move on from it is like telling white America to forget about Pearl Harbor or to say to the Latinx community not to care about the harmful stereotypes people make of them because “it’s just jokes.”

This basic history isn’t even half of it. What happened back then bleeds into the present. In my other blog posts, I teach you about cycles.

This is a deep wound, so you can’t just cover it with a bandage and hope it gets better. We have to go to the source, and I’m teaching you that.

If you want to add your two cents, you know what to do. I’m listening to every word. I’m open—even if I say something you don’t particularly agree with, all I ask is for you to keep it respectful. As your big sister, I really just want to see you succeed and this is part of that.