'It Renders You Helpless': Addressing The Trauma Suffered By Black Americans From Pattern Of Police Shootings
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The shooting of Jacob Blake comes on the heels of George Floyd dying during an arrest by Minneapolis Police on Memorial Day.
Ninety-two-days ago, the constant images of Floyd's last moments alive were traumatizing. Now, Blake's shooting has rehashed the pain.
Manu Lewis works in the community as an advocate for restorative justice.
"To see it happen continuously is very much traumatizing," Lewis said.
To see it happen again, a Black man being hurt or killed by police officers, leaves some Black men paralyzed.
"It renders you helpless to what we see, to be able to process it, to be able to share it or explain it," Lewis said.
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Because of the images he's seen on television, his is constantly trying to process his feelings.
"Trying to understand exactly what it takes not to be killed by a police," Lewis said.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is calling for understanding by all for those physically, mentally and spiritually impacted by the shooting of Jacob Blake.
"We must offer our empathy. We must see the trauma, fear and exhaustion of being Black in our state, in our country," Evers said.
READ MORE: Police Shooting Of Jacob Blake Lays Bare Wisconsin's Deep Partisan Divide
Therapist Ann Dillard says therapy and pastoral counseling can help move through the trauma, so it doesn't build up and continue to make you feel helpless and hopeless.
"Our bodies were not created for our nervous system to be always in the state of survival, fear, fight, flight, freeze. Our nervous systems weren't created for that, and yet we endure that," Dillard said. "I implore you to practice your ancestral practices, whether it's prayer, whether it's drumming. Things that really calms you and brings your nervous system into some space of rest," Dillard said.
Dillard says don't let the fact that the therapist or friend you seek for help or comfort doesn't look like you. She says don't let race stop you from getting the help you desire or deserve.
