#OnHoldAtHome with Ram & family
“We are afraid to acknowledge our trauma and deal with it.”
What are your fears and/or concerns right now?
My main concern is being able to support family, friends, and community during this pandemic / trauma tsunami. I felt numb when my uncle died and I didn't get a chance to mourn his passing.
What have you learned from living this new normal?
I don't think it's a new normal. We haven't even gotten through it yet. It's so American to try and make something abnormal into something normal. We haven't done anything to mourn and memorialize our lost loved ones; yet, we're already expected to get over it. That's part of the root cause of our dysfunction as a nation. We are afraid to acknowledge our trauma and deal with it.
How has the pandemic raised awareness of racial and social inequality?
Issues of racial and social inequality have been at the forefront for me since first grade after a white teacher used corporal punishment against me. When I was in sixth grade, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, igniting an "uprising" in my hometown (New Haven, CT.) During my freshman year in high school, I protested against the national guard troops, who were deployed to my city during the infamous Black Panther trial(s). Recently, I attended an online lecture by Dr. Ayana Jordan, entitled "COVID-19 is Terrible, but I'm More Likely To Die from Systemic Racism.” She contends, Black people are dealing with a syndemic, which indicates the cumulative effects of both crises are greater than the sum of both combined. In other words, when someone sneezes in this country, White people catch a cold and Black people get pneumonia. I have one last thought to share with those who believe 'whiteness' is benign: "It's a privilege to learn about racism without ever experiencing it your whole life." (Ayana Jordan, MD, PhD)
Do you think anything positive will come from all of this?
Yes, we're resilient! There's already positives coming out of this collective trauma. People are organizing to support their communities. Families are getting closer. Folks are learning to connect in new ways. We’re going to overcome this.
READ THE STORIES
Click on any of the images below to learn more about what's on the minds of fellow Richmonders. From the pandemic to protests, our community has traveled through months of uncertainty, introspection and reflection. Sharing stories gives us an opportunity to learn, connect and grow with one another in the hopes of cultivating a more compassionate, open-minded and empathetic city to live in.
