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Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome Essay

1060 Words5 Pages

In today's society, it is easy ignore the common issues within peoples. Everyday life features a never-ending cycle of working, texting, eating, and sleeping in which human beings behave robotically. This cycle of being numb to humanity is almost never disturbed until an issue arises. Within the last few years the news has been flooded with stories of police brutality and murder. The hashtag, #BLACKLIVESMATTER, points out a cry for help within the black community. We have all been suffering from PTSS, also known as Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome, and are unaware of its detrimental grip. In order to understand, Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome, you must understand slavery within America. The act of slavery in general is the subjugation of a human …show more content…

People were forced to travel to America on overcrowded boats in a journey called the Middle Passage. During this journey, many Africans died from disease, malnutrition, murder, and suicide. Upon arrival, these people were instantly surrounded by confusion and hardship, these people underwent forced transformation in which they were stripped of their humanity and transformed into slaves. Purchased and abused, the new created slaves, "had been stripped of their status, their names, their families and friends, and their customs and culture… They stood naked to misery, not knowing what would happen to them" (Schneider 78). Along with the stripping of their identity, slaves were subjected to daily physical abuses such as beatings, lashing, and starvation. Other cruelties that slaved were forced to endure were unspeakable in certain degrees, "the punishments inflicted on slaves testify to the worst side of human nature… they were often tinged with perverted sexuality and sadism… a kind of sick fascination… the testimony of former slaves, the diaries of southern women… and public records teem with accounts" (Schneider 90-91). These horrors would deeply affect anyone who had an experience with this. However, the repeat exposure over several generations is what generated Post-Traumatic Slave

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