Waking up Woke: Post Traumatic Slave Master Syndrome
- Sir Aaron
- Jul 29, 2017
- 2 min read
Hello Friends,
Thank you for joining me.
I am excited about all the blessing that my spiritual journey has forded me, and to share them with you all, will be more of a blessing.
This is the first post in our series discussing Post Traumatic Slave Master Syndrome (PTSMS) more in-depth. These series will serve two purposes. First, is assisting me in the writing of the book: Post Traumatic Slave Master Syndrome: Healing the Wounds of White Racism through Neurological Enhancement Training, Compassion, and Love. Second, this series would give me the opportunity to co-construct a shared narrative of the manifestation of PTSMSas it relates to current events.
Let me start by deconstructing my thoughts of Post Traumatic Slave Master Syndrome (PTSMS) an attempt to make my thoughts transparent. PTSMS is a metaphor used to describe my perceptions of how slavery influenced White Americans and still has residual effect on their collective perceptions of themselves and those who are different than them.
Early in the week, during my Collaborative Facebook efforts, I was asked "was being a master traumatic?" See my response below:
Examining the traumatic influence of Slavery on African American communities has allowed for an increase in our understanding of how to assists these communities in healing their Wounds of Oppression (WOPS). Building on the work of those coming before me, I am often curious of how can we address White racism through a trauma lens as well. For instance, instead of asking what is wrong with White racist, we ask, what has happen to them? This curiosity allows entry way into a much deeper understanding into the processes, which kept oppressive energies flowing throughout our human experiences.
In my attempts to understand the experiences of the slave master and how those experiences has influenced our social interaction in present-day, I choose and stance of Curiosity, Openness, Acceptance, and love (COAL: burrowed from Daniel Siegel's, The Mindful Brain). For me, I am now able to see that White Racist also suffers from WOPS; although their WOPS present very differently than seen within African American communities. For instance, through a trauma lens, White Privilege can be seen as a neurological adaptation to the traumatic experiences of being perpetrators of violence on to African American communities.
It is my thoughts that White privilege provides a buffer to the emotional aspect of the racial position in which White people hold as a collective group. This privilege often manifest as denial, defensiveness, or guilt, when comforted with the racial stimuli, which highlights their position and the reciprocal patterns, which sustain racist ideologies and views.
Well, friends those are my thoughts for today. As always, I look forward to co-constructing shared meaning you!
Much Love!
-Sir Aaron
Friends,
Please remember that this is my first attempt at exploring what meaning I make of Post Traumatic Slave Master Syndrome and this maybe a messy process. Therefore, In my attempts to explore this sensitive topic, it is not my wish to marginalize or invalidate any one person's experiences or the collective perceptions of any one group. If you experience feelings of marginalization or invalidation, please engage with me in a conversation, as your experiences are important to me.
Like always, Thank you for joining me!
-Sir Aaron
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