Growing up in the South Bronx, I was exposed to so many different forms of trauma and I had no clue because everyone around me made things seem so normal. At an early age, I witnessed friends and peers die, my mama struggle to pay the bills, and money troubles lead to arguments amongst family. But because no one around me reacted to these things, I also didn’t react. I became desensitized to it and normalized it just like everyone around me. I got to the point that when these things happened again I wasn’t surprised or shocked. It wasn’t until my adulthood that I started to understand that the things that happened in my childhood weren’t normal things for a child to experience. From there, I was able to start to unpack my trauma and start dealing with it. There are many individuals living in these communities that still haven’t come to that realization that I came to and aren’t aware of the effects that these traumatic experiences have on them, which means that they’re not properly dealing with their trauma.
The exposure to trauma in inner-city communities is outrageous and it breaks my heart to see individuals in these communities normalize it and become numb to these exposures. With your help, we can spread bring attention to this issue and help individuals in these communities start to properly deal with their trauma. We can help form a community where these individuals feel safe to tell their stories and have people around them that understand and relate to them.
Any and all help is truly appreciated,
HoodTrauma.