Racial Trauma: Healing, Resilience and the Wisdom of the Body
Written by: Allyson Inez Ford, MA, LPCC
Understanding Trauma
Trauma is often misunderstood as something rare or extreme- a one time event that changes you forever. And while that is absolutely one version of trauma, it’s not the only way trauma shows up in our lives. In reality, trauma refers to experiences that are emotionally painful or distressing enough to overwhelm a person’s ability to cope in the moment. When this happens, the nervous system shifts into survival mode: fight, flight, freeze or fawn. The body goes into these states as a means of survival. This is similar to how animals in the wild respond to predators about to attack them. It’s evolutionary and happens outside of our conscious control.
Trauma & Neurobiology
From a neurobiological perspective, trauma temporarily shuts down parts of the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for reasoning, planning and perspective-taking. This is why, during traumatic or overwhelming experiences, it can feel nearly impossible to “think clearly” or talk ourselves out of distress. The body is doing exactly what it was designed to do to keep us alive- placing all our energy into surviving the moment. Many people feel shame or anger at the way their body reacted during a traumatic event, but when they learn that they actually had little choice in their response and that there body was doing exactly what it was designed to do to survive, shame starts to decrease.
Stress can activate similar systems, but with stress, the nervous system typically returns to baseline once the threat passes. Trauma occurs when the system doesn’t get the chance to reset- either because you were prevented from completing the stress response cycle or because there was no restoration of safety. With compounded or ongoing trauma, the brain and body can become stuck in survival mode, responding to the present as if danger is always imminent. This is especially true for survivors of trauma who had no one to talk to about what happened in a safe, compassionate way. When we don’t have this security in relationship to fall back on, our body holds onto it and we often create narratives of self blame and shame.
Importantly, this is also where resilience can live. The same adaptive systems that help us survive hardship carry wisdom, memory and the capacity for healing, which we will get into more below! Before we get there, let's define different types of trauma and highlight which ones might be more relevant for people with marginalized identities (being a POC, being disabled, being queer/trans, etc).
Different Forms of Trauma
Trauma is complex. Many people live with multiple, overlapping forms:
Historical or ancestral trauma refers to trauma passed down through generations, often connected to colonization, enslavement, genocide, forced migration or cultural erasure. What our ancestors weren't able to heal, often gets passed onto us (not fair, I know).
Systemic trauma arises from living within systems of mass inequality, oppression and violence. Unlike the stories we are told, we don’t all have the same privilege to access safety, resources or dignity. Privilege is unearned, it’s not your fault if you do or don't have it, it is socially constructed. However, if you do carry privilege it is important to be aware of how that might shape your beliefs on others who do not have that same privilege. We all carry varying degrees of privilege and marginalization, it isn’t a contest.
Developmental trauma occurs within early relationships or communities when safety, attunement or protection are disrupted. When your brain is still forming (until your mid 20’s), trauma impacts you differently. It can have a lifelong impact on a developing brain, as it becomes part of what informs our core beliefs on the world, other people and ourselves. Having a childhood devoid of trauma means you will likely have a safer inner foundation inside, but without that, you may feel empty, hypervigilent, anxious or depressed as your ‘baseline’ state of being.
Discrete or “capital-T” trauma includes experiences such as sexual assault, life-threatening events, physical assault, chronic neglect, torture or witnessing death. Surviving rape, is considered to be one of the most devastating things a person can ever experience.
Complex trauma involves repeated or ongoing exposure to multiple forms of trauma over time. Most people with complex trauma struggle deeply in their personal relationships, because their attachment systems never learned safety. Often times people misperceive the behaviors of those with complex trauma as intentionally manipulative, controlling or attention seeking. And while on the outside it may truly feel that way to the other person- on the inside of the person struggling it comes from a place of deep pain and desperate attempts to get one’s needs met.
Racial trauma often exists at the intersection of several of these categories.
What Is Racial Trauma?
Racial trauma refers to the body’s response to cumulative exposure to race-based stress, violence, erasure, gaslighting and harm- both historically and in the present day. It is not only about individual incidents. It is about living in a racialized body within a culture of white supremacy. Racial trauma can include macro-aggressions: outright violence or hate speech based on your skin color, or micro-aggressions: more covert expressions of racism, such as assumptions projected on the racialized person. An example is a mixed race person constantly being asked “where are you from?” or a Black woman being accused of being angry and hostile just because she wasn’t smiling and laughing. Micro-aggressions tend to be chronic, and aren’t “micro” at all. In fact, they can be harder to detect and receive support on, making the impact of them more insidious and lasting. On the other hand, macro-agressions are generally agreed upon as “bad'“ or “wrong” even by the dominant culture and the survivor is more likey to receive support and validation. That’s not to say one is easier or worse, they are just different experiences of racial trauma.
Every body in the United States (and really across all continents- colorism exists even in BIPOC predominant cultures) is racialized, and therefore every body is exposed to race-based stress. However, the kind of stress a person carries depends on how their body is positioned within racial hierarchies. This means racial trauma does not look or feel the same for everyone, though it impacts all of us.
Consequences of Racial Trauma
Racial trauma has real, measurable effects on both mental and physical health.
For BIPOC folks, chronic exposure to racism is associated with higher rates of medical conditions, stress-related illness and what researchers refer to as “weathering” - the cumulative toll of living in a racist system on the body over time. Disparities seen during COVID-19 are one stark example of this systemic impact.
At the same time, communities of color have developed profound collective wisdom, resilience and culturally rooted strategies for survival and soothing. These are not signs of “strength despite trauma” rather they are evidence of adaptive intelligence shaped through generations of survival. In other words, BIPOC people shouldn’t have to be so resilient, but white supremacy makes it so that we have to in order to survive. If you want to support a BIPOC person, do not compliment their resilience, instead ask what you can do to lighten their load- share resources, donate funds, offer pro-bono professional services, provide logistical or practical support and/or use your voice to help educate and shift the dominant narrative.
For white and materially benefiting bodies, racial trauma often shows up differently. White supremacy conditions fear responses, such as the learned perception of Black men as threats and disconnects people from one another, from reality and from their humanity. Higher rates of opioid-related deaths among white communities raise important questions about disconnection, loneliness and attempts to escape pain in a system that discourages interdependence, resource sharing, connection, collective liberation and authentic being. Holding a legacy wound as a white person might show up as having a savior complex, intense white guilt/shame or an unrelenting desire to exude power over others.
White supremacy harms everyone
It takes us away from uniting together, it pits us against one another, it instills fear of the ‘other’, it creates violence, hatred and a need to dominate others. It is also connected to every other form of oppression, including anti-fatness (diet culture), sexism, capitalism, ableism, cisheterosexism, etc.
Healing From Racial Trauma
The good news is, the body is always moving toward healing. Even trauma responses are attempts at self-protection. Healing begins not with fixing ourselves but with co-creating enough safety and respite for the nervous system to soften. An end to racial trauma as a whole also requires collective liberation from oppressive systems- it calls for abolition.
But in terms of what we can do right now to help ease the pain of racial trauma, we are going to focus more on individual and interpersonal components of healing. This kind of healing is different from mainstream, consumer-driven self-care. Many people in the dominant culture see healing as self-care shaped by consumption- a legacy of capitalism and individualism, rather than connection and sacred ritual.
Psychologist Lillian Comas-Díaz offers the HEART framework for healing racial trauma, which includes:
Creating sanctuary spaces for people impacted by racial harm (often with others of the same or similar background). Sanctuary can be created in moments, relationships, rituals and practices, even in the midst of ongoing stress.
Acknowledging and reprocessing racial trauma and its symptoms with a community elder or someone that feels safe and genuinely understanding to you.
Strengthening connection to cultural traditions and community survival strategies- exploring what your ancestors did to process their pain and emotions is a powerful way to reclaim parts of your identity that white supremacy culture seeks to disconnect you from. Even if you have no living relatives, look up what folks from your heritage(s) used as healing rituals and see if there is anything you can replicate. This could be: creating an alter, a certain dance, song, poetry, ceremony, etc.
Supporting liberation and resistance efforts: engaging in activism and advocacy is a powerful way to reconnect to your voice and use it to fight the systems that want us quiet. This can be in person but it can also be online, there are many ways to engage in activism for different levels of capacity and accessibility needs. Also, as much as it can be helpful to empower BIPOC folks to use their voice when it’s safe enough, its also those with the most privilege (white folks) who need to step up as true allies and fight with us. This should not be the burden of BIPOC people alone. Imagine asking a survivor of a violent rape to go advocate for justice without any support from those more resourced?
Practices That Support Healing and Resilience
Healing from racial trauma is not only cognitive. It is relational, somatic, cultural and spiritual. Some supportive practices include:
Giving your nervous system brief moments of respite, even five minutes at a time
Singing, chanting, drumming, drawing or painting
Mindfulness practices, tai chi, yoga, or other slow, intentional movement
Rituals, ceremony, prayer and grief practices
Slow cooking and shared meals
Somatic therapy and body-based work
Inner child work
Telling your truth in spaces where it can be held with care
Building authentic, reciprocal relationships
Reconnecting with ancestral or culturally specific ways of belonging
Consciously centering joy and pleasure, especially for people whose joy has been historically policed or denied
Storytelling
Rest!!! Reclaiming your right to rest in a system that thrives on your exhaustion is powerful.
A Closing Reflection
Racial trauma is not a personal failure or individual pathology. It is a natural response to living in unjust systems. Healing does not mean forgetting, bypassing or pretending harm did not occur. It means listening to the body, honoring ancestral wisdom, grieving what was lost and reclaiming our capacity for connection and collective care. If you’re a BIPOC person seeking therapy, you might be very hesitant, since help from dominant systems is often unsafe- not to mention many of our cultures dissuade us from seeking help in the form of therapy. However, there are anti-racist, decolonial therapists out there that specialize in working in a culturally aware and affirming practice.
If you’re interested in learning more about that, reach out to my team. We all operate from an anti-oppressive lens and most of us are also BIPOC. If we are not the right fit, we are happy to give your trusted referrals for someone that may share your identities!
