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Darryl Turpin, co-principal of The Pinwheel Group, which works with black males, 18-29, involved in the criminal justice system, led Family & Children’s Place staff through a Black Trauma discussion Wednesday.

Black Trauma is an especially cogent subject in light of violent deaths over the last couple of years of black men and women.   Turpin noted that racism can cause post-traumatic stress disorder, and that it stems not only from incidents over the last 50 years or so, including violence and death during the Civil Rights struggle, but as far back as slavery.

Though African-Americans are no longer in bondage, it does not necessarily mean, “we’re beyond the trauma” of enslavement. And in continually experiencing trauma of incidents such as these over and over, trauma becomes perpetual and can be passed down through generations.