Racism is not a Public Health Crisis

By W. F. Twyman, Jr.

There are many lies and deceptions in the public square when it comes to racism. My argument is broad and doesn’t lend itself to a single essay. Nonetheless, I read falsehoods and dishonest distortions of reality this evening. Compare the mental resilience we witnessed this past month in our Pioneer Black Lawyer series to the dystopia portrayed in the following image about Out of Our Minds: Is Racism Making Us All A Little Crazy?

This image and the caption reminded me of a recent conversation. A black woman was well-adjusted and living her life as a normal, well-adjusted human. Then, the moral panic of George Floyd hit in May 2020. (I was not even aware of what a moral panic was until the summer of 2020.) The woman saw all of the images on the silver screen. She began to do the work and read the writings of Nikole Hannah Jones, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Robin DiAngelo, and Ibram X. Kendi. And before you knew it, a normal woman who did not stress race became despondent and in despair about race. Everything became race. Nothing else mattered in life. Sound familiar?

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I am going to take exception to the mind virus that racism has caused an outbreak of black mental health crisis. In fact, constant bombardment to dogma and slogan words has landed otherwise well-adjusted black adults and children into a land of unhealthy patterns of thought and depression. For shame on dogmatists who have colonized the minds of some weak black people. As I have mentioned before, I have retired from Blackness. Query whether one can live in Blackness and be mentally stable in the modern era.

Why do I make such a stirring assertion?

First, a belief in racial dogma causes people to lie. Case in point — the image. The author whom I will not name wrote the following message underneath the image as CEO:

Is racism making us all a little crazy? I mean, seriously. This topic makes us uncomfortable but it is deeper than that? Beyond talking about it, can racism affect our health? The following is from an article in the Washington Post:

Racism is its own stressor and one that cannot be easily avoided. Experiences of racial discrimination are consistently linked with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, substance use and PTSD, as well as physical ailments such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Black Americans, for instance, are about twice as likely as White Americans to develop dementia.

This begs the question, is racism slowly killing us? Black people, specifically! I must admit, the BLM movement was liberating for me. As young people protested all over the world, I felt vindicated; racism was not just something in my head. I was not being overly sensitive, taking things the wrong way or (my favorite) creating a problem that did not exist. BLM proved that racism was on the minds of many but not everyone experiences its repercussions the same way. For instance, those who identify as White Supremacists.

Anti-Black Violence Has Long Been the Most Common American Hate Crime—And We Still Don’t Know the Full Extent. There are studies suggesting that bigotry and racism can contribute to mental health issues. Not to mention, a fear of being “replaced” can cause irrational behavior leading to violent thoughts and tendencies.

For the next three months, ——- will take the conversation on race out of our heads and into our hearts, focusing on Racism and Mental Health, and how race plays a role in our emotional and physical well-being. This month, we’ll feature Jabriel Hasan, who will speak from a spiritual and community informed perspective. In upcoming months, Dr Shawn Utsey, Kay Hamlin and a host of local professionals will join us. ——- is getting to the HEART of the matter. See you at the table.

Bringing Love to the Fight!

The best way to bring love to the fight is to be honest. Did you catch the reference to “Black Americans, for instance, are about twice as likely as White Americans to develop dementia?” Well, I was curious. I read the underlying source and what did I find? The genetic difference between African Americans and White Americas probably explains the different rates.

According to the link, those who inherit 1 copy of the e4 form of the APOE gene have a 3 times risk of Alzheimer’s Those who inherit 2 copies of the e4 form have 8 to 12 times the risk of developing Alzheimer’s. So, are African-Americans more likely to inherit this unlucky e4 form on their APOE gene? You bet! African-Americans have around double the risk of inheriting e4 on the APOE gene, according to Table 3 in the author’s source. If logic and reality matter (and they may not matter to the writer), there is no connection to racism. The causal factor is straight up genetic. See page 13 and Table 3 of her link on dementia. https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf

Next claim — racism causes obesity. Not proven. And I quote the Harvard School of Public Health: “Most people probably have some genetic predisposition to obesity, depending on their family history and ethnicity. Moving from genetic predisposition to obesity itself generally requires some change in diet, lifestyle, or other environmental factors.” Genetic predisposition does not equal racism. This makes sense to me. I have a family member who has experienced almost a zero level of racism as an adult. Pretty close to zero. And yet this black family member has the gene for obesity. Those are the breaks of the genetic lottery.

As for hypertension caused by racism? According to a medical source: “Inheritance. Hypertension tends to run in families. Individuals whose parents have hypertension have an elevated risk of developing the condition, particularly if both parents are affected.” I have hypertension. Can’t shake it. I take medication and walk daily and, when I am good, watch my salt intake. It would be insane for me to blame racism for my hypertension. I would be better served blaming my genetic inheritance from grandparents, particularly on my mother’s side.

By this point, you can see where I am going with this essay. The writer does a disservice to her black readers, particularly vulnerable black children and teenagers, by distorting medical and genetic reality with the boogeyman of racism

One more point before I continue — the problem is not racism in the year 2024. If there is a problem, it is a social contagion that racism is all about us. That social contagion causes the well-adjusted mind to become paranoid and neurotic about every day life. The most poisonous idea to mental health is the constant hunt for racism. That is a horrible way to live. And besides, racism is state action, state conduct. I don’t use the term since, as a veteran of public school desegregation, I knew real racism at the hands of the state of Virginia. Black teenagers are not experiencing what I knew in 1969 and it is off putting for those who never knew a segregated public school to claim the mantle of racism.

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There is no point served in talking about make believe racism. Indeed, one creates an incentive for people to think about how they are feeling and to steer children and teenagers to thoughts of racism. False diagnosis. It is not a useful endeavor. Children and teenagers should be encouraged to think about the larger world and how it is important to be the best one can be in life.

One can convince oneself one is a victim by talking about racism all of the time and reading books soaking in gloom and doom. Social contagion is real. I am disappointed that the writer is enabling more social contagion about phantom racism. One can convince oneself of things that are not true, like permanent racism in the universe.

All roads lead back to Harvard Law School Professor Derrick Bell and his protégé, Professor Kimberle Crenshaw, the founding mother of intersectionality. What a wonderful world you have wrought.

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I am going to bring this essay to a close. It will take generations for the disorder of racial thinking to pass out of our system. For myself, I look at this strangeness and racial anxiety from a blessed distance. I am not of any culture that centers dogma and slogan words, incessant broken thought patterns and external locus of control.

Should I conclude this essay on a low note? Well, I urge parents to parent their children. If one allows the likes of this writer to parent one’s children on racism, one will surely deserve one’s dysfunctional offspring. Just because the writer is a black woman doesn’t mean she is competent about mental health and living a well-adjusted life in the year 2024.

If you are a black teenager reading this essay, you don’t need a therapist. I don’t know you but I know you need parental authority. And you need to know how life works. Read 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do by Amy Morin. Don’t let dogma and slogan words like racism do you in. “Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears, and Train Your Brain for Happiness and Success.” https://amymorinlcsw.com/mentally-strong-people/

Take it from me, and I am not a therapist but someone who cares because I was young once, the only black kid in my class: (1) Don’t Waste Your Time On Anyone Who Uses the Word “Racism,” (2) Don’t Focus on Things You Cannot Change, (3) Focus Your All on Things You Can Change.

Conclusion: I wish young readers of this essay well. And I hope for the day when writers are embarrassed to distort the truth in service of dogma and slogan words. Turn Back Oh Woman. Foreswear Thy Foolish Ways!