“Can a White Person Understand the Black Experience? Layers of pain, mistrust, and taboos keep people divided along racial lines.”

Having frank discussions about or asking questions about racism and injustice is challenging for many well-meaning people. They simply don’t know how to approach or “connect to our fellow human beings who are from different ethnic/racial groups and cultural traditions”.

This is particularly difficult when there are over 200 years of racism, injustice and oppression between groups; and, it is difficult while significant social, health and economic inequities remain.

Without an American and world history lesson, it’s safe to say that there are many reasons for discomfort on both sides. This is the major reason why most White people do not understand the African American experience in America.

“Yet, making an authentic connection with another person means understanding, empathizing, and being able to see the world through their eyes.” And, it is hard to imagine that people of color are living a completely different experience in America simply by virtue of their race, ethnicity or gender.

Racism hurts. 

As much as people of color adopt a stoic attitude and pretend that racism does not impact their psyche, repeated and persistent racism can be traumatic. And it hurts doubly so when those around refuse to acknowledge the experience and its potential impact. Well meaning people tend to view an experience as only a single racist occurrence, rather than understand that the incident adds to a lifetime of accumulated experiences and frustrations.

People of color do not want other people to discount their experiences or tell them that they’re being overly sensitive. So if you are a White person patiently waiting for a “Black person to spontaneously share their experience, you may be waiting a long time.” 

Read more: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/culturally-speaking/201408/can-white-person-understand-the-black-experience

References:

1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/culturally-speaking/201408/can-white-person-understand-the-black-experience
2. Carter, R. T. (2007). Racism and Psychological and Emotional Injury: Recognizing and Assessing Race-Based Traumatic Stress. The Counseling Psychologist, 35(1), 13-105.
3. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/being-black-in-america-shouldnt-feel-like-a-overwhelming-burden-opinion/ar-BB15jkne
4. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/19/upshot/race-class-white-and-black-men.html