…are being watched and scrutinized more closely than their white counterparts. These beliefs coupled with the myth that they have to always be the “Strong Black Woman” can dramatically increase risk for anxiety.
PTSD also plays a role. The rate of sexual assault among Black women is 3.5 times higher than that of any other group in this country. Black women are also less likely to report their assault. Many suffer in silence for years, never sharing with anyone what has happened to them. Thus, the trauma remains unnamed, unknown and untreated and the symptoms worsen.
Racism is also a form of trauma that disproportionality affects Black women (and men). Trauma in the form of racism can be directly or indirectly experienced. Driving while Black, shopping while Black, and everyday racial micoraggressions are direct examples of racial trauma, which we have seen a lot of lately. The most common indirect examples are the viral videos of unarmed Black women and men being killed. Vicariously witnessing race-based trauma, can be as devastating as the direct form.
While we never know what was truly going on in the mind of Jas, we feel for her family and many other Black women like her. Her story and many like hers, call for some radical friendship, not only among her girlfriends, but with platonic Black men as well. The kind of friendship that is honest, truth-seeking and comforting.
‘This Is Us’ writers posted a tribute to Waters on their Twitter page, writing they were “devastated” to lose her.
“In our time together, Jas left her mark on us and ALL over the show,” the writers tweeted. “She was a brilliant storyteller and a force of nature… She was one of us.”
Yes, she was one of us and we miss her.