Mental Health and Racial Violence

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The Counseling Center joins the rest of the CCNY community in expressing our grief, sorrow, and compassion to all those who have been impacted by the race based tragedies that have been occurring across our nation. The inhumane murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Nina Pop, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many other Black people, reflect a longstanding and entrenched history of structural and systemic injustice that we condemn and are dedicated to addressing. While these tragedies can be traumatizing for all of us, we recognize that they are especially injurious to members of our Black and African-American community. Anti-blackness is a deeply rooted force of oppression in this country and dismantling systemic racism will require each of us to do our part. As a center we are committed to working internally and in connection with campus partners to address these issues.

The Counseling Center recognizes the psychological and physical impact racism and the traumatic consequences that bearing witness to these injustices have on our Black students, students of color, and on our entire community. Please reach out to us, our campus resources, and your loved ones for support. Racial trauma is real. Together apart: we remain a community during these challenging times! Our counselors are here to support you and are available to you via phone or video meetings!

APA Statement on Racism Pandemic

Useful Readings

The new Jim Crow: mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
White rage: the unspoken truth of our racial divide by Carol Anderson
The fire next time by James Baldwin
The half has never been told: slavery and the making of American capitalism by Edward E. Baptist
Deep denial: the persistence of white supremacy in United States history and life by David Billings
Slavery by another name: the re-enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon
Chokehold: policing Black men by Paul Butler
Between the world and me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
White fragility by Robin DiAngelo
The souls of Black folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
Are Italians white? How race is made in America by Jennifer Guglielmo and Salvatore Salerno
Homegoing: A novel by Yas Gyasi
How the Irish became white by Noel Ignatiev
Stamped from the beginning: the definitive history of racist ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
Playing in the dark: whiteness and the literary imagination by Toni Morrison
The origin of others by Toni Morrison
Small great things by Jodi Picoult
Love’s revolution: interracial marriage by Maria P. P. Root
How to be an antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Eloquent rage: A Black feminist discovers her superpower by Brittney Cooper