Racial Healing Starts with Honest Conversations

Families, educators and Mental Health Experts say affirming identity and having honest conversations about race can help young people process racism without internalizing its harm.

As a child, Jacinay Coleman-Shelton struggled to understand her racial identity. Of both Black and Hispanic Heritage, she found navigating discussions about race complicated, but her family provided a foundation that helped her develop confidence.

“Having a space to talk to your family first about race is really important,” the 22-year-old says. “I was always taught that being Black is Beautiful.”

That message stayed with Shelton. While interning on Capitol Hill this past summer, she recalled those words as she walked through the nation’s Halls of Power.

“I’m going to walk through these halls, my heels are going to click-clack, and this is who I am,” she told herself.

Family Conversations and Racial Healing

Mental Health Professionals say conversations about race can prepare young people for bias and discrimination while also serving as a form of racial healing.

“What’s really important is affirming their identity every chance you get,” says Dr. Matthew S. L. Duncan, a fourth-year Psychiatry Resident at Ocean University Medical Center in New Jersey.

Duncan advocates proactive conversations about race, arguing that positive representation and racial affirmation can strengthen young people after experiences with discrimination. Seeing themselves positively represented in schools, leadership and media, he says, can create “a stronger sense of pride, belonging, and self-worth.”

Duncan says repeated exposure to racism can become a Psychological Injury. Race-based Traumatic Stress can contribute to anxiety, depression, difficulty concentrating and sleep problems. It can also affect academic performance and create mistrust of institutions.

“Silence doesn’t protect our kids from racism, but preparation does,” Duncan says.

Preparing Young People With Truth

A’markis Johnson, 22, credits his mother with helping him develop a strong racial identity before entering a more racially diverse high school.

“I grew up in East Orange, New Jersey, around a lot of people who looked like me,” he says. By high school, “I already understood my Racial Identity.”

Educator Maera Ochieng-Onyango, 29, also believes young people benefit from truthful, age-appropriate conversations. A Museum Educator and Arts Education Advocate, she describes truth-telling as “the best defense against future generations of painful patterns.”

Onyango has also taught students about their legal and educational rights, including the CROWN Act.

Duncan emphasizes that conversations about racism should not focus solely on trauma, but also celebrate Black Strength, history and achievement.

“Racial Trauma is real, but so is Black Resilience. We’ve always found ways to not just survive, but also to create and thrive,” he says.

He encourages parents, educators and community leaders to begin conversations early, affirm Racial Iidentity and create environments where young people feel safe being themselves.

Based on reporting by Inner-City Newspaper. Originally Published by Black Press USA Wire.