The effects of racism on African Americans in the United States have not yet begun to be explored in the manner which they
should have. In much the same way as a rape victim's injuries are addressed it is my belief that so to should the mental, emotional and
psychological injuries of the victim of racism be addressed. This is approach should be taken because the injuries encountered can be left to become further rinsed and further decay and fester causing profoundly debilitating neurosis for the victims. In much the same way as the rape victim has the injuries of her assault dealt with through counseling and support groups, etc., the victims of racism require a similar healing and redress in order to experience restoration and repair of the multi-layered issues that racism can put upon the personality, mentality, and psychological well being of those victimized by it. Addressing of the victims many injuries is as important as is calling out of the perpetrator of the racist injuries in the healing process that the victim can and must experience in order to emerge released from the injurious trauma that racism can inflict on the mind, the heart and the very soul of a human being.
So various societal institutions must take up the cause of attending to the un-dressed wounds of the countless numbers of African Americans dealt deep psychological wound and injury not just by slavery but by the long decades of racism present in the United States. It is only when the
correction of these injuries are undertaken that the world will see the correction of the negative overcast and results of racists victimization dissipate from the African American community of the diaspora as we know it today. When this occurs then African American will truly be able to embrace who they are and what they can in whole-ness mean to the world and themselves.
by Mignon Adeloye