Racism Has No Boundaries
Not only is the mental health sigma up and running throughout the world, but racism as well. Stigma and racism should not even be separated; they’re both different forms of hatred but with a common goal of dividing the masses. Stigma focuses on preventing people who suffer from a mental illness from getting treatment and making them feel ashamed and insecure, while racism focuses on physically and mentally destroying others based on their skin color.
But where does stigma and racism stem from? The answer is more simple than we like to think and one does not have to go to school to find out; our hearts! Just based on numbers alone, the 7.8 billion worldwide population is going to have many bad batches of rotten fruit that will promote and approve stigma and racism. These people are either uneducated, educated but evil or simply full of hatred.
Is someone born with hatred in their heart? Absolutely not. There is no known genetic makeup that will inform parents that your child is born with a characteristic trait known as hatred. Hatred is taught and learned through human behavior and experience. If a child gets beat up by two white kids or vice versa, he or she will learn through their own experience to hate that child, along with what they hear in the mainstream media or on the internet in relation to racism.
Stigma and racism are also taught by parents and family members who promote such ideologies to their children. When children are raised in such households, they observe from a young age the thought process, content and perception of viewing others in a negative light. Racism is not only white against black; it has no boundaries and goes all ways. Do not make the mistake of believing that racism is only white against black.
How can we actually end racism rather than turning on the news and witnessing more protests in the streets? Everything stems from our hearts. What will help is establishing a global platform that will bring people to stand together against mental health stigma and racism in a peaceful way. This platform has to start somewhere but without consistent support, it will become very difficult to establish.
I started The DSM Ready Community with the vision of creating this platform, but I cannot do this on my own. That is why I am thankful to meet many of you who support this blog and comment on my daily posts. Together, we can continue to help grow this really small community so that we can one day stand on a world stage and celebrate the progression towards the end of mental health stigma and racism.
Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)
DSM (Defeating Stigma Mindfully) 