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Considerable work has also been done with communities of Native Americans, who experienced repeated massacres and the forced removal of children to federal and mission boarding and day schools (Brave Heart, 2003). The children and grandchildren of survivors commonly experience attachment issues and isolation by their parents (Danieli, 1980). Compounding this familial or intergenerational trauma, historical trauma often involves the additional challenge of a damaged cultural identity (Sotero, 2006).Ĭlinical social workers first described historical trauma among descendants of the Holocaust and the children of Japanese Americans interned during World War II (Barocas and Barocas, 1979, Nagata et al 1999). Parents’ experience of trauma may disrupt typical parenting skills and contribute to behavior problems in children. Acute problems of domestic violence or alcohol misuse that are not directly linked to historical trauma may be exacerbated by living in a community with unaddressed grief and behavioral health needs. While many in such a group will experience no effects of the historical trauma, others may experience poor overall physical and behavioral health, including low self-esteem, depression, self-destructive behavior, marked propensity for violent or aggressive behavior, substance misuse and addiction, and high rates of suicide and cardiovascular disease.
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It is related to major events that oppressed a particular group of people because of their status as oppressed, such as slavery, the Holocaust, forced migration, and the violent colonization of Native Americans. Kindness changes us by challenging us to not be satisfied with mediocrity, but to dare to do better - to strive to be better.Historical trauma is multigenerational trauma experienced by a specific cultural, racial or ethnic group. Kindness pushes us to be our best by reminding us to love ourselves and the people with whom we share the world. We see beyond the scope of our multiple failures and work to unleash the immense power of our potential so we, too, are better people because of it.
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