Cascading Collective Trauma and COVID-19 Pandemic: The Impact on African Americans and Communities of Color

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to collective trauma or long-term psychological effects that are shared by a large group of people who all experience an event. Collective trauma is defined as an entire group’s psychological reaction to a traumatic event that affects an entire society. Collective trauma can be caused by events such as pandemics, wars, natural disasters, mass shootings, genocides, systematic and historical oppression, recessions, and famine or severe poverty. This paper is a brief report of the impact of cascading collective trauma during the COVID-19 pandemic on African Americans and other communities of color. Cascading collective traumas are defined as a series of compounding catastrophes that may be both historic and concurrent and results have stronger emotional responses with each new exposure. COVID-19 pandemic was almost immediately followed by another trauma, such as the racial unrest and reports of African Americans being beaten ferociously with no apparent causes. Collective trauma is not always equal in populations. African Americans and other communities of color in the United States are suffering disproportionately from COVID-19, compounded by historical trauma, structural racism, and persistent poverty. Policy changes are needed to address the structural racism and health inequities that negatively impact the physical and mental health of Blacks, Latinx, and other indigenous communities in the United States. More research is needed to examine cascading collective trauma and increased violence.