Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist

by Franchesca Ramsey

Unless you’re performing in a community theater production of Law & Order: SVU, I’m not sure why anyone would willingly choose to play the victim. The word “play” implies a fun or enjoyable experience, but there’s nothing fun about the very real pain associated with being mistreated. Only people who lack empathy would see victimhood as some kind of game or performance with ulterior motives.

When it seems that so much of society would rather you not live at all, keeping yourself healthy is a revolutionary act. In the case of police violence in particular, research has shown that black people experience PTSD symptoms when they see brutal images of black death. (Monica Williams, the clinical psychologist and director of the Center for Mental Health Disparities at the University of Louisville, calls this “vicarious trauma.”) Stories of racism passed down over generations mean trauma is passed down, too.