Trauma Matters Delaware (TMD) feels it is important to share our thoughts with our community regarding recent incidents of violence against and deaths of African-Americans. We believe it is important to acknowledge that these incidents are not new, but rather evidence of long standing systemic oppression and structural violence that has traumatized African-Americans and communities of color. Expressions of pain, anger, and anguish shown over the past few weeks are symptomatic of this...

By Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, June 5, 2020 Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, who ended his Presidential campaign in January, began his political career by serving on Newark’s city council. Booker, a graduate of Stanford and Yale Law School and a former Rhodes Scholar, became known for staging a hunger strike to draw attention to drug dealing and drug-related violence in Newark, and went on to serve as the city’s mayor, from 2006 to 2013. Booker, who promised an ambitious...

Orlando Police line up in front of the OPD headquarters on South Street as protesters arrive to demonstrate in Orlando, Florida. Photograph: Joe Burbank/AP Sam Levin in Los Angeles The call to “defund the police” has become a rallying cry at protests across America this week, and some lawmakers appear to be listening. Activists who have long fought to cut law enforcement budgets say they are seeing an unprecedented wave of support for their ideas, with some elected officials for the first...

By Jenn O'Connor, The Washington Post, June 6, 2020 You know what stress is, right? You’re late for work, your car won’t start, gas costs more than you expected. We’ve all been there, and it’s not pleasant, that palm-sweating, heart-racing anxiety. Luckily, it’s not long-lasting — not toxic. What is toxic stress? It’s prolonged adversity and/or abuse — not having enough to eat or being exposed to violence. It’s the kind of stress that puts you on edge and keeps you there, day after day after...

In Toole County, Montana, deputy sheriffs call a school counselor, from their patrol cars, after responding to a traumatic incident—a domestic abuse call, an overdose, an arrest—that involves a child. “Handle with care,” they tell the counselor, and they give the child’s name. The counselor passes that information to teachers: a quiet heads-up that the student might be hungry or sleepy, tearful, angry or distracted by whatever happened at home. “My teachers love it,” says Mary Miller, chair...