Our country has a painful history of racial injustice. It’s a history we need to reckon with, and a cruel ideology that we can no longer deny still exists today. Our communities of color regularly navigate hostile spaces, face overt acts of racism, and experience racial microaggressions that attack their dignity and humanity. But silence is complicity. That’s why John Jay students, faculty, staff, and alumni are finding ways to protest anti-Black behavior and systemic racism. We’re supporting each other, examining our own feelings and actions, and actively fighting unjust treatment throughout our society.

As protestors across the world demanded justice for George Floyd, John Jay Honors student Jehovahnie Saint Rose ’22, a Philosophy major from Baldwin, New York, found herself overwhelmed with a mix of emotions. “Seeing so many people standing up and proclaiming Black Lives Matter filled me with a great sense of pride and hope, but I also felt pain,” says Saint Rose. “The death of George Floyd came just as the video of Ahmaud Arbery’s murder was released. I can still hear the gunshots that took Ahmaud’s life, and each time I replay that sound over in my head, my heart sinks. It’s just too much. So, when George Floyd’s death happened, I couldn’t bring myself to watch the whole video. I still can’t.”

Recognizing Racial Injustice
Hoping to process what she was feeling, Saint Rose turned to her parents, but as she went deeper into the conversation, talking about the injustices faced by many people in the Black community, she realized their reactions were very different. “My mom immediately showed emotion, she got angry and cried about George and Ahmaud’s deaths. But my dad was the complete opposite; he had no reaction,” says Saint Rose, pointing to how his upbringing in Haiti may have influenced his lack of response. “I remember when we moved to America, my parents made a clear distinction between Haitian-Americans and African-Americans. To my parents, we were different from African-Americans, so they believed our experience in America would be different. We now know that isn’t the case. And my parents are starting to see that in America, we’re just Black Americans, and Haitian-Americans and African-Americans live a shared experience,” explains Saint Rose.

Wanting to educate herself and her parents on the history of the Black experience in America, Saint Rose immersed herself in the history of slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow laws, and systemic racism—she’s currently reading The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander—and shared the information with her parents. “Knowing your history is empowering and can provide clarity on why people feel or act certain ways. It also creates a space for honest conversations about racial injustices to take place.”

Getting the Talk
Black Americans are familiar with “the talk,” when someone—usually a parent, an older person in the family, or a trusted friend—explains how to behave and talk when you’re interacting with law enforcement or people unjustly questioning your rights or actions. For Saint Rose and her brother Jerry, that talk came from their uncle after a visit to a local store in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. “My uncle lived in America for 20 years before we moved to the states, so he was very much aware of the racial stereotypes put upon Black people,” says Saint Rose. “One afternoon we drove to Suffolk County to do a little shopping. It was about 10 degrees out and my uncle had on a hoodie. As soon as we walked into the store, the white store clerk told my uncle, ‘Take off your hoodie or I’m calling the cops.’ She kept saying that over and over while following him around the store. Once we left the store my uncle gave Jerry and me ‘the talk,’” says Saint Rose. “He basically said, ‘You’re a Black person in America. I know it’s not fair, but you’re going to be looked at and treated differently than white people. You need to act right, mind your business, stay out of trouble, don’t talk back, keep your hands where they can see them, and know your rights.’”

Saint Rose’s brother Jerry experienced exactly what his uncle was talking about when he became the target of an unwarranted police search. “My brother was at the park, hanging out with two of his friends, when a group of 10 police officers approached him asking about a young white woman’s lost cell phone. They seemed to be implying that my brother and his friends must have stolen the phone from this woman. My brother repeatedly said he didn’t know what they were talking about and the cops told him to get on the ground. When they didn’t find a phone on him or his friends, they took them to the precinct,” explains Saint Rose. “Thankfully, my cousin, who is a leader in our community, went down to the precinct and was able to get him out. To this day we still don’t know why he was taken to the precinct.”

It’s in these moments, where Black Americans become the subject of a racial profiling while simply doing normal, everyday things like jogging, shopping, sleeping, babysitting, or hanging out with friends, that devastates the Black community. “Anti-Black attacks and racial injustices are traumatizing. You understand why some people are angry, it’s because they’ve been dealing with these unjust acts of racial terror their entire lives, and for many generations,” says Saint Rose. “People are tired of the injustices. This is why we’re seeing this amazing, unified effort to right the wrongs in the system and say Black Lives Matter.”

Finding Ways to Cope
While dealing with the trauma of seeing so many Black lives unjustly taken, Saint Rose immersed herself in a supportive environment and came up with effective strategies that enabled her to process her feelings. Here are the five things Saint Rose did to help her stay calm, grounded, and focused.

1. Check in with Supportive Friends
“My friends and I have a group chat called Black Excellence and our goal is to lift each other up. We’re able to celebrate our achievements, talk about our experiences, share our anger, express how we’re feeling, and cry when we need to, without fear of being judged or misunderstood.” 

2. Lean on Your Family
“Talking to my family and sharing what I’m learning and my experiences with them helps all of us. It leads to deeper conversations that show we’re not alone in our feelings or experiences.”

3. Get Moving
“Working out really reduces stress for me. Staying active, going for a run, lifting weights, help with my mental health. It keeps me centered and provides me clarity.”

4. Take a Break from Social Media
“Social media is great way to become aware of the injustices that are going on in the world and that knowledge inspires you to want to create change. But social media is also constant and at times the video clips, soundbites, and images of violence and injustice can be overwhelming. That’s what happened to me a few weeks ago. So, I did a ‘social media fast’ for a few days where I turned off my notifications and stayed off all platforms. It helped me so much.”

5. Reaffirm Uplifting Beliefs
“My faith is my safe haven at all times and gives me reassurance that things are going to get better. It reminds me that this too shall pass.”