W.1 The stress of racism experienced by Black mothers has been linked to low birthweight babies, which puts those children at greater risk for developing depression and other child mental health issues. Prenatal anti-Black racism can also have other persistent effects… Indeed, Black children and adolescents are suffering at unprecedented rates, and have been for over 20 years. Black youth are dying by suicide at rates increasing faster than any other racial or ethnic group: Black children as young as five years old are 1.8 times as likely to commit suicide compared to their white peers.
W.2 They found that experiencing racism is associated with poorer physical and mental health. The negative effect on mental health (including depression, anxiety, and psychological stress) was especially strong. The hold racism has on mental health begins early in life. For kids and adolescents, experiencing racism comes with more depressive symptoms, lower self-esteem, and more displays of bad behavior. Even when kids don’t directly experience racism, their parents’ experience of discrimination makes the kids more likely to have anxiety and depression. In teens, over a hundred studies have found that experiencing racism is significantly associated with poorer mental health.
W.3 In this age of racial reckoning, new research findings indicate that racial discrimination is so painful that it is linked to the ability to die by suicide, a presumed prerequisite for being able to take one’s own life. However, the ability to emotionally and psychologically reframe a transgression can mitigate its harmful effects. Over the last decade, suicide rates in the United States have increased dramatically among racial and ethnic minorities, and Black Americans in particular. For Black young adults ages 15–24 years, suicide is the third leading cause of death with approximately 3,000 Black Americans dying by suicide each year.
W.4 A research team that has been following more than 800 Black American families for almost 25 years. We found that people who had reported experiencing high levels of racial discrimination when they were young teenagers had significantly higher levels of depression in their 20s than those who hadn’t. This elevated depression, in turn, showed up in their blood samples, which revealed accelerated aging on a cellular level.
W.5 It’s clear that racism leads to major disparities in education, income levels, and health outcomes. It also has a significant impact on mental health. This can lead to a vicious cycle for racialized and ethnic, cultural and religious minority groups, who are already disproportionately affected by social determinants of health. If someone is experiencing inappropriate behaviors or comments or is disadvantaged because of culture, creed or skin color, the immediate effect is stress, says Dr. Vijay
W.6 The above review found that experiencing racism has associations with poor mental health and, to a lesser extent, poor physical health. There is considerable research to suggest that the stress that comes with experiencing racism can have long-lasting physical effects… The statement says that failure to address racism in the United States will continue to undermine health equity of all children, adolescents, emerging adults, and their families.
W.7Racism refers to the systemic oppression of certain racial groups. This can manifest in several ways. Stereotyping, hate crimes, and economic inequality are just a few examples of the impact that racism has, all of which can have a detrimental effect on mental health.
W.8 Racism can feel deeply personal for a child. Children may experience it in the form of racial slurs. They may encounter adults who treat them as racial stereotypes, not as individuals. They may see their parents slighted or treated with disrespect. Children can internalize harmful stereotypes, says Erica Lee, attending psychologist at Boston Children’s Hospital. Over time experiencing or witnessing discrimination can negatively impact a child’s identity and self-esteem.
W.9 The American Academy of Pediatrics is committed to addressing the factors that affect child and adolescent health with a focus on issues that may leave some children more vulnerable than others. Racism is a social determinant of health that has a profound impact on the health status of children, adolescents, emerging adults, and their families.
W.10 Racism can take a toll on all of us. For children and adolescents, particularly, the physical and mental health effects of racial trauma can be devastating and life-altering.
W.11 By now even to the most uneducated individuals on the effects of racism on the mental health of Blacks has a clear understanding that racism is more than just the act of being prejudiced, discriminatory or unfair. It is a life altering, mind effecting Black experience.
W.12 This behavior by the DSBN and their co-defendants was exceptional disturbing to the applicants dad as he has seen firsthand the results of what bullying can do to children as he has worked for the coroner’s office and in funeral services for many years.
W.13 Both parents and the applicant’s sister are well informed and aware of the horrible stories of the dad taking children from their homes for the last time, deceased because of factors like this. These stories are why the parents and sibling are always vigilant to make sure their son/brother was doing okay during these very trying times.
W.14 And as Kevin Elzinga, Janice Sargeant, Christopher McInnis, and Jacqueline Ravazzolo are only a few of the co-defendants that play a part in the bigotry that persisted in their schools. And because the DSBN and Warren Hoshizaki have deliberately tried to conceal and defend these people. The applicant and his family were forced to bear the unfavorable effects of the DSBN’s and their co-defendants racist activities.
W.15 Maybe the DSBN and its community and culture of racism should attend the coroner’s office the next time a young girl decides to end her very precious life by hanging herself in the shower. Or maybe see a young boy who decided it was time to hang himself in his closet while dad went out to buy them supper! Maybe then, they would understand the seriousness and dangers of their actions when it comes to the mental health and well-being of fragile little minds of young children!
W.16 It is important to clarify that the applicant and his family have not emerged from this situation undamaged, unslighted, and emotionally depleted. The past two years have been extremely difficult, pushing and pulling the family’s perspectives on how to handle and live with this situation in which the DSBN and their co-defendants purposefully created.
W.17 These applications deal not only with the DSBN and their co-defendants perception of the applicant as being exclusively Black, but also with the applicant and his family’s suffering with the DSBN and their co-defendants deliberate attempts to create depression, stress, emotional distress, anxiety and possibly even some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) upon the family in an attempt to make them just give up and walk away!
W.18 Be it the United States or Canada many racialized children and their families, such as the applicant’s mother and sibling have experienced this kind of unacceptable behavior from school board and are forced live with the fallout in real time and far into the future.
W.19 And in a nation where two out of every three Canadians believe racism doesn’t exist or isn’t an issue. The DSBN and their co-defendants are attempting to ruin someone’s Black brother or son’s identity, reputation and aspirations to attend school because no one is willing to accept responsibility for the racist environment and culture at the DSBN which disapproves of their son’s Black complexion! Because if the candidate had been entirely Caucasian, this would never have occurred!
W.20 So how do you think that makes the applicant and the family feel?
W.21 Imagine being forced to write and relive his content for more than a year and a half. While there seem to be an infinite number of problems, new racist events continue to arise. Do you understand how frustrating it is as it seems to never end?
W.22 So how do you think that makes the applicant and the family feel?
W.23 Would you like to start learning? You can just substitute your child for the applicant and read the content again from that point of view. Then, multiply the result by 10,000.
W.24 However, you’re fortunate. You may set the material aside and return to reality. The same reality from which the applicant and his family never had this privilege of being able to escape from due to repeated instances of racist and discriminatory behavior by the DSBN and its co-defendants.
W.25 The DSBN and the co-defendants were more than too happy to overlook the immediate and long term detrimental impact of their behavior and what it was and could do to the applicant and his family.
W.26 Hence the waiting game follows, hoping the parents get exhausted and worn out to the point where they simply walk away and forget about their concerns. Subsequently returning their son to school and carry on with their lives.