KILLING A PUPPY VS KILLING A BLACK MAN

Dr. Joy DeGruy authored a 2005 book titled, ‘Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing,’ which addresses the residual impacts of trauma on descendants of enslaved Africans in the Americas.

In this clip from a 2008 talk she gave in London, DeGruy compared the societal consequences of stomping a puppy versus killing a Black man. She argued someone would be punished for killing the puppy, even though both acts would traumatise—and, as DeGruy said, dehumanise—witnesses.

Indeed, in places where Africans live under duress, we contend with much violence with neither regard to the mental and physical ramifications nor real solutions to end systemic violence. In the United States alone, a Black person is five times more likely to be incarcerated than a white person, while white households hold more than nine times more wealth than Black households.

Let us know what you think about DeGruy's remarks.