Historical Trauma Analysis

o Historical Trauma: We spent two class sessions discussing historical trauma, and we specifically discussed the plights of Aboriginal children in Australia and Native American children in the United States. Our discussion surrounding the intent of the perpetrators was fascinating, and it was heartbreaking to hear the way in which oppressors on both continents felt justified, and even responsible, to carry out atrocities. In a certain way, the perpetrators did have compassion, and many of them claimed to be acting out of good virtues. Since compassion is the “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it,” the perpetrators of abuse thus were technically acting compassionate in that they felt their attempt to “Whiten” children was in the children’s best interest. We look back on the atrocities in horror, but there are great lessons to be learned from them. Compassion, the desire to alleviate distress, is a very perception-based, and it is important to examine other perceptions, especially the perspective of the person in distress, to see what action steps need to be taken. If compassion is applied incorrectly, as it was in the scenarios we examined, it can end in psychological, political, and social trauma that reverberates through populations.
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Specifically, the Oasis Center has shown compassion towards youth in middle Tennessee through their awareness of the lack of LGBT+ support available and their drive to care for struggling youth. The Oasis Center doesn’t just understand the vastness of the issues LGBT+ youth face, but they are also driven to actually make change in the lives of youth. The “Just Us” program is unique in that it seeks to meet students where they are, no matter what step of the identity journey they are