The podcast “Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People” begins each episode with their staple catchphrase: “One phone call, one hour, no names, no holds barred.” Hosted by comedian Chris Gethard, “Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People” is a podcast that allows listeners from all walks of life to find authenticity and community. On a weekly basis, Gethard randomly enters the studio and tweets a phone number for people to call. The randomly selected caller is at the center of the conversation and can discuss whatever they choose. The show has no established schedule, no queue, and hardly any vetting, for producers simply ensure that the phone connection is clear. Each episode is barely edited aside from bleeping out identifying details about the caller. This allows for listeners to experience another person’s story entirely in their own words. 

Among the many participants, the podcast includes an exhausted customer service employee, a mother awaiting life or death test outcomes for her daughter, a sex toy designer, a former monk, a young woman about to turn herself in to the police for a serious crime, and over 100 others. The episodes range from deep and heavy to humorous and light-hearted, providing a wide range of emotions for the listener to experience. Gethard’s laid-back yet interested approach appears to make it easier for the participant to open up and veer away from surface-level conversation. This approach makes the listener feel as though they are overhearing a conversation between two friends rather than two strangers. 

In one particular episode, the caller is a person who is deaf and uses a sign language translator to communicate with Gethard. The caller shared how he engaged with podcasts, a typically audio-based experience, by reading the transcripts. Gethard noted this as being one of his most memorable episodes, as he truly believed the conversation embodied a glimpse of how it feels to walk in another’s shoes. 

To sit in the space of a stranger and listen to the ugly, beautiful, and average parts of their story is a truly thought-provoking experience. I recommend “Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People” because it echoes the value of every person and their story. . In addition to this, the active listening skills that Gethard demonstrates is another reason why this podcast is so valuable. He adds his own insights without decentering the caller and actively tries to understand what they are saying as best as he can. The caller, regardless of how absurd the conversation becomes, is talked to as an equal whose words contain purpose and meaning. As shared by the comedian himself, “I do my best to help and offer thoughts and advice, but I’m no therapist. I’m just a guy who is very willing to listen and who hopes that things turn out ok,” Gethard explained. 

 

With aims of enhancing Eastern University, Eastern leadership members have begun to establish drafts of a strategic plan that echoes faith, reason, and justice. As the construction of Eastern University’s 2022-2027 Strategic Plan has gone underway, the Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness hosted virtual focus groups. 

The purpose of the focus groups was to be transparent and attain feedback on the preliminary draft of priorities that will direct the strategic plan. Major focus areas and overarching goals were discussed in order to receive feedback from the larger Eastern community. As this session focused on the preliminary draft of goals for Eastern, the feedback from this session, along with future sessions, will further guide the ensuing drafts of the 2022-2027 strategic plan.

On Oct. 13th and Oct. 15th, graduate and undergraduate students met online to learn about and provide feedback on the first draft of the strategic plan. In addition to students, staff members, faculty, alumni, and deans also attended focus groups throughout the week to evolve the conversation regarding the preliminary draft. 

The Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness brought to the community draft language in these areas: living out identity; excellence and innovation; strategic funding; diversity, equity, and belonging; and valuing employees. Eastern community members shared their unique and similar experiences, asked questions, and provided critiques. 

Utilizing the feedback received from the focus groups, the leadership team plans to continue drafting the strategic plan. According to Dr. Christine Mahan, Vice President for Institutional Planning and Effectiveness, the second draft will be brought to the community in January for further discussion. “The more we communicate about it, the more useful it is,” Dr. Mahan explained.

As community involvement is a prioritized aspect of this procedure, Eastern community members are encouraged to get involved with the planning process. Community members with questions or comments are always welcome to reach out to the members of the Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness. “We all look at things through a different lens, we don’t want to put together a plan for the university that is in a vacuum,” Dr. Mahan stated.

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Situated approximately 18.7 miles away from Eastern University, the remains of the Pennhurst State School and Hospital stand as a reminder of maltreatment and captivity. 

Established in 1908, Pennhurst State School and Hospital, originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania State Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic, officially opened and admitted residents. In addition to many other institutions in the United States, Pennhurst aimed to segregate individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities from the rest of society. For over eight decades, a total of roughly 10,600 children and adults lived the vast majority of their lives, if not their entire lives, within the perpetual quarantine of Pennhurst. 

Although Pennhurst was established to care for people with seizure disorders and intellectual disabilities, the institution experienced overcrowding as many people without these conditions were admitted. Pennhurst also admitted people without parental figures, immigrants, people with mental illnesses, people who were blind or deaf, and people labelled as “delinquents.” Unclaimed by society, the individuals admitted to Pennhurst had no one advocating for their well-being or freedom. Upon entering Pennhurst, residents lost their right to leave and their ability to exercise the most basic of human rights. “Medical experimentation, cruel punishments, and the constant threats to physical and psychological well-being were part of the institutional culture,” The Philadelphia Inquirer explained. 

In 1968, Bill Baldini, a reporter, travelled to Chester County after receiving a tip surrounding the conditions at Pennhurst. Due to tight restrictions on who was allowed into Pennhurst, no reporter prior to Baldini had received such open access to the institution. Baldini was met with emaciated residents who were tied to their beds, locked in cages, and placed into solitary confinement. Immediately, the young reporter left the institution and returned with his camera crew. “And we start shooting, and my crew was mortified. I mean, I had trouble keeping them on the job, because they were literally getting sick from what they saw,” Baldini stated. 

“Suffer the Little Children,” — the title stemming from the Gospel of Mark — was a five-part series produced by Baldini and his crew regarding Pennhurst. The film depicted the neglectful and abusive circumstances that gave insights into how governmental systems can grow conditioned to the dehumanization of people. Although the release of the documentary ensued several advancements, such as the creation of early community support, the circumstances at Pennhurst continued to decline. 

On May 30, 1974, Halderman v. Pennhurst State School and Hospital was filed on behalf of former and present Pennhurst residents against the institution, its superintendents, and state officials responsible for Pennhurst’s operation. Pennhurst was officially closed as an institution in 1987, leaving a vacant building and traumatized former residents. 

In 2008, real-estate investor Richard Chakejian partnered with Randy Bates, who maintains a haunted-house business, in transforming Pennhurst State School and Hospital into Pennhurst Asylum, a Halloween attraction. Thousands of guests enter the former institution, yearning to be scared by actors dressed as bloodied patients and doctors. “PennHurst, the legendary haunted hospital complex, has opened its doors after 25 years and is accepting new patients!” the Pennhurst Asylum Haunted House website states. 

Pennhurst’s transformation into a haunted house has stirred controversy throughout the nation. “Haunted asylum attractions make people with mental illness into grotesque caricatures and perpetuate the spurious linkage between mental disorders and violence,” The Philadelphia Inquirer stated. Meanwhile, others have argued, “The public that comes through here know the distinction and the difference between making fun of something and a Halloween event,” NPR explained. 

The ethics of transforming a space of human suffering into an entertainment attraction has led to questions regarding how society views and treats those with disabilities. As the discrimination of individuals with disabilities and mental illnesses unjustly persists, activists ask haunted house attendees to think critically about what is being mimicked in the attraction and the history of the haunted houses’s location. 

Sources: The Philadelphia Inquirer, NPR, Pennhurst Asylum Haunted House, Antiquity Echoes, The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia

Summer heat waves caused forest fires to scorch Europe’s Mediterranean region, causing extensive damage to Greece. Greece experienced a record-breaking heat wave within the country, causing forest fires that extended firefighter’s resources to their ultimate capacity. The island of Evia and southern parts of Greece were immensely damaged by the fire, as 1,000 sq kilometres of Greek forest land were destroyed. The Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis blamed the fires on the increase of global temperatures. 

Following massive wildfires that tormented sections of southern Europe, leaders of Europe’s Mediterranean countries held a summit in Athens to discuss climate change. This summit took place on September 17th at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. Attendees included President Emmanuel Macron of France, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain, in addition to leaders and senior representatives from Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia, Croatia, Malta, and Portugal. “Participants reaffirmed their commitment to goals set out under the Paris accord, the worldwide global climate pact, called for closer integration of climate change policies across Europe and further cooperation within the EU’s trans-national disaster response mechanism,” Euronews stated. 

Leaders pledged to broaden the joint effort of climate cooperation in opposition to environment modification. Specifically, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen affirmed the importance of taking action immediately due to the damaging impact that climate change is already having on the Mediterranean region. According to a joint statement, the leaders held a “strong conviction that urgent and ambitious global action (is needed) at national, regional and local levels,” Radio France Internationale explained. 

The summit also included discussions on the crisis in Afghanistan and immigration policies, as Greece, Malta, Italy, and Spain contain major routes for people to enter without documentation. Greece has intentions of enacting stricter regulations related to immigration by expanding border security and increasing land and sea patrols. 

Sources: Euronews, Radio France Internationale Euronews

National concern surrounding what constitutes a fair wage is an alarming issue across the United States. As the Student Government Association (SGA) consists of leaders advocating for change, they have acquired an in-depth understanding of how Eastern University operates. Due to this, it became clear to SGA members that there is a need to address the treatment of every member of the Eastern community. Eastern University’s SGA has provided a closer examination into this reality. 

Across the United States, the poverty line is identified as being $19,320 at the 50th percentile for a single person. “Some of the lowest-paid essential staff members, who are employed directly by Eastern, are paid approximately $12.60 an hour,” SGA shared. If these essential staff members worked a 40 hour week or full-time, their annual income is roughly $26,390. Following taxes, their annual income is roughly $22,520. Therefore, the take-home pay of these essential staff members is a measly $3,200 above the United States poverty line. According to the publicly available 990 forms that all nonprofits have to submit to the IRS, Eastern University’s revenue for 2019 was $80,183,384. In a social media statement written by Xeyah Martin, the SGA President, a call to action was put forth over the wages given to Eastern University’s essential service personnel. “Some of the challenges we will present include: An Eastern minimum wage of at least $15 an hour for staff. We have essential service personnel living way too close to the poverty line while working at an institution that garners more than $80 million per year and pays its executives in the hundreds of thousands,” Martin declared. 

SGA plans to actively advocate for increased incomes of essential staff members by starting with a security proposal to strengthen how student spaces are protected and secured. “The most significant way we protect students is with personnel,” SGA explained. National hiring shortages faced by U.S. businesses and institutions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have also impacted Eastern University. In addition to this, Eastern has faced hiring shortages prior to the pandemic which, some have theorized, is a result of the low wages being offered by the institution to potential employees. Currently, Eastern has three full-time openings and one part-time opening for essential staff employees. While Eastern has six public safety officers and one director, Cabrini’s public safety supervising team alone consists of seven people. In order to strengthen how student spaces are protected and secured, the security proposal involves raising wages to $15 an hour to help with the retaining and hiring of such vital positions. Following this, SGA plans on formally introducing an additional proposal in favor of increasing the minimum wage of all staff to at least $15 per hour. 

“We would like to reinforce the idea that all of us are more than just ‘students’ of this University. We are paying customers and stakeholders. We should be allowed to determine where our money is being spent and how,” SGA emphasized. 

Students with questions, ideas, or opportunities for partnership are welcome to reach out at sga@eastern.edu. Additionally, students can keep up with SGA and their proposals through Instagram.com/Eastern_SGA. In their Instagram bio, SGA’s linktr.ee account lists all of their current proposals. “We are here to listen to and serve our student body and I can definitively say this is a genuine conviction our Executive Board and all of our Senate members hold,” Martin stated.

Sources: Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Economic Policy Institute 

“Essential personnel are the employees that students are interacting with and being cared for by the most. The essential personnel are the ones actively taking care of students and day-to-day operations, and it’s time we take care of them” Martin stated.

On the sixteenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ida struck the United States roughly 45 miles west of where Hurricane Katrina initially hit land. Hurricane Ida struck the shores of Louisiana near Port Fourchon with 150-mph winds on August 29th, granting it the title of the fifth most powerful hurricane to touch the mainland United States. The Category 4 storm was responsible for reversing the flow of the Mississippi River, flooding living spaces and streets, and causing a power outage to all of New Orleans. 

According to the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, energy companies revealed that generators were the lone source of power in the entire city following Hurricane Ida. “Entergy, a power company with 2.9 million customers across the South, said that all eight transmission lines that power the New Orleans area were out of service,” The New York Times explained. New Orleans forecasters predicted high temperatures during the weekend that followed the power outage, raising concern towards the well-being of the city’s most vulnerable residents. 

As the city’s temperatures began rising in the days following the power outage, the lack of air conditioning and dwindling supplies raised prices significantly as many residents searched for vital resources. While New Orleans residents had access to clean drinking water, the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans depended on generators at drainage and pumping stations. The supply and demand for drainage and pumping stations reached heightened levels as the power outage continued. 

The grid recovery process necessary for power restoration involves strategically restoring energy to segments of the grid in the midst of stabilizing the electrical load. A grid requires the capacity to reserve surplus power in the transmission system to refrain from overloading the system if the energy supply and demand are not equivalent. “Seeding power haphazardly can result in power surges and fluctuations that would cause even more equipment damage and failures,” The Lens stated. 

Governor John Bel Edwards emphasized that Louisiana was prioritizing the restoration of power to hospitals, especially since the generators that many hospitals had been using were expected to fail overtime. As hospitals are dealing with an inpouring of COVID-19 patients, blackouts forced health care workers to pump air into the lungs of patients’ on respirators manually while awaiting evacuation to locations with generators. 

Following this massive power outage, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell issued an 8 p.m. curfew. The mayor noted that this was a “proactive” measure since arrests had previously been made for looting. New Orleans Police Chief Shaun Ferguson declared that local and state police and the National Guard would be patrolling the streets throughout the curfew. 

As of September 9, Entergy has restored power to 98-percent of New Orleans. As electricity has resurfaced to the vast majority of New Orleans residents, city officials and community members aim to take the next step of navigating the repercussions of Hurricane Ida: healing and recovery. 

Sources: AP News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Lens

Stepping into a space with Zoe Lucas, it is immediately apparent that she illuminates a presence of sincerity and insightfulness to all who surround her. Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Lucas is in the midst of completing her first year at Eastern University as she majors in Business Administration with a minor in Spanish. Lucas chose to major in Business Administration because her family is in the process of creating a nonprofit foundation; hence Lucas wants to learn all the skills necessary to help manage this foundation successfully. Although Lucas’s family is still in the process of establishing this foundation, the overarching goal is “to be able to work with nonprofit organizations around the U.S. that are already established and improving the community,” Lucas stated.

In addition to Business Administration, Lucas demonstrated great excitement towards her minor in Spanish. Although Lucas began learning Spanish in the beginning of elementary school, Lucas admitted that she “never took it seriously until 9th or 10th grade,” Lucas explained. After moving to a location with a larger population of Spanish-speakers, Lucas began noticing that she was able to understand Spanish conversations better. This caused her to ask herself, “Why just stop when I’ve gotten so far?,” Lucas shared. Lucas has committed to learning Spanish; therefore, she is excited to extend her knowledge by studying abroad in Ecuador this summer!

Outside of her studies, Lucas has been involved in multiple organizations that strive for justice. Lucas has an abundance of knowledge surrounding injustices, including those created by achievement gaps that occur within low income school systems. In an academic article that Lucas read, she explained that some people “get to go on a smooth running escalator and then some people have to walk up broken stairs,” Lucas emphasized. Hence, Lucas shared the importance of nonprofit organizations, such as Urban Promise, that do not wait until “after-the-fact” to deal with an injustice. Lucas has also been involved with The Hope Commission, which aims to develop, promote, evaluate and advocate for strategies that focus on revitalizing struggling areas of Wilmington.

Lucas’s involvement and passion for justice issues stems from the experiences and individuals that have inspired her. After her family lost their house, Lucas struggled with the uncertainty and changes that this caused. This difficulty transformed into a lens in which Lucas used to help others better. “It’s great when you want to help people, but it can be a great help when you’ve actually gone through it yourself as well because it gives you a different perspective,” Lucas stated. Specifically, helping people experiencing homelessness is on Lucas’s heart due to her first-hand experience with housing displacement. Furthermore, Lucas also feels inspired by her father, mother, and aunts. She describes them as being a “spiritual chair” for her by “encouraging me, interceding through prayer with me, and just speaking life into my life,” Lucas described.

On top of having a passionate heart, Lucas also has a deep love of ballroom dancing and crocheting. Since she was three years old, Lucas has had a passion for dance. She specifically enjoys ballroom dancing due to the structure that it provides, giving her a sense of freedom. Regarding her love of crocheting, she is currently in the process of making a cover for her cat! She knows how to crochet two different types of stitches and has a desire to continue learning!

While Eastern’s campus is (hopefully) saying its final goodbyes to colder weather, the Student Activities Board (SAB) hosted an “Ice Skating Neon Night” event on March 13th for students to enjoy ice skating, music, and time with friends.

The event took place during a rather cold period of the day, giving attendees a last taste of winter as they embarked on a final winter-themed activity. SAB advertised the event stating, “Show off or slip up, we won’t judge,” SAB stated. Taking place in the Fowler parking lot, the event featured a square sheet of ice covered a portion of the parking lot for attendees to skate on.

Attendees of varying expertise in ice-skating were given the opportunity to navigate the ice as they wished, for all attendees were provided with ice skates to borrow throughout the event. The miniature ice-skating rink was surrounded by chairs and gates to ensure that attendees were able to have a safe experience.

Although social distancing and masks were worn amongst skaters, the sense of community was clearly present as friends laughed and playfully teased one another’s stumbles on the ice. The Fowler parking lot echoed with the music of chatter and laughter as individuals of differing levels of expertise entered the rink. More experienced skaters mainly took up the center of the rink as they swirled around effortlessly.

On the other hand, less experienced skaters typically stayed on the margins of the rink, often holding onto the gates for support. However, as the event continued, less experienced skaters grew more confident, causing many to join the more experienced skaters at the center of the rink.

For some, ice skating involved grace and speed; for others, ice skating involved inelegance and stumbling. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful sight to watch skaters come together and embed their unique imprints into the ice. Creating cursive as ice skate blades carved into the ice, skaters chiseled the joy they experienced into the rink — transforming the rink into a metaphorical canvas of abstract-like art.

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In addition to the community atmosphere that was present, this event also gave attendees the opportunity to focus on the moment. The COVID-19 pandemic has appropriately been a topic of interest within many conversations; therefore, it was refreshing to be preoccupied instead with maintaining balance and moving forward on the ice. In being engaged in an activity that requires focus, this gave attendees the opportunity to be momentarily distracted from other stressors that they may be experiencing. Instead, attendees were able to focus on gliding (and sometimes falling perhaps) on the cool surface below their skates.

As the “Ice Skating Neon Night” event came to a close, the music slowly grew faint and skates were traded in for sneakers. Similar to other SAB-sponsored events, SAB made sure that this event was safe, fun, and memorable for all students. The hard work of SAB members certainly created an event for many students to enjoy. Hence, a huge thank you goes out to SAB for dedicating time and resources in order to ensure that students had a memorable weekend.

Home of the Liberty Bell, cheesesteaks, and many wonderful Eastern students and staff members, Philadelphia contains a multitude of characteristics that makes it so unique from other major cities. On March 4, the Eastern community received the opportunity to take part in a question and answer zoom session with Philadelphia Mayor, Jim Kenney. While this event was initially for students in the Introduction to the City class, Dr. Johnson, the professor of the course, opened this event to the larger Eastern community. This event provided a special opportunity for the Eastern community to have a conversation with the Mayor of the sixth largest city in the United States.

Mayor Kenney is the 99th Mayor of Philadelphia, stepping into office in 2016. While in office, Mayor Kenney has engaged in numerous ventures that aimed to benefit Philadelphians. Specifically, Philadelphia became one of the first major cities to implement a tax on sweetened beverages in 2017. Although this taxation was controversial, Mayor Kenney has used funds from the soda tax to take on anti-poverty initiatives, such as expanding the accessibility to free, high-quality pre-K opportunities. Mayor Kenney has also used the soda tax funds to invest in parks, playgrounds, recreation facilities, and libraries.

At the beginning of the Zoom meeting with Mayor Kenney, attendees were asked to comment on their favorite things about Philadelphia. Students noted the beautiful street art, rich history, population diversity, and many other aspects that contribute to the beauty of Philadelphia.

On the flipside, Mayor Kenney has been recognized to have supported and/or stayed silent on issues that have negatively impacted many Philadelphians. During the Zoom meeting, many Eastern students expressed their concerns with both actions and inactions of the Philadelphia mayor.

Mayor Kenney shared his regrets of agreeing that police could use tear gas on demonstrators that were protesting against police brutality. For attendees, especially those who live in communities that were directly affected by this, this decision to use tear gas caused much harm. He went on to apologize for authorizing this tear gassing and declared that this action was one of his biggest regrets while in office.

As the meeting progressed, Mayor Kenney asked students to note aspects of Philadelphia that they believe need to change. Students shared how injustices, such as gentrification, police brutality, and anti-homeless architecture, needed to be uprooted and changed. Many attendees expressed that police reform requires directing more funding towards resources, specifically social services. Rather than responding to this critique directly, he seemed to have avoided the question altogether.

Eastern student, Kathleen O’Keeffe, shared both her gratitude towards the Mayor’s presence as well as her wishes, “It was nice he took the time to speak with us. I just wish he would be authentic about his position on complex issues. Instead, it felt like he would have agreed with whatever we said, and never thought about it again” O’Keeffe stated.

Overall, it is with gratitude that Mayor Kenney put aside time to speak with the Eastern community. A huge thank you also goes out to Dr. Johnson for organizing this event and allowing the entire Eastern community to be included. It is important to note that the Eastern community did not shy away from raising difficult questions and critiques. To all those who joined, asked questions, vocalized their ideas, and listened: thank you.

Lover of words, music, and history, Tomi Alarape is a first-year student at Eastern University whose presence contains bountiful levels of laughter and wisdom. Originally from New Jersey, Alarape came to Eastern “through the wise words of my youth pastor Dave Charnick, an alumni of Eastern,” Alarape explained. His youth pastor shared that Eastern had a wonderful Christian community and numerous activities to get involved with. Upon visiting Eastern, “I just felt while walking through the
campus that I felt at home here, I’ll be happy here,” Alarape shared. Currently, Alarape plans on majoring
in psychology and business with a minor in history.

Beyond Alarape’s relationship to Eastern, Alarape loves delving into the world of history. He connects
his fascination in history to the current history that is unfolding in the present-day. Specifically, Alarape
explained how in order to understand present-day impacts of systematic racism, “You have to go back to
Civil Rights and even before that in how this country is founded,” Alarape noted. Alarape plans on minoring in history to further his insights on the ways in which the past influences the future. “It reminds us that humans make mistakes and this is how we can learn from it,” Alarape explained.

Initially, Alarape was interested in becoming a teacher, specifically hoping to impact youth. “I felt like,
at the time, that was the best way I could impact people, more importantly kids,” Alarape shared. However, Alarape’s interests were soon channeled into the field of psychology while taking an Advanced Placement Psychology class during his junior year of high school. At the same time that Alarape was engaging with the world of psychology, Alarape’s understanding of his future aspirations in psychology began shifting due to his evolving awareness of worldly injustices.

“Trayvon Martin is what made me incorporate psychology into the African American community. I remember I saw him the first time in the news. I was either a year older or the same age as Trayvon,” Alarape stated. In 2012, Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American youth, was shot and killed by a police officer while walking home from a convenience store in Sanford, Florida. The loss of Martin’s life “was just really sad to see. It hurt because why is it that because of who I am or my skin color that I should be afraid to go home at night? I just thought of how other people who are my skin color also have that fear now,” Alarape shared. Following this devastating occurrence, among many other similar cases, Alarape became more involved with Black Lives Matter and magnified his focus on psychology towards the African American community.

The devastation of watching any community face harm repeatedly is deeply infuriating. However, the
devastation of being a part of the community that faces harm repeatedly is utterly traumatizing. Alarape noted how the rise of social media and news outlets gives Black youth more trauma in seeing pictures, videos, and recordings of abuse endured by Black communities.

Alarape is adamant on using his skills in psychology to support those, particularly youth in the African American community, impacted by trauma and mental illness. When asked about what he would do to help those enduring trauma due to the harm caused by racial injustice, Alarape said he plans to use his own experiences to emphasize that they are not walking this journey of healing alone. He would also ensure that they felt comfortable talking about how they truly feel without any barriers present. In Alarape’s future practice, struggling youth that may come into his care will hear the message: “You don’t have to feel like that because there is power in change and there is power in you,” Alarape said.

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