Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome

[Awgustlab]

"Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome

I saw this on the news last night and they had the new leader of the Black Panthers on, somewhat justifying this as a real disease that they want diagnosed. He was speaking in relation to the recent case about a black man on trial for murdering his 2 year old son. Now, call me whatever you want, but the world truly is going to hell in a firestorm hurry if this **** gets any real recognition. That Black Panthers dude had to be the most ignorant person on TV I may very well have ever seen.

"Instead of being snuffed out, an interesting new legal defence has been given a breath of life by the Oregon courts. This new theory, Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome, is the brainchild of Joy DeGruy-Leary, an assistant professor in the Portland State University Graduate School of Social Work. It is so new that it has not yet been listed by "psychiatrists or the courts as an accepted disorder."

According to professor DeGruy-Leary, "African Americans today are affected by past centuries of U.S. slavery because the original slaves were never treated for the trauma of losing their homes; seeing relatives whipped, raped and killed; and being subjugated by whites." Not surprisingly, since "African Americans as a class never got a chance to heal and today still face racism, oppression and societal inequality, they suffer from multigenerational trauma." As a consequence of this multigenerational trauma, "self-destructive, violent or aggressive behavior often results."

Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome (which should not be confused with Post-Traumatic Slavery Disorder) is being offered as a defence in the case of Isaac Cortez Bynum, who has been charged with murder by abuse of his 2 year-old son, Ryshawn Lamar Bynum. According to autopsy reports, Ryshawn "died of a brain injury and had a broken neck, broken ribs and as many as 70 whip marks on his legs, buttocks, back and chest that were of various ages."

[Henry]

Not Guilty by Reason of Being Black?

[Cskin]

We live in an era where nothing is our fault, there is always something or someone else to blame for our actions. If this gains traction, I think I'll be ill. It will fast become the defense du jour.

hey... what about "Post Traumatic decendent of a White Slave Owner syndrome"?

[aREDSKIN]

Nothing surprises me any more when it comes to our judicial system. Nothing.

[jenmdixon]

Have a look at this professor's CV:

http://www.oneness.org/images/joy_vitae.pdf

Joy Angela DeGruy-Leary, PH.D.

Biography

Dr. Joy DeGruy-Leary is originally from Los Angeles, California. She currently resides in Portland, Oregon. Dr. DeGruy-Leary holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication from Portland State University, a Masters degree in Social Work (MSW), a Masters degree in Psychology from Pacific University and a Ph.D. in Social Work Research from Portland State University. She has worked in the field of social work for over twenty years. Her professional work experience includes extensive specialized work with adolescent and adult male and female prostitutes, homeless youth, children with emotional disorders, adults with long-term mental illness, and at-risk minority children and adults.

Dr. DeGruy-Leary provides training and counseling in working with minority inner-city children and youth who are at-risk for dropping out of school, becoming involved in criminal activity and or gangs, and are prime candidates for premature sexual activities and drug abuse. In addition to these services, she works as a consultant to public and private organizations where she provides training in cross-cultural sensitivity, AIDS awareness, human resource management in multiethnic settings, managing change, and sexual harassment and discrimination law. She has trained numerous organizations which include: agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); officers of the City of Portland Police Bureau; Nordstroms Stores; the Department of Human Services and Health; the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges; Moore Research Center; DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago, Illinois; Sisters of Providence Medical Center; and the University of Wisconsin Institute for Multicultural Science Education. She has been an invited presenter at Harvard University, Columbia University, Smith College, The University of Massachusetts, New York University, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Northeastern University and Fisk University. She has worked with school districts and public and private organizations throughout the United States, Canada and South Africa.

Dr. DeGruy-Leary has pioneered research in the explanatory theory - Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, which addresses the residual impacts of trauma on African Descendants in the Americas. In addition she has developed a culturally based educational model for working with children and adults of color, which is currently being implemented in Portland Public Schools. She has recently created the “African American Male youth Respect Scale” an assessment instrument designed to broaden our understanding of the challenges facing these youth in an effort to prevent their overrepresentation within the justice system. Dr. DeGruy-Leary currently serves as an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Social Work, Portland State University.

Education

Ph.D. 2001 Social Work and Social Portland State Research University

M.A. 1995 Clinical Psychology Pacific University

M.S.W. 1988 Master of Social Work Portland State University

B.S. 1986 Speech Communication Portland State University

Honors, Awards and Grants

Awarded plaque for Outstanding Contribution to Education from Grand Valley State University, 2001

Awarded Certificate of Appreciation from the Mayor of Atlanta Georgia, 2000

Awarded the Key to the City from the Mayor of Columbus Georgia, 2000

Oregon Sports Lottery Scholarship 1999-2000

Awarded Certificate of Appreciation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1999

Minority Graduate Student Pipeline Support Fellowship 1996-97, 1997-98

Gladys McCoy Fellowship, 1997

Pacific University, School of Professional Psychology Minority Scholarship, 1990

Received the Mount Hood Minority Scholarship for field placement at Mount Hood Community

Mental Health Clinic, 1986

Winner of National Speech Debate as the selected representative of California State University at Los Angeles, 1978

[jenmdixon]

and here is an article from The Oregonian (oregonlive.com) about this case:

http://oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1086004710123410.xml?oregonian?lcg

Judge rejects slave trauma as defense for killing

A Washington County judge threw out a PSU professor's novel theory at pretrial but said she may consider it at trial

Monday, May 31, 2004

HOLLY DANKS

HILLSBORO -- A Portland lawyer says suffering by African Americans at the hands of slave owners is to blame in the death of a 2-year-old Beaverton boy.

Randall Vogt is offering the untested theory, called post traumatic slave syndrome, in his defense of Isaac Cortez Bynum, who is charged with murder by abuse in the June 30 death of his son, Ryshawn Lamar Bynum. Vogt says he will argue -- "in a general way" -- that masters beat slaves, so Bynum was justified in beating his son.

The slave theory is the work of Joy DeGruy-Leary, an assistant professor in the Portland State University Graduate School of Social Work. It is not listed by psychiatrists or the courts as an accepted disorder, and some experts said they had never heard of it.

DeGruy-Leary testified this month in Washington County Circuit Court that African Americans today are affected by past centuries of U.S. slavery because the original slaves were never treated for the trauma of losing their homes; seeing relatives whipped, raped and killed; and being subjugated by whites.

Because African Americans as a class never got a chance to heal and today still face racism, oppression and societal inequality, they suffer from multigenerational trauma, says DeGruy-Leary, who is African American. Self-destructive, violent or aggressive behavior often results, she says.

Noting the theory has not been proven or ever offered in court, Washington County Circuit Judge Nancy W. Campbell recently threw out DeGruy-Leary's pretrial testimony.

But the judge said she would reconsider the defense for Bynum's September trial if his lawyer can show the slave theory is an accepted mental disorder with a valid scientific basis and specifically applies to this case.

"I think it can be proven," the court-appointed Vogt said after Campbell's ruling. "The problem is it's brand new. It's not as easy to present in court as something that's been established over years."

Murder-by-abuse, punishable by life in prison with 25 years before possible parole, means the victim suffered from a pattern of assaults. An autopsy found Ryshawn Bynum died of a brain injury and had a broken neck, broken ribs and as many as 70 whip marks on his legs, buttocks, back and chest that were of various ages.

Bynum told police he hit his son with a watch strap during potty-training. He said the day before the boy died, he was playing "helicopter," swinging his son around the room, when the boy hit his head on a table.

"He had a traditional, Southern, small-town, working-class upbringing where 'whuppin' was accepted," Vogt said. "Whether that was abusive or not, that is in the eye of the beholder. He was raised differently than your typical kid in Beaverton."

Experts disagree on whether post traumatic slave syndrome can be proven, much less accepted in legal arenas. It took 50 years for society and the courts to accept post traumatic stress syndrome, a diagnosis for someone who has experienced or witnessed an extraordinary event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury. It is only diagnosed when functioning is severely impaired.

The judge also said the defense would have to show Bynum, who grew up in Mississippi, has slave syndrome. At the time of her testimony, DeGruy-Leary had not interviewed him.

Besides a doctorate in social work research, DeGruy-Leary has a master's degree in clinical psychology. She said she can offer counseling but is not licensed to diagnose anyone.

"Post traumatic slave syndrome is rather unique; it's not that everybody has it," DeGruy-Leary testified. "If you are African American and you are living in America, you have been impacted."

Under cross-examination by Robert Hull, Washington County senior deputy district attorney, DeGruy-Leary viewed Ryshawn Bynum's autopsy photos.

Calling the boy's injuries excessive, DeGruy-Leary said she would have reported them. But in the African American culture, such discipline "is extremely common," she said. "It falls in the rubric of what they think is normal."

A Los Angeles native, DeGruy-Leary has been working on the theory for two decades and said she is still a year from publishing a book on it. She coined the name in her 2001 dissertation on African American male youth violence.

She said she thinks post traumatic slave syndrome can be proven scientifically once the politics of race are set aside and the white research establishment takes time to study it.

"It's not a conversation that America wants to have," DeGruy-Leary said. "It's so ugly; it's so blatant."

Questioning the science

William E. Narrow, a psychiatrist who serves as associate director of research on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, said he had never heard of post traumatic slave syndrome and no one has proposed that it be included in the book's next edition.

Published by the American Psychiatric Association, the "DSM" is a courtroom bible. Judge Campbell said that if post traumatic slave disorder were in the DSM, she would consider it more favorably.

Narrow said the fifth edition of the diagnostic manual probably won't be published until 2012. In the meantime, researchers are testing new disorders for possible inclusion.

"To say that everybody in a particular racial or ethnic group has a diagnosis, I don't think it falls under what we do," Narrow said. "We have enough trouble as it is with people saying we are trying to make everybody mentally ill without trying to include something like that."

Alberto M. Goldwaser, a clinical and forensic psychiatrist, has testified as an expert in about 20 court cases across the country involving post traumatic stress, including murders.

"Maybe it's a social phenomenon and not a clinical phenomenon," he said in an interview from his Paramus, N.J., office, noting that he had never heard of post traumatic slave syndrome.

Because no African American today has been a slave, Goldwaser called the theory "such a stretch." He said he didn't think it would ever be accepted in court.

Alvin F. Poussaint, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an expert on race relations in the United States, outlined his version of post traumatic slave syndrome in the 2000 book "Lay My Burden Down."

"It is a legacy where blacks were beaten a lot and lived in terror that they could be killed at will," Poussaint said from his Boston office.

"That type of trauma gets passed on for generations" in an entire group, he said. "But in a one-on-one case, these things are hard to prove."

Although DeGruy-Leary's theory could be "viable to educate the public, I don't know about in a court of law," Poussaint said.

"Lawyers try everything; they might as well put it out."

Holly Danks: 503-221-4377; hollydanks@news.oregonian.com

Copyright 2004 Oregon Live. All Rights Reserved.

[Henry]

If this flies then anyone who can prove a history of abuse in his family has a license to beat his child to death.

[ross3909]

Everyone faces biases and has to pander to what society deems appropriate conduct. No one gets a free pass. I don't care who you are what what happened to you 200 years ago. You may find what is holding you back is a feeling that the world is against you and you cannot get past that chip on your sholder. If I was a black man or woman I would care less about what others think of me and start taking steps to improve my life. Life is hard, the wrong attitude can handicap you to the point where it is impossible to succeed. The first step is not finding a scorce that will accept you as you are and give you a life, it is to find what people are looking for and get the tools you need to succeed.

[Cskin]

In fact, i think this professor should be arrested for thinking up this crap. In fact.. it's TREASON (for Bufford).... boys get your pitch forks and torches... we're going to bring her to justice.

[Destino]

How about post DC sports syndrome? We haven't won sh!t in so long that dangit I may have to hurt someone!

[Montilar]

So the fact that somewhere back in history ALL of us has had a slave ancestor, or whatever means we can do whatever we want because it's not our fault, it's histories fault??????????????

And I think there isn't a person alive who hasn't had a slave ancestor in their background, whether it be black, serving under the Egyptians, romans, chinese, all you have to do is go back far enough.

This is comparable to the lawsuit a few years back where some morons thought they could sue some mega corporations over slavery since the mega corporations' ancestor companies existed before the Civil War... a joke.

[Henry]

Well, to be fair I have no problem investigating what may be a cultural problem within the African-American community... and even blaming the White Man if it will help bring about a solution to that problem.

I do not, however, see any sanity in allowing this issue to be used as an excuse to severely beat one's child.

Pretty much what Alvin F. Poussaint says at the end of that last article.

[SkinsNumberOne]

Originally posted by Henry

Well, to be fair I have no problem investigating what may be a cultural problem within the African-American community... and even blaming the White Man if it will help bring about a solution to that problem.

I do not, however, see any sanity in allowing this issue to be used as an excuse to severely beat one's child.

Pretty much what Alvin F. Poussaint says at the end of that last article.

Well said.

[TheKurp]

Just to play devil's advocate (cuz that's my job ), what makes a retriever, say lab or golden, instinctively fetch objects?

Can we agree that the act of fetching is a behavioral trait and not a physical one?

Ever try training a poodle to retrieve a duck?

The point being, somehow behavioral traits are linked to canine genetic phenotypes. Is it so far-fetched, no pun intended, to think that different human phenotypes have distinct behavioral inclinations?

[Die Hard]

Does this snydrome apply to gimps?

[webnarc]

Originally posted by Die Hard

Does this snydrome apply to gimps?

Only for generational gimps. If your pa was a gimp and his pa was a gimp too, then there's a good chance that you could be suffering from Post Traumatic Gimp Syndrome. You won't kill your children, you've just cry when you bound in leather and lock in your box.

[Tarhog]

Originally posted by TheKurp

Just to play devil's advocate (cuz that's my job ), what makes a retriever, say lab or golden, instinctively fetch objects?

Can we agree that the act of fetching is a behavioral trait and not a physical one?

Ever try training a poodle to retrieve a duck?

The point being, somehow behavioral traits are linked to canine genetic phenotypes. Is it so far-fetched, no pun intended, to think that different human phenotypes have distinct behavioral inclinations?

Man. This thread is GOOD stuff. :laugh:

I have an overwhelming and constant urge, no doubt passed down through the generations, to hump women's legs.

I'm working up the nerve to tell my wife that 'different human phenotypes have distinct behavioral inclinations'. Ouch.

I had a serious feeling of deja-vu when reading that article. The keen scientific mind, the iron-clad logic of it all...and then, it HIT me!:

'Where'd you get the coconuts? '

'We found them. '

'Found them? In Mercia? The coconut's tropical! '

'What do you mean? '

'Well, this is a temperate zone. '

'The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land? '

'Are you suggesting coconuts migrate? '

'Not at all. They could be carried. '

'What? A swallow carrying a coconut? '

'It could grip it by the husk! '

[Tom [Giants fan]]

So you can use a defense which claims a mental disease resulting from something you weren't even alive for?

[Chopper Dave]

You think there's a statute of limitations on this? If not, my ancestors were slaves thousands of years ago in Egypt. I'll try that one next time I get pulled over.

"But Officer, it took ALL TEN plagues for Pharaoh to let my people go!"

[rfdc]

Jeesh! I thought I beat the "Black" drum but dam*!! Is there no sanity??? WTF!

I dont' buy that. Wrong is wrong! More like slave to their own passions is the real case!

Now I feel ashamed because of knee jerk excuses like this!

TomGiantsFan said:

So you can use a defense which claims a mental disease resulting from something you weren't even alive for?

nail on the head again. Good point.

[skinsfan44]

Originally posted by Destino

How about post DC sports syndrome? We haven't won sh!t in so long that dangit I may have to hurt someone!

If that was the case, then everyone in Philly would be killing each other.

I am at a loss for words here.

This is insain.:doh:

[Henry]

Originally posted by TheKurp

Just to play devil's advocate (cuz that's my job ), what makes a retriever, say lab or golden, instinctively fetch objects?

Can we agree that the act of fetching is a behavioral trait and not a physical one?

Ever try training a poodle to retrieve a duck?

The point being, somehow behavioral traits are linked to canine genetic phenotypes. Is it so far-fetched, no pun intended, to think that different human phenotypes have distinct behavioral inclinations?

Kurp, that is a VERY dangerous arguement.

[Duncan]

Originally posted by Henry

Kurp, that is a VERY dangerous arguement.

Is it dangerous because you don't believe it or because it’s not wise to talk about behavior and genetics?

Just curious Henry.

[Riggo-toni]

Originally posted by skinsfan44

If that was the case, then everyone in Philly would be killing each other.

You mean they aren't?

[Riggo-toni]

Originally posted by Duncan

Is it dangerous because you don't believe it or because it’s not wise to talk about behavior and genetics?

Just curious Henry.

I'd say it's dangerous because racists for decades have been using the genetics card to claim superiority of certain races over others. Look at the firestorm "The Bell Curve" caused back in the 90s, for example.