6 - “Trauma”

Summary

dre cummings discusses Meek Mill’s 2018 song, “Trauma,” as a way to enter the debate about the psychological effects of growing up racial minority in poverty-stricken environments. In “Trauma,” Meek Mill deftly describes the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) that marred his own individual upbringing, then expresses the trauma’s faced by African American communities the nation over. Recent powerful research indicates that the more ACEs a child faces while growing up, the more likely that such trauma will cause negative health outcomes in those individuals as adults. Meek Mill makes it clear in “Trauma” that African American children that grow up in US urban centers face a dramatic number of ACEs throughout their young lives. This chapter, using “Trauma’s” framework, will not only acknowledge the built-in Adverse Childhood Experiences for those that grow up poor and black in America, but also argues that the criminal justice system itself, particularly law enforcement culture in the United States, stands as an Adverse Childhood Experience in and of itself.