Bay Area

Black, Vulnerable and Trafficked, Part 6: How Selling Sex Impacts Black Mental Health

Although California Senate Bill 357 was intended to alleviate arrests of willing sex workers under anti-loitering laws, it opened up a Pandora’s box loophole that hinders the ability of law enforcement to halt human trafficking, especially of young Black and Brown girls.

Published

1 month ago

April 19, 2023

Oakland Post

One key to healing is being able to talk about it. But access to culturally astute mental health professionals is hard to come by.

By Tanya Dennis and Vanessa Russell

Over the last five weeks we’ve covered multiple ways that SB 357 and legislation like it allows sex buyers to prey on the vulnerabilities and ongoing economic instability of Black communities.

Each of the vulnerabilities – repeated trauma of poverty, racism, drug addiction, broken families — paint pictures of the difficult position that Black girls are placed in as they choose the sex industry over homelessness and hunger.

But is it really a choice when you have no other options? Black people are continually faced with coercive opportunities from the sex industry. Because they are overrepresented in the sex industry, many may think they want to be there or that they should be there, but a deeper look reveals that sex work for many is not a choice but a means to survive.

Being trafficked, aka sold to a sex buyer against one’s will, has a tremendous impact on mental health causing Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD), General Anxiety Disorder (GAD), depression, and panic disorders.

In a Psychology Today article, survivors share similar feelings:

“I was going through life on auto-pilot”
“I was always self-blaming”
“I felt shame and fear”
“I was not in touch with myself”
“With so many secrets I felt I had to keep, I didn’t want to get really close to anyone. I didn’t want people to know what I had been through, and I didn’t want to face these things myself.”

Even those who say they voluntarily worked in the sex industry said that being reduced to a product affected their mental health.

In a Proletarian Feminist article titled “Sex Work,” Esperanza, a socialist, feminist, transgender Latina woman, and survivor of the sex trade shared that “the reality of being a transgender prostitute was not so simple. What started out as empowering in my mind quickly became a trap I couldn’t escape.

In general, 16% of the Black population is experiencing mental illness, according to a Mental Health America story on the subject. It’s no surprise that mental disorders are so prevalent in the Black community where 40% of those who are sexually exploited are Black and 1 in 5 Black women are survivors of rape.

One study reported by University of Pittsburgh Professor Rebecca Thurston in 2021 showed that people who experience sexual assault are at a higher risk of brain damage including cognitive decline, dementia, and stroke

Solving the Black mental health problem is complex. First, mental health services are not widely accepted in the Black community. There is still a stigma about seeking help, LCSWAmy Morin wrote for VeryWellMind in October of 2020. Historically, the Black community has characterized traditional counseling as something that you do when you are crazy and have completely lost control.

Talking about feelings in a chaise lounge chair and needing to take medicine can be viewed as a sign of weakness. Also, when Black people do buy into receiving mental health services, they want them from someone they feel comfortable with, someone who is culturally astute.

Unfortunately, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) reports that “only 2% of the estimated 41,000 psychiatrists in the U.S. are Black, and just 4% of psychologists are Black.”

What would happen if we had more representation in the Black mental health space that integrated important parts of our faith with clinical educational insights that can inform our healing?

We could help Black people understand that they can rewire their brains with an improved thought life and at the same time continue to pray about negative thoughts as they arise.

Several evidence-based studies have shown that prayer is highly effective in traumatized patients and yet government agencies fight tooth and nail to keep faith-based practices and services separate from government sanctioned clinical versions of mental health services.

The Oakland Frontline Healers has formed a Black mental health providers coalition. This group is making great strides to meet the needs of Black clients in non-traditional ways.

Unfortunately, when bills like SB 357 are passed without consideration for these issues and allocating funding to exit services including mental health, we are not able extend these resources to the people who need it the most.

Most of the services that Black people receive are pro bono which is indirectly taking from the Black clinician that has earned their way into this profession but once again cannot serve their own people without going broke.

This vicious cycle of Black people having to make all the sacrificing for our own people must end. It is time for legislators to discontinue using black pain to pass legislation and leave Black people with the bill.

Robust funding of exit services such as mental health, outreach, housing, workforce development is long overdue.

Tanya Dennis is the facilitator for Oakland Frontline Healers and Vanessa Russell is the executive director of Love Never Fails.

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Activism

Community Opposes High Rise Development That Threatens Geoffrey’s Inner Circle

City Council chambers were full for the May 17 Planning Commission hearing, and almost all the 40 speakers who had signed up to make presentations talked about the importance of the Inner Circle as part of Oakland and Geoffrey Pete as a stalwart community and business leader who has served the city for decades.

Published

1 day ago

May 30, 2023

Oakland Post

Geoffrey Pete went to City Hall to appeal the city Planning Commission’s approval of the high-rise development that threatens the closure of his 44-year historic cultural mecca. Photo by Jonathan ‘Fitness’ Jones.

By Ken Epstein

An outpouring of community supporters – young, old, jazz lovers, environmentalists and committed Oakland partisans – spoke out at a recent Planning Commission hearing to support Geoffrey Pete and his cultural center – The Inner Circle – an historic Oakland landmark whose future is threatened by a proposed skyscraper that out-of-town-developer Tidewater Capital wants to build in the midst of the city’s Black Arts Movement and Business District (BAMBD).

The speakers argued passionately and persuasively, winning the sympathy of the commissioners, but were ultimately unsuccessful as the Commission unanimously approved the high-rise to be built either as a residential building or office tower on Franklin Street directly behind Geoffrey’s building.

Mr. Pete has said he would appeal the decision to the City Council. He has 10 days after the hearing to file an appeal on the office building. His appeal on the residential tower has already been submitted.

Mr. Pete said the Planning Department still has not published the boundaries of the BAMBD. “Tidewater’s applications and subsequent applications should not be approved until the Planning Department fully acknowledges the existence of the BAMBD,” he said.

“This (proposed) building poses a grave danger to the historic (Inner Circle) building next to it, arguably Oakland’s most meaningful historic building,” Pete said.

“We’re here to advocate for what’s best for the African American district and community that has gotten no representation, no advocacy, as of yet,” he said. “The (commission) is guilty, the City of Oakland is guilty, and Tidewater is guilty.”

One of the first speakers was Gwendolyn Traylor, known as Lady SunRise, who directly addressed the developers.

“With all due to respect to your business, it’s not a need of this community. I would like to ask you to reconsider the location …What is being (promised) here does not add to the healing of this community,” she said.

Naomi Schiff of the Oakland Heritage Alliance emphasized that Geoffrey’s Inner Circle is a treasure of Oakland’s history.

“Our first concern is the integrity of the historic district, in particular the former Athenian-Nile Club, now Mr. Pete’s equally historic venue, which has been the location of a great number of important community events,” she said. “It would not be OK with us if the integrity of the building were damaged in any way, no matter how much insurance (the developer bought) because it is very difficult to repair a historic building once it’s damaged.”

The Inner Circle was previously owned and operated by the Athenian-Nile Club, one of the Bay Area’s largest all-white-male exclusive private membership club, where politicians and power brokers closed back-room deals over handshakes and three martini lunches.

Cephus “Uncle Bobby X” Johnson pointed out that commissioners and the city’s Planning Department have “acknowledged that you went through the entire design review process without even knowing that the Black Arts Movement and Business District existed.”

The district was created in 2016 by City Council resolution. “At the heart of the opposition to this building is the desire to further the legacy of local Black entertainment and entrepreneurship exemplified by businesses like Mr. Pete’s … a historical landmark and venue (that serves) thousands of people who listen to jazz and other entertainment and hold weddings, receptions, and memorial services,” said Uncle Bobby.

This development is taking place within a context in which the “Black population in Oakland has decreased rapidly … because of the city’s concentration on building houses that are not affordable for people who currently live in Oakland,” he said.

John Dalrymple of East Bay Residents for Responsible Development said, “This project will result in significant air quality, public health, noise, and traffic impacts. He said the city has not adequately studied the (unmitigated) impacts of this project on the Black Arts Movement and Business District.

“This project is an example of what developers are being allowed to do when they don’t have to follow the law, and they don’t have to be sensitive to our city’s culture and values,” he said. The commission should “send a signal today that we will no longer be a feeding ground for the rich.”

Prominent Oakland businessman Ray Bobbitt told commissioners, “Any decision that you make is a contribution to the systemic process that creates a disproportionate impact on Black people. Please do yourself a favor, (and) rethink this scenario. Give Mr. Pete, who is a leader in our community, an opportunity to set the framework before you make any decision.”

Though the City Council created the BAMBD, the 2016 resolution was never implemented. The district was created to “highlight, celebrate, preserve and support the contributions of Oakland’s Black artists and business owners and the corridor as a place central historically and currently to Oakland’s Black artists and Black-owned businesses.”

The district was intended to promote Black arts, political movements, enterprises, and culture in the area, and to bring in resources through grants and other funding.

Activism

Community Meeting on Crime and Violence

Join Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb to discuss the uptick in crime and violence in District 1 and across Oakland. Representatives from the Oakland Police Department will be in attendance. This event will be held in-person and online.

Published

1 day ago

May 29, 2023

Oakland Post

Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb

Tuesday, May 30, 2023
6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Oakland Technical H.S. Auditorium
300-340 42^nd St.
Oakland, CA 94611

For more information, contact District 1 Chief of Staff Seth Steward: ssteward@oaklandca.gov, 510-238-7013.

Bay Area

UniverSoul Circus Opens in Richmond

Described by show organizers as a highly interactive combination of circus arts and theatre that spans musical genres, UniverSoul Circus will feature flipping motorcycles, stilt dancers, Fire Limbo Benders, ancestral carnival characters, clowns, flamboyantly costumed dancers and more “in a celebration of energy.”

Published

1 day ago

May 29, 2023

Oakland Post

Clowns who perform with UniverSoul Circus. Photo courtesy UniverSoul Circus.

By Kathy Chouteau | The Richmond Standard

UniverSoul Circus kicked off its Bay Area run under the Big Top at Hilltop Mall last week with the performances continuing during various times through Sun., June 19.

The UniverSoul Circus is a single ring circus, established in 1994 by Cedric Walker and Calvin “Casual Cal” Dupree, an African American man who had a vision of creating a circus with a large percentage of people of color performing. He began searching for people from all around the world with incredible talents. Richmond police Chief Bisa French and City Manager Shasa Curl were set to be guest ringmasters for the opening night show.

“Get ready to be amazed and frightened at the terrifying, gravity- defying acrobats on the Wheel of Death or the bold, breathtaking daredevils on the High Wire,” said UniverSoul Circus in a statement about the show.

This season’s theme is, ‘We All Belong,’ according Walker, the circus founder and CEO. “We all belong to one human race. Everyone is coming together, different cultures, different people, a new transcultural fusion, a new generation inclusive and together in a UniverSoul Experience!”

Venue:
Hilltop Mall
2200 Hilltop Mall Rd, Richmond, CA 94806

Showtimes:
Thurs-Fri: 7:00 p.m.
Sat: 11:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m.
Sun: 11:00 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m.

Box Office Hours:
Tues: 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Wed-Fri: 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Sat: 9:00 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Sun: 9:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Mon: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Memorial Day)

Tickets range from $27.50 to $60 depending on your seat and you can purchase them on Ticketmaster. Visit www.universoulcircus.com for more info.