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The Unrecognized American citizen

Join the 2019 Stand Against Child Abuse Conference by Farji A. Shaheer to shed light on the struggles faced by individuals living in extreme poverty, judged and subjected to systemic abuse due to societal misperception. Explore the power of mental abuse, historical trauma, and the need for positive imagery. Understand the devastating effects of drug abuse and the importance of providing support and guidance to unrecognized citizens. Break the cycle of normalized abuse and promote a culture of empathy and understanding.

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The Unrecognized American citizen

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  1. The Unrecognized American citizen Overcoming poverty and sustaining an abuse free life 2019 Stand Against Child Abuse Conference By: Farji A. Shaheer

  2. Who is the unrecognized American citizen? • Individuals that society has written off • Individuals who live in extreme poverty without understanding of their situation • Individuals thatare judged based on media’s portrayal of them • Individuals who are denied a chance to be treated as human • Individuals who are subjected to abuse at a systemic level

  3. What is Mental abuse?

  4. Mental Abuse Psychological abuse (also referred to as psychological violence, emotional abuse, or mentalabuse) is a form of abuse, characterized by a person subjecting, or exposing, another person to behavior that may result in psychological trauma, including anxiety, chronic depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder. (Wikipedia)

  5. Imagery is powerful Is this necessary? This is how everyone should be treated.

  6. Creating a narrative • When Negative images are used they create a sense of a person not belonging or not being valuable. • This triggers Youth to believe they are not as valuable as others • Those youth become parents • The experience of abuse that a parent feels can be passed on to the children

  7. The story of an Unrecognized citizen • I should have been born different • The trauma is expected in that persons life • Creates a sense of acting out and low self worth • There is no motivation to become better than what is expected

  8. It starts early Are you valuable? Will you succeed?

  9. Degrading Comments and imagesIndividuals feel hopeless when they are not able to understand the situations they are forced to deal withThere is no hope if you do not have strong mentors or guidanceNegativity is harmful to Mental development

  10. Who will I become? Is it normal to behave like what is seen in their environment's or in movies? Normalized low self worth and trauma Images like this are shown at a higher rate than positive images

  11. Let them self select and they will eventually die off Words spoken by a conference attendee in Texas Is this what is expected of the unrecognized citizen? there is no immediate assistance for epidemics within communities of unrecognized citizens?

  12. Misrepresentation in media is Mental abuseUnrecognized citizens are not treated as human soThey are not valued by society This enables systems to abuse individuals based upon their Nationality which is now negatively perceived at many levels in societyIt is easy to violate those who are seen as not being human

  13. Historical Trauma The effects are felt long after the incident

  14. What is Historical trauma? • "People subjected to prolonged, repeated trauma develop an insidious progressive form of post-traumatic stress disorder that invades and erodes the personality. While the victim of a single acute trauma may feel after the event that she is ‘not herself’, the victim of chronic trauma may feel herself changed irrevocably, or she may lose the sense that she has any self at all." Judith Herman

  15. Imagery is powerful Thought in school systems Thought by the media outlets

  16. Historical Trauma • Whether the abuse happened once or hundreds of time, a year or 70 years ago, whatever the circumstances, there's support to help you. It's never too late. • It is relevant to children understanding who they are and where they are headed in life

  17. Power of perception is able to distort connections with other human beings It allows people to interact with others in a negative manner Opens the flood gates to abuse

  18. Perception • When there is a perceived threat we naturally form Unconscious biases • It is felt by all cultures • Alters a persons ability to make an honest judgement

  19. Drug Abuse the odds of abusing substances is high with low self worth

  20. epidemics Crack epidemic Opioid epidemic • Criminals • Effected African American families • Individuals incarcerated • Families are further separated • Drug dependence • Hit close to home • Individuals given Treatment • Searches for root cause

  21. The 1980’s • Crack first hit • Devalued individuals struggling with addiction • Separated multiple families • Incarcerated millions of men that were fathers • Made families dependent upon a system that was not invested in assisting families through their battles with addiction and poverty

  22. Lack of understanding • There is a lack of understanding when dealing with individuals living in poverty • Families can be put through scrutiny based upon their income levels • Thereis a feeling that there is no way out and like there are no options for success

  23. Discipline v/s Abuse • Beating a child is wrong but disciplining them makes them better citizens • children need discipline • The type of discipline is based on westernized treatment v/s Cultural specific treatment

  24. Normalized abuse • Its normal to carry guns, It’s the American way • Its normal to utilize illegal drugs • Its normal to be ridiculed in school • Where is the assistance for our children?

  25. Resilience in a population What was considered abuse is normalized to avoid the effects of low self worth Individuals find ways to cope and survive through traumatic events populations judge individuals coping strategies

  26. Turning negatives and making positives Stupid, dumb, dope, nasty, savage These words are negative but can be interpreted different depending on your culture

  27. Lack of trust The system divides

  28. Physical abuse • physical abuse is any act resulting in a non-accidental physical injury, including not only intentional assault but also the results of unreasonable punishment.

  29. My pain is your pain Individuals who have endured abuse are more likely to abuse others Studies show that individuals who have been effected by Abuse have a higher risk of abusing others.

  30. Why is it ok for police to physically abuse children but not their parents • Systemically parents have been ostracized for physically disciplining their children • Police discipline these same children without consequence • Example: Mike Brown

  31. Low self worth • Causes individuals to act out physically • Increases the rate of drug abuse • May result in sexual abuse and other forms of abuse • Individuals who do not value their lives can easily inflict pain on others around them

  32. Systemic Abuse School Work Police Hospital

  33. Systemic abuse School Hospitals Police Behaviors are tolerated in unrecognized school systems Teachers allow certain behaviors to exist without checking them Judgement is made based off of the perception of an individual v/s the knowledge of a person Restrictions can be placed on Unrecognized American citizens Judgement is based on the individuals the police come into contact with Individuals can lose their life without consequences

  34. Changes needed to succeed school Hospitals police Encourage and motivate students to become engaged with a population of teachers and staff that understand the environment unrecognized citizens come from Do not allow the perception of others to spill over into the way individuals are treated with in health care systems Stop policing and become community engaged. Everyone is not a criminal

  35. The media’s responsibility Broadcast positive images Tell more meaningful stories Show a variety of faces not just those who are in pain

  36. Offer support for those battling addiction • Decriminalization of Drugs/illegal substances • Offer options for employment • Offer therapy/counseling for individuals who are dealing with the drug epidemic • Accept that individuals express abuse in different manners • Tearing a family apart does not solve the situation is perpetuates the cycle

  37. Own up to the abuse inflicted Its not a single persons problem it’s the populations

  38. https://www.abuseandrelationships.org/Content/Basics/abuse.htmlhttps://www.nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types/physical-abusehttps://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/what-makes-some-people-more-resilient-to-trauma-than-others-0521155https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_abusehttps://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/non-recent-abuse/https://www.abuseandrelationships.org/Content/Basics/abuse.htmlhttps://www.nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types/physical-abusehttps://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/what-makes-some-people-more-resilient-to-trauma-than-others-0521155https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_abusehttps://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/non-recent-abuse/

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