The systemic and intersectional discrimination and violence against these communities has greatly impacted the quality of life for generations of black and indigenous families. Systemic trauma is perpetuated daily through the lack of quality health care services for low-income PoC, the high rates of incarceration of black folks, the long history of police brutality against indigenous and black communities, the egregious numbers of black trans women/transfeminine people brutally murdered each year, etc. Slavery and colonization in the US may be considered a historical phenomenon, but the legacy of oppression is ever-present.
If iaedp cannot see the hypocrisy behind hosting her talk and failing to address similar traumas in black and Indigenous communities, it is surely inappropriate for the association to be a considered leader in the field of ED professional certification standards. Iaedp’s all-white keynote speakers include Rachel Yehuda, an expert on epigenetic community and historical trauma.
We believe that historical trauma, transgenerational trauma, post-traumatic slave syndrome and the current systems of oppression are factors that contribute to the development of eating disorders in communities of color. We find the lack of acknowledgment or discussion about this issue indicative of the ways in which people of color are erased, silenced, and under/unrepresented in the ED arena moreover, there is a correlation between eating disorders and historical events, such as the atrocity of slavery. Your histories and community traumas are neither important nor valid.” Moreover, this site choice sends the very clear message to ED professionals of color: “You are not welcome. This shameful site choice is also indicative of the harmful lack of critical, intersectional thinking that occurs when PoC are not in leadership and decision-making positions. The legacy of white violence at Amelia Island mandates addressing, requires accountability and proscribes complicity. This legacy of violence includes Spanish missionaries and European invaders whose colonization decimated the Native/Indigenous Timucua people in the 1500s smugglers who captured black folks and smuggled them through Amelia Island to be sold into slavery and the white-owned hotels that gentrified the island in the 1970s, extinguishing the area’s existence as a thriving black resort destination (even through the Jim Crow era during which black resort owners were not allowed on the segregated beaches). The Amelia Island Plantation (Labor Camp) Resort is a site of historical violence and erasure, colonization, displacement, illegal enslavement and forced labor. As iaedp is considered a leader in the professional ED field, we implore you to model solidarity with marginalized communities. We will not condone white fragility and willful ignorance. After one of our group members brought these concerns directly to iaedp, a representative from iaedp’s leadership did not apologize, refused to consider making any changes and claimed they were offended by the conversation.
Nalgona Positivity Pride, T-FFED: Trans Folx Fighting Eating Disorders, Adios Barbie and our comrades find the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals’ (iaedp) location choice of The Amelia Island Plantation (Labor Camp) Resort for its 2016 Symposium offensive, ignorant, and symbolic of the ways white supremacy is upheld and perpetuated by the eating disorder treatment field.
As an organization, we have made mistakes as we widen our social justice lens, and we are learning how to get support to be more accountable. We agree with this letter and stand in solidarity. Posts tagged ‘Trans-Folx Fighting Eating Disorders’Ī note from the Association for Size Diversity and Health Leadership Team: