When we speak about racial trauma and policing, we often think about the disparate treatment of Black individuals by police officers and the impact that has on the Black community. However, it is important also to understand the psychological impact racial trauma (particularly police-related racial trauma) has on Black individuals who wear the uniform. Individuals in uniform frequently do not have the words to begin or sustain a conversation about racial trauma related to policing in America and the impact it has on them.

Silence in this population often stems from police officers’ difficulty articulating their experience of vicarious racial trauma, which refers to the reaction a person has when seeing or hearing about a traumatizing racial incident happening to someone else. For many officers, it is difficult to reconcile that there are systemic racial issues in law enforcement and that they are, by choice, part of this same system. Such individuals do not identify themselves as the “problem”; they see themselves as doing their job the best they can in a flawed system. In addition, this difficulty may be compounded within officers who identify as Black.

Each officer has their own background and identity outside of being an officer, their own personal thoughts and feelings. At the end of their day, they return home and to their community and assume the role of a parent, spouse, sibling, friend, and so on. When highly publicized racially traumatic events occur involving law enforcement, the impact on Black police officers is no less hard than on the average Black individual in the community.

The difference is that often there is not a space for an individual in uniform to openly express the impact racial trauma has on their lives. Among their colleagues, an “us versus them” mentality is pervasive, often forcing individuals in uniform to feel obligated to pick a side in societal debates about racism, civil rights, and

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