Earlier than we proceed, take a deep breath in and a deep breath out.
The occasions of this week (and if we’re being trustworthy, this month, this previous yr) have been quite a bit, to say the least. And whereas Black social media customers have mastered the artwork of balancing severity with satire throughout explosive pop-cultural moments, the reality is that moments like listening to a slur throughout the BAFTA Awards depart a mark. An affect on tradition. An affect on the folks within the room. And an affect on Black viewers, whether or not they witnessed it dwell or encountered it later whereas doomscrolling.
Others could dismiss the collective outrage as “dramatic” or “exaggerated.” However Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble, pioneering psychologist, creator, and founding father of the psychological well being nonprofit The AAKOMA Challenge, supplied theGrio language for the heavier weight these moments carry.
“One of the simplest ways I can characterize that’s racial trauma for Black folks particularly,” she shared.
Throughout the diaspora, Black folks have referred to as out BAFTA and the BBC’s responses to the incident. And Black People, particularly, have sounded the alarm. “The problem is that for African People, that’s an harm. It doesn’t matter what the origin or the whys of the harm are; it issues that it’s an harm. For us as Black folks everywhere in the diaspora, it doesn’t matter why it occurred. It issues that it occurred. That’s the outrage,” Dr. Breland-Noble added.
By now, you’ve probably seen or heard recountings of the second that shifted the main focus from the humanities to accountability throughout the 2026 BAFTA ceremony. To summarize: whereas “SInners” stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo took the stage to current an award, they had been interrupted by a racial slur (the N-word) which was shouted from the viewers by John Davidson, an attendee with Tourette’s syndrome—a neurological dysfunction that may trigger sudden undesirable and uncontrolled speedy and repeated actions or vocal sounds referred to as tics.
For the reason that surprising second was heard within the broadcast of the pre-recorded ceremony, Lindo revealed that nobody from the group spoke to him or Jordan after the incident. Davidson, BAFTA, and the BBC issued numerous statements, largely acknowledging the state of affairs and, arguably, apologizing. Nonetheless, throughout the time it took the organizations to deal with the state of affairs, social media erupted with debates about accountability, Tourette’s syndrome, grace, and disabilities.
“Non-Black folks, primarily—not solely—however primarily white folks, they appear to fall within the discourse of, ‘nicely, you need to be understanding that it’s a dysfunction.’ The issue with that’s they’re ignoring the hurt and focusing solely on the individual with the sickness, proper? However that individual with the sickness isn’t the one that was harmed in that occasion; it’s the Black folks,” Dr. Breland-Noble defined. “He has an sickness, sure. However he prompted trauma, so he has a duty to right for the injury he’s completed.”
She isn’t alone in that decision for accountability. Tourette’s advocate and Grammy-nominated artist Jamie Grace echoed the necessity for reflection throughout the incapacity group.
“Want there was extra accountability from the incapacity group, even for the issues that we are able to’t management,” Grace defined. “If I had been to be positioned on the aspect that has prompted hurt, I don’t suppose that that is the place to ask for acceptance and understanding. I don’t.”
“I believe that that may be a stunning factor that’s wanted and needed. However I believe proper now, there must be extra accountability from the media staff that would have prevented this from being shared, and extra accountability from the incapacity group in how hurt prevention ought to most likely be a bit of bit increased on the checklist of priorities,” she continued.
Recognized with Tourette’s Syndrome at 11, Grace, now 34, lives on the intersection of this dialog. As a Black woman rising up within the Tourette’s group, she recollects the discomfort of listening to white folks’s tics contain racial slurs whereas additionally witnessing the discomfort from her friends when her bodily tics inflicted involuntary hurt to folks. That duality, paired with the assist of quite a few sources, together with remedy and her mom, pressured her to grasp the duality of life with a incapacity like Tourette’s.
“I actually hope that for these of us within the incapacity group, you’ll select to lean into the truth that our Tourette’s Syndrome, yeah, we are able to’t management every part that goes on, however we will be extremely aware of the conditions that we put different folks in,” she defined. “And that is perhaps in sacrifices on our finish, however we’ve got a medical situation, not an excuse to be careless. They aren’t the identical factor. We’re asking for accessibility, not an open door to trigger hurt.”
As Davidson, the BBC, and BAFTA proceed to deal with the backlash, Dr. Breland-Noble underscores the psychological toll of moments like this. Nobody is naïve concerning the racism that continues to slither by way of society and its methods. However these public flashpoints compound what many already carry.
We frequently quote Michelle Obama’s “after they go low, we go excessive,” celebrating resilience as a advantage. But Dr. Breland-Noble factors to Dr. Sherman James’ concept of John Henryism, the high-effort coping technique wherein Black folks push themselves relentlessly to beat systemic racism, usually on the expense of their bodily well being. She connects that framework to weathering, the cumulative toll racism takes on the physique, and to vicarious trauma—the psychological affect of witnessing hurt.
“So John Henryism is our coping mechanism for many people. Weathering is the stuff that impacts on our physique, and vicarious trauma is our publicity to issues. Even when we’re not the folks standing on the stage on the BAFTA in England with the BBC, we nonetheless see it. So you set all these issues collectively, there are these exponentially tough, horribly detrimental impacts that [these moments] have on Black folks.”
And nonetheless, we’re anticipated to be “superb.” An expectation that the psychologist challenges in her upcoming e book, “Rise and Thrive.” Whereas we are able to’t change what occurred, Dr. Breland-Noble shared three instruments for navigating the load of those moments.
“One of many issues I say is you need to identify one thing as a way to tackle one thing. That’s step one. We have now to present ourselves permission to say this was an harm. It was racial trauma. It triggered stuff in me. I’m offended about the truth that you all let this occur to those two males and the remainder of that forged and all them Black folks bodily in that constructing,” she defined. “Give your self area to call it, and don’t permit different folks to take your naming away from you.”
Subsequent, she says: “We have now to be trustworthy with ourselves and provides ourselves the area and honor our personal humanity in processing. For a few of us, this received’t be with us six months from now. For different folks, tomorrow, they’ll be over onto one thing else. All of that’s okay.”
And at last, her reminder to Black communities is each tender and agency: “Don’t waste our time arguing with individuals who don’t get it. Cease it. You don’t owe them any clarification. It’s taking possession of ‘you’ve been injured.’ We’ve been injured. These of us had been injured on that stage. And we’re not going to argue with you all about why our saying that it’s an harm is justified. We’re not having—I’m not having—that dialogue. So like we do on socials, block and delete.”
