Mr. Yates traced his increased stress to a death in his city 4 months earlier. The death was recorded on video and featured an unarmed Black man being murdered by two white off-duty policemen who had accused him of theft. Like many people, Mr. Yates first saw the video via his social media “timeline,” where it was routinely reposted by his friends. Because the murder had occurred in his hometown, it received much local attention. Mr. Yates’s social media timeline began to fill up with other examples of police brutality toward Black men. He said he watched the videos because they were “trending” and appeared on his social media timeline abruptly, unfiltered, and without warning. In addition, he became increasingly aware of news programming, social media posts, and community memorials relating to the deaths and abuse
of other Black men. Although he described trying to avoid details about these tragedies, he said that news, images, and videos were unavoidable, and he had become increasingly preoccupied with fears for the safety of his wife, his young sons, his extended family, and himself. Mr. Yates stated that he was not paranoid or overly sensitive about racism, and that up until recently, he’d been good about “compartmentalizing.” Nevertheless, he admitted that it had become
difficult to stop thinking about violence against unarmed Black men.
What is Mr. Yates Diagnosis?