Adding alcohol as a strategy to destroy the mental health of black people: from colonization to the present day

Abstract

This study sought to identify the relationship between colonization, racism, and alcohol addiction in the Black community from a historical perspective, and its repercussions on mental health in contemporary times. This is an essay. African peoples have always consumed alcohol, but European colonization introduced them to distilled spirits, which were used to destabilize kingdoms, usurp lands, and purchase enslaved Black people. During slavery in Brazil, alcohol was also used as a tool of control. Black people were encouraged to drink cachaça in excess in order to control the risk of rebellion. After abolition, Black people used alcohol as an escape from exhaustion, hunger, and a hostile environment. The stigma of drunkenness was associated with Black skin, especially at a time when psychiatric theories of racial deterioration due to alcohol abuse were spreading. In contemporary times, persistent exposure to racism continues to produce intense mental suffering, related to increased alcohol consumption. In mental health, it is necessary to analyze the historical roots of problematic alcohol consumption in the black population, recognize the impact of racism as a social determinant of health, and invest in health policies to combat the oppression that continues to mark the lives of this population in Brazil.