The Bounce Black Team

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For many Black students and professionals, the pursuit of justice and accountability is already fraught with risk. Speaking up about discrimination, misconduct, or abuse—especially in powerful institutions—often invites retaliation. But there is a lesser-known, insidious phenomenon that goes far beyond workplace pushback or being shut out of opportunities: organised harassment.

Also known in some contexts as “gangstalking” or “community-based harassment,” organised harassment is a coordinated effort to monitor, isolate, discredit, and intimidate people, often whistleblowers or dissenters. It is a tool of repression, and for those affected, it can quickly escalate from subtle interference to full-blown psychological warfare.

A Hidden Obstacle to Justice

Organised harassment isn’t just harmful to individuals, it’s a systemic threat to justice itself.

If speaking out leads to being followed, surveilled, gaslit, slandered, or silently punished, who would dare to file a complaint? Who would risk challenging discrimination in the workplace, exposing a cover-up, or pushing back against abuse of power?

The answer, increasingly, is: not enough people.

And that’s the point.

Not everyone is built for resistance.

And that’s the problem.

This chilling effect doesn’t just silence victims. It emboldens perpetrators, weakens institutions, and corrodes accountability across every sector: education, healthcare, government, tech, policing.

The result is a culture where truth-telling becomes dangerous, and wrongdoing is left unchecked, exposing more people to becoming victims of harm and abuse.

Why This Matters for Black Communities

Black people already face higher levels of state surveillance, underrepresentation in leadership, and institutional mistrust.

Add to that the reality of being disbelieved, pathologised, or labelled “difficult” when reporting harm, and it’s clear why organised harassment is particularly devastating (by design) for Black students and professionals.

We’ve seen this pattern repeatedly: the Black employee who raises concerns and is suddenly branded a problem. The classic Pet-to-Threat script. The student who speaks out and finds themselves frozen out of opportunities. The activist who calls out abuse and is followed, discredited, or dismissed as paranoid.

When even the act of telling the truth makes you a target, you learn very quickly that silence is safer.

The Consequences of Silence

The danger of staying silent isn’t just personal, it’s collective.

Not filing complaints out of fear of retaliation leaves dangerous systems untouched.

Not calling out racism allows it to fester.

Not telling your story ensures that the next person will face it too, and they’ll be even less likely to speak up.

BUT! We cannot build equitable workplaces, schools, or communities on a foundation of fear. Absolutely not!

What Needs to Change

• Accountability must be systemic. Investigations into misconduct should include protections for whistleblowers and targets of retaliation, especially organised harassment, which should be punishable by law with real potency.
• Mental health professionals need better training to differentiate trauma responses from “delusions.” Too often, victims of harassment are misdiagnosed, medicated, and dismissed, leaving them to suffer in deeper isolation.
• Public awareness must grow. Organised harassment thrives in secrecy. When more people understand how it works, it becomes harder to deny, ignore or participate in it.
• We must support each other. If institutions won’t protect us, we must build networks that will. Solidarity, community-led documentation, and mutual care are essential.

What You Can Do

If you’ve experienced organised harassment or suspect someone else has:

• Document everything: Use a secure incident log, like the free template in the Surviving Organised Harassment Guide.
• Prepare an Impact Statement: It helps to have a clear account of what happened, especially when seeking support. A link to this can be found in the guide.
• Connect with others: Even if you can’t go public, know you’re not alone. Peer groups, petitions, and campaigns like Project ZER0 are pushing for change.
• Take care of your nervous system: Self-regulation practices like deep breathing, journalling, or gentle movement help you stay grounded when tactics are meant to destabilise you.
• Speak your truth where you feel safe: Whether in writing, to a trusted friend, or anonymously: telling your story is resistance.

Final Thoughts

Organised harassment is not just a conspiracy theory or psychological anomaly. It is a real, systemic strategy of intimidation that stops justice in its tracks.

For Black students and professionals who are already navigating hostile environments, this adds another layer of danger—but also another reason to fight for accountability.

We can’t afford to let fear silence us.

Not now. Not ever.

So, consider this your call to duty.

How will you answer it?