The function of power: A herstorical model of power, trauma, and policing African Americans.

Abstract

Transmitting trauma narratives is intergenerational by nature. Few studies have taken a qualitative approach to analyzing the most pervasive trauma of the United States: the chattel slavery of Black people. Examining the lived experiences of the formerly enslaved, through their childhood and adult narrative memories of personal and second-hand interactions with White authority figures, is critical to the recognition of today's ongoing impact of policing, generational trauma, and mental health in the African American community. Using interviews archived in the Library of Congress from women (N = 19) who were identified as being members of the last living generation of formerly enslaved African Americans, researchers used a feminist-forward grounded theory methodology to understand the following: (a) What are the historical relationships between African Americans and White authority figures? (b) What are the memories associated with the interactions between African Americans and White authority figures? (c) How did these interaction processes come to be? and (d) How did these memories get passed on? The analysis of childhood memories and interactions between enslavers and African Americans close to home (i.e., on the plantation) produced six themes: (a) enmeshment with enslaver, (b) enslaver as good, (c) caretaking by enslaver, (d) enslaver control, (e) violent control by policing figures, and (f) following orders. Theoretical coding led to the formation of a full model of the function of power within the herstorical policing of African Americans close to home. The themes uncovered highlight the potentially traumatic violence and control that characterized the environment in which enslaved children lived and the systems through which White power was maintained. The herstorical analysis and results confirm the ways police violence has sought to control and harm African Americans for over 400 years and underscores the role that police violence has played in the perpetuation of intergenerational trauma and the maintenance of White power. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).