Afro-American Research Articles

The Influence of Group Identification and Morality in Support for Defunding the Police

There is very little research regarding what factors drive support for defunding the police. Using the theoretical framework of the Group Engagement Model and the Moral Foundations Theory, this study explores if and how race, group identification, and morality shape support for defunding the police. Results indicated that increased superordinate identification and binding moral foundations reduced support for defunding the police among White respondents. For Black respondents, increased subordinate identification explains their increased support for defunding the police. Attachment to one’s racial group and concerns for its welfare coupled with moral intuitions driven by care and fairness toward victims of police brutality who are disproportionately Black explains why Blacks Americans began and support calls to defund the police.

Exploring Public Emotions on Obesity During the COVID-19 Pandemic Using Sentiment Analysis and Topic Modeling: Cross-Sectional Study.

Obesity is a chronic, multifactorial, and relapsing disease, affecting people of all ages worldwide, and is directly related to multiple complications. Understanding public attitudes and perceptions toward obesity is essential for developing effective health policies, prevention strategies, and treatment approaches. This study investigated the sentiments of the general public, celebrities, and important organizations regarding obesity using social media data, specifically from Twitter (subsequently rebranded as X). The study analyzes a dataset of 53,414 tweets related to obesity posted on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic, from April 2019 to December 2022. Sentiment analysis was performed using the XLM-RoBERTa-base model, and topic modeling was conducted using the BERTopic library. The analysis revealed that tweets regarding obesity were predominantly negative. Spikes in Twitter activity correlated with significant political events, such as the exchange of obesity-related comments between US politicians and criticism of the United Kingdom's obesity campaign. Topic modeling identified 243 clusters representing various obesity-related topics, such as childhood obesity; the US President's obesity struggle; COVID-19 vaccinations; the UK government's obesity campaign; body shaming; racism and high obesity rates among Black American people; smoking, substance abuse, and alcohol consumption among people with obesity; environmental risk factors; and surgical treatments. Twitter serves as a valuable source for understanding obesity-related sentiments and attitudes among the public, celebrities, and influential organizations. Sentiments regarding obesity were predominantly negative. Negative portrayals of obesity by influential politicians and celebrities were shown to contribute to negative public sentiments, which can have adverse effects on public health. It is essential for public figures to be mindful of their impact on public opinion and the potential consequences of their statements.

Market Nation: Forging Economic Citizenship in Nineteenth-Century African America

Abstract This essay engages with the civic possibilities African Americans perceived in the social, economic, and political transformations associated with the antebellum market revolution. Against the emerging nineteenth-century hegemony of political and economic liberalism, African Americans formulated an ideal of economic citizenship that translated Black material successes and social mobility into an extra-legal symbolic citizenship; in particular, class stratification among African Americans was mobilized to counter the presumption of immutable, ontological Black abjection that justified ascriptive Jacksonian civic exclusions. The essay engages with two proto-sociological texts designed to challenge these exclusions by depicting stratified African American communities that testified to African Americans’ market participation in and contributions to the nation. As insiders of their respective groups, authors Joseph Willson—Sketches of the Higher Classes of Colored Society in Philadelphia (1841)—and Cyprian Clamorgan—The Colored Aristocracy of St. Louis (1858)—innovate a vernacular sociology that cobbles together political economy, proto-social science, reform and literary discourses to fashion empirical, reparative accounts of their better-off African American communities. Engaging with these texts allows us to understand the role that regional specificity played in formulating race, class, and status across an expanding nation, but more importantly, it makes us aware of the perils and ambiguities involved in making African Americans’ participation in the liberal marketplace, or economic citizenship, the basis of African American civic legitimacy.

Emergency Department Visit Rates by Selected Characteristics: United States, 2022.

This report presents characteristics of emergency department (ED) visits by age group, sex, race and ethnicity, payment source, and mention of COVID-19, using data from the 2022 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS). Data for this report are from NHAMCS, an annual, nationally representative survey of nonfederal, general, and short-stay hospitals. Data analyses were performed using the statistical packages SAS version 9.4 and SAS-callable SUDAAN. Two-tailed t tests with a significance level of p < 0.05 were used to determine statistically significant differences between ED visit rates. The overall ED visit rate was 47 visits per 100 people in 2022, and the ED visit rates were highest for infants younger than age 1 year (99 visits per 100 infants) and adults ages 75 and older (76 per 100 adults). The ED visit rate for Black or African American non-Hispanic people (91) was the highest among the selected racial and ethnic groups. In 2022, a COVID-19 diagnosis was confirmed for 4.8% of all ED patient visits.

Health for Hearts United Longitudinal Trial: Improving Perceived Stress and Allostatic Load Outcomes of Mid-Life and Older African American Women.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States, with African Americans experiencing higher age-adjusted mortality compared to Whites. African American women in particular carry a high CVD burden due to more exposure to adverse personal and socioenvironmental challenges. Church-based interventions can improve health behaviors and health status of African Americans, yet few have addressed stress-related health. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the 18-month Health for Hearts United intervention in relation to stress-related outcomes (perceived stress, allostatic load) of mid-life and older African American women (≥45 years of age; n = 152 overall sample, n = 65 clinical subsample). The results of the repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) analyses showed overall significant decreases in perceived stress and allostatic load for both treatment and comparison groups over the measurement occasions (baseline and 18 months) with educational level remaining as a significant correlate over time. There was no significant interaction between treatment and time, yet there were trends in improvements for the treatment group compared to the comparison group. The findings demonstrate the potential of church-based interventions in reducing both self-reported stress and allostatic load in African American women, and highlight the need for further investigation of educational level and other possible factors influencing stress management in these settings.

Efficacy of an mHealth-delivered behavioral intervention on weight loss and cardiometabolic risk in African American postpartum people with overweight or obesity: the SnapBack randomized controlled trial.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a mobile health (mHealth)-delivered behavioral intervention on changes in postpartum weight and cardiometabolic risk factors (blood pressure [BP], lipids, and hemoglobin A1c) over 12 months. A randomized controlled trial of 300 African American postpartum peoplewith overweight and obesity enrolled in Philadelphia Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics was conducted. Participants were randomized to usual WIC care (n = 151) or a 12-month mHealth-delivered intervention (n = 149) comprising behavior change goals, interactive self-monitoring text messages, and counseling support. Intervention and usual-care participants did not significantly differ in 12-month mean postpartum weight change (1.1 vs. 1.6 kg, p = 0.5; difference -0.6 kg, 95% CI: -2.3 to 1.2). However, high intervention engagement led to weight loss compared with weight gain among those who were less engaged (-0.6 vs. 2.4 kg, p = 0.01; difference -3.0 kg, 95% CI: -5.4 to -0.6). The intervention reduced systolic BP relative to usual care (-1.6 vs. 2.4 mm Hg, p = 0.02; difference -4.0 mm Hg, 95% CI: -7.5 to -0.5), but this effect did not extend to other cardiometabolic risk factors. Among African American postpartum people enrolled in WIC, an mHealth-delivered intervention reduced systolic BP but not additional cardiometabolic risk factors or weight. Intervention participants with high engagement had significantly better postpartum weight outcomes, and thus, next steps include addressing barriers to engagement.

Racial Disparities in Plasma Cytokine and Microbiome Profiles.

Many health issues prevalent in African American (AA) populations are associated with chronic inflammation and related health conditions, including autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, neurologic disorders, metabolic syndromes, and others. The current study aims to understand plasma microbiome translocation as a potential trigger for chronic inflammation. In this study, 16 Caucasian American (CA) and 22 African American (AA) healthy individuals were recruited. Microbial DNA was isolated from the plasma samples and sequenced via microbial 16S rRNA V3-4 sequencing. The plasma levels of 33 cytokines and chemokines were evaluated. The proinflammatory microbiomes were verified using human THP-1 cells in vitro. The plasma levels of IL-6, IL-15, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, and MIP-3α were higher in the AA people, whereas IL-1α and IL-27 were elevated in the CA people. The plasma microbiomes exhibited eight bacterial genera/phyla differentially enriched in the CA and AA people. Given the critical role of IL-6 in chronic inflammation and associated diseases, we identified five bacteria genera significantly associated with IL-6. The abundance of Actinomyces was positively correlated with the plasma IL-6 level (r = 0.41, p = 0.01), while the abundance of Kurthia (r = -0.34, p = 0.04), Noviherbaspirillum (r = -0.34, p = 0.04), Candidatus Protochlamydia (r = -0.36, p = 0.03), and Reyranella (r = -0.39, p = 0.02) was negatively correlated with this. Finally, the THP-1 cells treated with heat-killed bacteria produced higher levels of IL-6 in vitro in response to the Actinomyces species compared to the species in the genus either uncorrelated or negatively correlated with IL-6. This is the first study to report potential blood microbiome translocation as a driver for persistently elevated IL-6 levels in the periphery in healthy AA versus CA people. Understanding the plasma microbiome linked to the IL-6 levels in people with different racial backgrounds is essential to unraveling the therapeutic approaches to improve precision medicine.

The effects of online and institutional racism on the mental health of African Americans.

Although a wealth of literature has documented the adverse physical and mental health effects associated with exposure to racism, little scholarly attention has focused on the specific impact of online racism. Online experiences of racism have increased significantly over the years, and the intersection of online and "offline" racism makes it difficult for African Americans to find respite from overall experiences of racial discrimination in their daily lives. To address this gap in the literature, the present study was designed to examine the possible compounded effect of online and institutional racism by investigating whether offline institutional racism would serve as a moderator of the effects of online racism on psychological outcomes in a sample of African Americans. One hundred and eighty-two African Americans answered survey data on their experiences of institutional and online racism, as well as their overall mental health. Moderated regressions and simple slope analyses were performed to examine the effects of online, institutional, and the interaction of online and institutional racism on psychological symptoms (i.e., psychological distress and well-being). Online racism was the strongest and most consistent predictor of all outcome variables. The interaction of online and institutional racism was significantly associated with psychological distress but not well-being. Findings suggest that participants who endorsed institutional racism experience increased severity in psychological symptoms in relation to increased exposure to online racism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Using Microeconomic Spending Traits to Inform Trends in Utilization of Cosmetic Procedures by Race and Ethnicity.

Cosmetic plastic surgery in the United States is underutilized by African American and Hispanic populations compared with their White and Asian counterparts. This study evaluated whether microeconomic spending traits as a representation of financial stability can inform trends in cosmetic procedure volumes by racial group. Annual volumes for the top five cosmetic surgical and cosmetic minimally invasive procedures by racial/ethnic group from 2012 to 2020 were collected from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons' annual reports. Factor analysis was used to calculate inflexible and flexible consumer spending by racial/ethnic groupings from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics' consumer expenditure data. All four factors were calculated across US Bureau of Labor Statistics-defined racial/ethnic groupings and standardized so they could be interpreted relative to each other. Compared with the other groupings, the White/Asian/other grouping spent significantly more on average for inflexible consumer spending (P = 0.0097), flexible consumer spending (P < 0.0001), cosmetic surgical procedures (P < 0.0001), and cosmetic minimally invasive procedures (P = 0.0006). In contrast, African American people spent significantly less on average for all four factors (all P < 0.01). For Hispanic people, values were significantly less on average for flexible consumer spending (P = 0.0023), cosmetic surgical procedures (P < 0.0001), and cosmetic minimally invasive procedures (P = 0.0002). This study demonstrates that inflexible and flexible consumer spending follow trends in utilization of cosmetic surgical and minimally invasive procedures by racial/ethnic groups. These microeconomic spending inequities may help further contextualize the racial/ethnic variation in access to cosmetic surgery.

Capturing the perspectives of African American informal dementia caregivers: a phenomenological study

ABSTRACT Dementia can be overwhelming to families and their caregivers. Informal caregiving is a widespread mode of providing dementia care in African American communities, yet impact of caregiving on informal or family caregivers in African American communities is burdensome. This study aimed to describe the lived experiences of informal caregivers of African American People Living with Dementia (PLWD) to understand their perceptions of dementia and dementia care, caregiver support needs, and service needs. Interpretive phenomenological qualitative inquiry guided this study to understand caregivers’ experiences and needs. Ten family caregivers of African American PLWD in the community participated in this study. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and a diary study approach to document and interpret caregivers’ experiences. The data analysis was based on procedures of content analysis. Four major themes emerged from the in-depth interviews: caregiver burden, familism, lack of information and community-based resources, and desire and need for culturally appropriate community-based resources. Triangulated diary entry data complemented the in-depth interviews with similar themes. This study highlights how African American informal caregivers of PLWD face various caregiving needs and challenges in dementia care including lack of culturally appropriate community resources and information. The study illustrates that African American cultural beliefs of familism are significant aspects of their caregiving experience and their coping strategies. These study results provide a useful foundation for various stakeholders to develop culturally targeted interventions and programs to support African American informal caregivers and their family members with dementia.

Trends of mortality from epilepsy in the United States, 1979–2021

PurposeThe analysis of long-term trends of mortality from epilepsy has not been conducted, which is crucial for estimating the future burden of epilepsy. We therefore aimed to investigate the long-term trends of mortality from epilepsy in the United States from 1979 to 2021. MethodsThe cause-of-death and demographic data were from the National Center for Health Statistics (1979–2021) and population estimates were from the US Census Bureau. We used the joinpoint regression model to analyze secular trends in the mortality of epilepsy spanning from 1979 to 2021. Age-adjusted mortality from epilepsy was assessed based on the year 2000 U.S. population data, stratified by age, sex, and race. ResultsThe age-adjusted mortality from epilepsy increased from 0.78 per 100,000 population in 1979 to 1.01 per 100,000 population in 2021, with an average annual percent change (AAPC) of 0.58% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.45% - 0.72%). The overall age-adjusted mortality of epilepsy had been on the rise between 2011 and 2021. The mortality rate generally increases with age. The mortality of epilepsy was higher in the Afro-American people and men. The mortality of epilepsy in both sexes declined first and then increased, with AAPC 1.02% (95% CI: 0.88%, 1.23%) in women and 0.10% (95% CI: -0.002%, 0.21%) in men. Mortality in all races including White, Afro-American people, and other races individuals fell first and then rose. The AAPC of mortality in White, other races, and Afro-American people were 0.89% (95% CI: 0.79%, 1.02%), -0.87% (95% CI: -1.84%, 0.88%), and -0.31% (95% CI: -0.48%, -0.13%), respectively. ConclusionAlthough the mortality rate from epilepsy has experienced a period of decline, it is worth noting that the last decade has seen a rapid increase. A comprehensive assessment of long-term trends in mortality from epilepsy holds significance for healthcare prioritization.

Reading Black Theology of Liberation in the African American Christian Experience of the 1900s–2000s

ABSTRACT Like other forms of theology, Black Theology emerges out of the critical thinking, reflection, and Christian practices of African American people. Theology is generally developed out of Christian people's experiences at different times. Since theology is not mentioned in the Bible, people would continue to formulate theologies using scripture to answer their theological questions. This article discusses African Americans’ questions, thinking, and reflection through their Christian experience and a few responses to Black Theology in the United States. Since the emergence of Black Theology, there have been questions and criticism raised by European theologians. This article reflects on a few of those questions to further examine the context and purpose of Black Theology.

Trends in Suspected Opioid Drug Overdose Events in Emergency Medical Service Encounters in South Carolina, 2019-2022.

The number of drug overdoses and drug-related deaths has increased across the United States in recent years. Reports of suspected opioid drug overdoses identified through emergency medical services (EMS) are valuable sources of information for shaping the public health response to drug overdoses. The objective of this study was to describe trends in the number of EMS-reported suspected opioid drug overdose events in South Carolina from 2019 through 2022. We included reports of suspected opioid drug overdoses if they met the definition of nonfatal opioid overdose syndrome in our analysis. We analyzed statewide data reported from EMS agencies to biospatial, Inc, from January 2019 through December 2022 to understand demographic trends for a statewide overdose and response program in South Carolina. In 2022, a total of 11 078 suspected opioid drug overdose events, or 216.4 per 100 000 South Carolina residents, were reported by EMS. During the 4-year study period, the number of EMS-reported suspected opioid drug overdoses increased by 82%, with African American people experiencing a 133% increase and White people experiencing a 68% increase. The number of opioid overdoses increased among all age groups during the study period. Approximately 84% of opioid overdoses were reported in urban counties, but rural counties had a higher number of opioid overdose reports per capita than urban counties. Monitoring trends in suspected opioid drug overdoses allows decision makers to adjust resources and programs for overdose response and is essential for local coordinated response. Continued monitoring of trends is needed for an equitable response to prevent opioid drug overdoses.

Family cascade screening for equitable identification of familial hypercholesterolemia: study protocol for a hybrid effectiveness-implementation type III randomized controlled trial

BackgroundFamilial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a heritable disorder affecting 1.3 million individuals in the USA. Eighty percent of people with FH are undiagnosed, particularly minoritized populations including Black or African American people, Asian or Asian American people, and women across racial groups. Family cascade screening is an evidence-based practice that can increase diagnosis and improve health outcomes but is rarely implemented in routine practice, representing an important care gap. In pilot work, we leveraged best practices from behavioral economics and implementation science—including mixed-methods contextual inquiry with clinicians, patients, and health system constituents—to co-design two patient-facing implementation strategies to address this care gap: (a) an automated health system-mediated strategy and (b) a nonprofit foundation-mediated strategy with contact from a foundation-employed care navigator. This trial will test the comparative effectiveness of these strategies on completion of cascade screening for relatives of individuals with FH, centering equitable reach.MethodsWe will conduct a hybrid effectiveness-implementation type III randomized controlled trial testing the comparative effectiveness of two strategies for implementing cascade screening with 220 individuals with FH (i.e., probands) per arm identified from a large northeastern health system. The primary implementation outcome is reach, or the proportion of probands with at least one first-degree biological relative (parent, sibling, child) in the USA who is screened for FH through the study. Our secondary implementation outcomes include the number of relatives screened and the number of relatives meeting the American Heart Association criteria for FH. Our secondary clinical effectiveness outcome is post-trial proband cholesterol level. We will also use mixed methods to identify implementation strategy mechanisms for implementation strategy effectiveness while centering equity.DiscussionWe will test two patient-facing implementation strategies harnessing insights from behavioral economics that were developed collaboratively with constituents. This trial will improve our understanding of how to implement evidence-based cascade screening for FH, which implementation strategies work, for whom, and why. Learnings from this trial can be used to equitably scale cascade screening programs for FH nationally and inform cascade screening implementation efforts for other genetic disorders.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05750667. Registered 15 February 2023—retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05750667.

Shamelessly Blue: Pitch Complexes and the Social Otherwise

AbstractEarly american Black Blueswomen—such as Ma Rainey, Alberta Hunter, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, and Nina Simone—perform Blues as a praxis that both critiques and transforms the ways in which american Black people were—and continue to be—excluded from the construct of the human subject. Merleau‐Ponty's account of inter‐subjectivity is predicated on his account of the human subject who is always‐already in a social milieu in which they are never taken for an object. Subjectivity is affirmed through the subject's ability to differentiate itself from objects via sight. In this way the human subject is sensorially, affectively, epistemically, and axiologically organized as eye‐forward. The human subject's ability to exceed objectification runs counter to the lived experiences of a number of precaritized peoples, specifically, american Black people. If being seen without being objectified is the lived experience of the subject, then subjectivity is an exclusive way‐of‐ being in the world. Rather than inhabit this exclusion from human subjectivity as a lack, american Black people—as is evidenced by Blues—create a social otherwise with distinct ways of living—not just surviving or enduring—created within, but not wholly determined by, the pornotrope or the wake. This paper begins to sound out a way that this social otherwise breathes life into its own socio‐ethical experience via a turn to the aural. This paper takes up Blues to explore what expressive and affective ways‐of‐ being in the world are possible with an ear‐forward sensorial organization.

Oppressive Even As It Inspires

Abstract In this article, we trace the evolution of the connections between Black America and (Black) Europe since the mid-twentieth century and the study thereof. We do so through the lens of ‘Black American centrality,’ referring to the ways in which perceptions of Black America serve as an outsized reference point in European understandings of race, ‘Blackness,’ and Black (European) emancipation struggles. This allows for exploring the dilemmas that the, at times overwhelming, visibility of ‘Black America’ poses to Black Europeans, particularly during the current moment of flourishing Black European culture, politics, and scholarship. In that context, we show how both U.S.- and Europe-based scholars of Black American history and Black European history have approached Black American-European connections differently. The article concludes with suggestions for how these fields can engage with each other to develop academic approaches that account for but do not privilege the position of Black Americans within diasporic exchanges in the North Atlantic region, which is currently an underexplored area in diaspora studies.

Abstract 777: Notch signaling dependent chemoresistance in racial disparity in ER+ breast cancer

Abstract Breast cancer (BCa) is the leading cause of cancer related death in women worldwide. The most common BCa subtype is the Estrogen/Progesterone receptor (ER+/PR+) luminal subtype, comprising up to 75% of all newly diagnosed BCa. Although these patients show initial benefit with chemotherapy and endocrine therapy, however, 40-50% of them eventually don’t respond to treatment due to resistance. Thus, the need for additional targeted therapies for this large subset of ER+ BCa patients is critical. Based on recent studies, it is observed that Afro-American (AA) patients experience substantially higher BCa mortality (40% more) than White American (WA) women in ER+ breast cancer. Unfortunately, the cause behind this difference in mortality in AA patients is not well understood. Notch signaling is a highly conserved intercellular communication mechanism critical for many cellular processes and is composed of several receptors and ligands. Recent data show that Notch receptors are overexpressed in hormone treatment refractory ER− patients of (Afro-American) AA origin, hinting connection of Notch signaling to racial disparity in breast cancer. Notch signaling is also identified in several metabolic disorders involving fatty acids and other lipids. However, function of Notch signaling in context of chemoresistance in AA ER+ breast cancer is still unknown. Using single cell sequencing, we found that chemo-resistant AA ER+ breast cancer patient samples have a distinct Notch signature enriched subpopulations in tumor cells, which was missing in WA patients. Notch signaling happens through juxtacrine signaling of ligand/receptor signaling. Further analysis in tumor microenvironment shows lipid enriched tumor associated macrophages, which are Notch dependent, suggesting potential crosstalk between lipid heavy tumor-macrophages and tumor cells, which may drive the chemoresistance in AA patients. Further analysis using patient derived explants, an attractive new tool for drug efficacy testing in ex vivo, we found that chemotherapy itself increases Notch signaling in the tumors. Ongoing studies involving scRNAseq, untargeted lipidomics and chemo-resistant PDE will delineate the precise mechanism of action between tumor cells and tumor associated lipid heavy macrophages in context of Notch signaling in chemo-resistant AA ER+ breast cancer. Citation Format: Shailesh Singh, Megha Das, Rumela Chakrabarti. Notch signaling dependent chemoresistance in racial disparity in ER+ breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 777.

THE SPECTACLE OF HISTORICAL TRAUMA OF BLACK BODIES IN AMERICA: SUBJECTIVITY, ABJECTION, AND COMMODIFICATION OF THE WHITE/BLACK GAZE

In 1994, Elizabeth Alexander's”'Can you be Black and Look at This?’: Reading the Rodney King Video(s)” was published in The New Yorker magazine. Alexander focuses on the ways in which Black bodies have been the focal point of public pain, torture, and humiliation for centuries. These public lynchings, whippings, and other forms of physical abuse leading to maiming and death have been elements central to the entertainment for the racial status quo. Alexander's essay also focuses on the ways in which there has always been a “Black gaze” bearing witness to the decimation of other Black bodies--- the legacy of which leads to a continued cycle of both psychological and historic trauma that is (re)visited over and over again. Of course, with the prevalence of technology now a norm, such incidents of recorded violence are part of life in America. As the United States' greatest cancer, racism, continues to be a root cause of this violence, neither the killing of Blacks nor survivors' consciousness will be healed; and worse, the spectacle of racial violence will continue to perpetuate victims on various levels: 1) as victims directly tied to such violence and 2) as witnesses to said violence. My proposed essay focuses on the tragedy of Black bodies as spectacles of public pain---whether they are viewed as victims, as specimens of morbid curiosity, or as receptacles of displaced hate and disgust; and even as supposed rightly displays of justices incurred, simply because the body in question is Black (“They got what they deserved. They should have just pulled over.”). I will focus on various, very public historical and modern-day lynchings, from Emmett Till to George Floyd, and explore the cause and effects against Blacks in America. Ultimately, the essay poses the following questions: who is the monster, who are the victims? And at what cost will this continuum perpetuate the legacy of trauma of the American Black population?

Race, immigration, and Black intergroup politics

ABSTRACT While the literature has established that immigration opinions among African Americans are frequently driven by economic anxieties, less is known about how this co-exists with other factors. I argue that race and distribution of foreign-born immigrants at the local level may be important additional factors in determining African American immigration restrictionist sentiment. OLS regressions were run with robustness checks. Results suggest that African Americans living in counties with high proportions of Black or Asian immigrants may lead to more positive immigration sentiments. I find the opposite for those in high Latino foreign-born counties. Additional results with interactions show the limitations of group competition as a mechanism for this relationship. These findings have implications for the future of intergroup relations and suggest further examining the diverse identities of immigrants and their effects on Black political opinion. As the demographics profile of immigrant groups in the US continues to diversify, it is imperative that we continue to investigate how the increasing ethnic diversity of Black America may be disrupting scholarly knowledge and expectations for the future of intergroup relations in America.

The impact of subjective, interpersonal, and structural social isolation on the mental health of African Americans and Black Caribbeans

ABSTRACT Research on social isolation and mental health among Black populations is underdeveloped. Using a nationally representative sample, our study examined the association between social isolation, depressive symptoms and psychological distress among African Americans (AAs) and Black Caribbeans (BCs). For both AAs and BCs, we found interpersonal and subjective isolation were associated with greater depressive symptoms. Greater distress was associated with greater subjective isolation and lower structural isolation for AAs; however, greater interpersonal isolation was associated with greater distress for BCs. Findings from this study may inform evidence-based interventions to mitigate isolation and improve mental health among AAs and BCs.