Legacy Of Racism Research Articles

A Health System Framework for Addressing Structural Racism: Mass General Brigham's United Against Racism Initiative.

The legacy of racism and structural inequality has taken a heavy toll on the health care system and the health outcomes of patients and members of community catchment areas. To achieve optimal health outcomes for all, health systems will need to enact structural change that is meaningful, measurable, and rooted in evidence. We describe an antiracism campaign organized into three pillars of focus (Leadership/Employees/Culture, Patient Care Equity, and Community Health and Policy Advocacy) and implemented across Mass General Brigham, a large integrated health system in the northeast of the United States. Our study ranges from the foundational to the aspirational and examples of data-driven areas of focus, programs (e.g., staff education, social risk mitigation, and new models of clinical service), and metrics developed for the health care workforce, patients, and surrounding communities are presented.

Commemorating Madison Grant in California State Parks

A memorial in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in Northern California continued to honor the name of Madison Grant (1865–1937) until 2021. De Forest Grant (Madison’s younger brother), John D. Rockefeller Jr., the New York Zoological Society, and others dedicated the monument in 1948. Madison Grant’s most well-known book, The Passing of the Great Race (1916), became the basis for monumental atrocities leading up to and during World War II. This article explores Grant’s racist legacy and claims he made that successfully convinced lawmakers to pass legislation restricting the rights of non-White peoples and immigrants. His book and the ideas it contained continue to serve as a basis for hate and exclusion in the United States.

Envisioning African Intersex: Challenging Colonial and Racist Legacies in South African MedicineEnvisioning African Intersex: Challenging Colonial and Racist Legacies in South African Medicine Amanda Lock Swarr Duke University Press, 2023. 248 pp.

Envisioning African Intersex: Challenging Colonial and Racist Legacies in South African MedicineEnvisioning African Intersex: Challenging Colonial and Racist Legacies in South African Medicine Amanda Lock Swarr Duke University Press, 2023. 248 pp.

Chapter 3 Our Only Sin Was Being Black: Reflecting on Maria Franklin (1997) in the Time of Black Lives Matter in Archaeology

ABSTRACTIt has been over 25 years since Maria Franklin (1997b) asked, “Why are there so few black American archaeologists?” While low numbers can still be attributed to Black Americans choosing to pursue more lucrative careers, we must also understand that barriers instituted and perpetuated by racism also play a major factor. Through highlighting the experiences of archaeologists from John Wesley Gilbert (1863–1923) to contemporary professionals, the legacy of racism and discriminatory treatment of Black archaeologists assists in answering Franklin's question. Though numbers have increased since the creation of the Society of Black Archaeologists in 2011, the retention of Black graduate students and professionals in the field is still a challenge. Revisiting this question in the time of Black Lives Matter in Archaeology may provide some clarity.

No More Building Resiliency: Confronting American Psychology’s White Supremacist Past to Reimagine Its Antiracist Future

This paper introduces a historically informed antiracist approach to psychological practice aimed at disrupting American psychology’s legacy of racism by first saying “No More” to the whiteness engulfing it. Its end goal is to detour psychological practices away from enduring legacies of oppression, reimagine psychological practice as an antiracist endeavor, and extricate the deep-seated structural whiteness rotting the profession at its core. No more building resiliency takes aim at the White discourses directing people suffering under the weight of White supremacy to bear it instead of compelling mental health professions to dismantle the systems of oppression causing the harm. Seven historical themes reveal how organized psychology has shaped and been shaped by racism and whiteness since its inception. By identifying the language and strategies used to cover up and sustain the racist harm by design, the themes provide starting points for antiracist psychological practices that interrogate and dismantle both forms of oppression. They issue the imperative for a critical, transparent, and transgressive psychology of the future, one that requires not a revision of existing practices, rather a complete redo. The closing section imagines where we go from here by offering immediate action steps for bringing this antiracist future closer within reach.

Envisioning African Intersex: Challenging Colonial and Racist Legacies in South African Medicine, by Amanda Lock Swarr.Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2023.

Envisioning African Intersex: Challenging Colonial and Racist Legacies in South African Medicine, by Amanda Lock Swarr.Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2023.

Exploring the invisible water insecurity of water utility shutoffs in Detroit, Michigan.

A lack of regular access to clean and safe water and sanitation is a persistent problem in many parts of the world. Most water insecurity studies focus on the world's less-industrialized and lower-income countries, where sanitation and water delivery infrastructure may never have existed. However, many individuals in higher-income countries experience invisible water insecurity, wherein specific households or individuals lack access to sanitation and clean water despite the relative wealth of their country. In the United States, invisible water insecurity tends to manifest as a result of homelessness, a lack of plumbing facilities, and water utility shut-offs. Using a water shut-off dataset from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, we investigate the relationship between a suite of demographic variables and the water shut-off rates in different neighborhoods throughout Detroit, Michigan. We find that shut-offs are more common in areas with more Black households that are more impoverished. Our findings indicate that this relationship links to structural disadvantage resulting from a legacy of racism and segregation in the city.

Heritage politics in the case of Black Lives Matter in Bolzano-Bozen, Italy

ABSTRACT This contribution looks at the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests that took place in Bolzano-Bozen, the capital of the autonomous province of South Tyrol (Italy). As part of the BLM protests, an iconic statue of Italian cultural heritage was doused with red paint, transmitting a message with local, national, and international resonance. The case demonstrates how the USA BLM diffusion in Europe interacted with the ongoing statue wars to not only advance national level dialogues around racist legacies related to imperialism and colonialism but also specific local grievances. I marshal the concept of ‘ideological vandalism’ to argue that red paint attacks on public monuments can link transnational messages around racism and colonialism with local and national debates particularly regarding participation in heritage politics. This case underscores how claims can arise when national and international sociopolitical debates connected to colonialism and imperialism activate and surface additional local grievances around participation.

Promoting inclusion, diversity, and equity in pain science.

Promoting inclusion, diversity, and equity in pain science.

A roadmap to equitable school mental health screening

Youth in the United States are experiencing mental health concerns at alarming rates. Considering the nation's legacy of racism and growing recognition of the impact of social determinants of health on educational and mental health inequities, it is imperative to re-envision how we approach mental health screening in schools to center equity. A focus on mental health screening for the sole purpose of identifying individual at-risk students ignores key contextual considerations, is ineffective in addressing health and educational inequities, and has the potential to perpetuate oppressive practices in schools. Equity-focused mental health screening requires a shift from individual- and deficit-focused approaches to systems- and holistic-focused approaches that (a) identify strengths and stressors among individuals, groups, and communities; (b) dismantle structural forms of oppression; and (c) promote positive mental health outcomes for minoritized youth. Integrating recommendations from the educational equity literature and critical school mental health frameworks, this paper identifies core considerations for equitable school mental health screening and provides guiding principles for each phase of the screening process, from screening readiness to execution to follow up. To implement these recommendations and transform school-based mental health care, schools should (a) incorporate multiple perspectives; (b) prioritize student, family, and community voices; and (c) build collaborative partnerships to co-construct a vision for equitable school mental health.

Translingual Praxis: From Theorizing Language to Antiracist and Decolonial Pedagogy

In this article, we call for translingual praxis—an antiracist and decolonial pedagogy that interrogates, with students, language ideologies and their political histories. Amplifying the voices of scholars of color, we provide a rationale for and illustrate four strategies for delinking our language work from the legacies of racism and colonization.

Subject matters: Imperialism and the constitution of International Relations

AbstractThis article contributes to the critical historical research that has demythologised the ‘noble origins’ of the International Relations discipline (IR) by exposing its imperial, colonial, and racist legacies. Where most critical historiographies have unveiled the centrality of racialised and imperialist ontologies in individual thinkers and theories, this article traces imperialist origins of international thought by reconstructing its impact on administrative-institutional infrastructures. Specifically, it interrogates the most systematic and institutionalised attempt to define the ‘subject matter’ of IR under the International Studies Conference (ISC) organised by the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation (IIIC) of the League of Nations. Through a parallel reading of the archives from ISC's ‘administrative meetings’ and ‘study meetings’, the article contends that the seemingly academic discussions on the subject matter of IR in the ‘administrative meetings’ were in fact intertwined with the imperialist-colonial politics central to ‘study meetings’. The article thus not only challenges IR's conventional history, but its historical ontologies by revealing how race and empire were central to the constitution of its very subject matter and its early institutionalisation.

The Great Oklahoma Swindle: Race, Religion, and Lies in America's Weirdest State by Russell Cobb

Reviewed by: The Great Oklahoma Swindle: Race, Religion, and Lies in America's Weirdest State by Russell Cobb Matthew G. McCoy The Great Oklahoma Swindle: Race, Religion, and Lies in America's Weirdest State. By Russell Cobb. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2020. Pp. xviii, 249. $29.95, ISBN 978-1-4962-0998-6.) In this book, Russell Cobb examines the social, political, and cultural underpinnings of what it means to be an Oklahoman in the early twenty-first century. Born and raised in the state, Cobb is now a professor at the University of Alberta. He has also worked as a journalist, with his work appearing in various outlets including the New York Times and NPR. Cobb, a self-described liberal, sees Oklahoma as a state cursed with poor political leadership and a legacy of racism but home to a population that might be more progressive than elections would suggest. In the title, Cobb lays out what he sees as the original sin of Oklahoma's birth. The state was created from lands supposed to be granted in perpetuity to Indians. White land speculators connived to steal desirable land well into the twentieth century, leading to many notorious incidents, some of which Cobb discusses. From that tradition, Cobb argues, the modus operandi of Oklahoma's political and social leadership developed. "We do not like to talk about anything unpleasant," Cobb says of white Oklahomans (p. 102). Cobb writes that [End Page 428] growing up he never heard of the land thefts, the Tulsa Race Massacre, or even the origin of the term Sooner in his history classes. And even as these incidents have become more widely known, Cobb says that the tradition remains, with white Oklahomans preferring to fall back on religious platitudes or political posturing rather than confronting the state's problems. This is the ongoing swindle at the heart of his argument. Cobb spends an entire chapter describing Oklahoma as a "failing state" (p. 27). He points to the collapse of a variety of basic government services to support his claim. And yet, Cobb argues, many Oklahomans like to blame the government for their problems instead of tax cuts that reduce revenues. Cobb's mother refused to seek public assistance when he was growing up. He concludes, "Antigovernment ideology is so rooted into the consciousness [in Oklahoma], it does not even register as ideology" (p. 38). But the author sees hope for the future. He mentions widespread support for teachers in the aftermath of their walkout in the spring of 2018, even among Republicans. Passage of a medical marijuana law and some criminal justice reforms indicate that the pendulum may be swinging back toward the center. Cobb naturally approaches the project as a work of cathartic reportage, meaning that historians of Oklahoma, or the South in general, will find little new in the book. He almost exclusively cites recent journalistic sources, which is understandable given his purpose, but more references to key works of Oklahoma historiography would add greater context. Moreover, Cobb spends much of his time discussing Tulsa specifically, with less attention given to other parts of the state. Oklahoma City, for instance, plays little part in his examination. When the author discusses the history of Jewish communities throughout the state or the all-Black towns that once existed, his work is most impactful. His discussion of the mixed-race complexities of Oklahoma, a "mestizo state," as he calls it, is also valuable (p. 125). Breaking away from Tulsa to explain these other areas strengthens his argument. Ultimately, the book is both critical and confessional. Cobb makes clear in his writing that he is searching for reasons to explain Oklahoma's contradictions, in particular to his liberal acquaintances who seem baffled by the state. But he also wants to come to terms with his own upbringing and experiences. "[D]isavowing the Great Oklahoma Swindle can result in a new way forward," he writes, both for himself personally and for the people of his home state (p. 234). Matthew G. McCoy University of Arkansas–Fort Smith Copyright © 2022 The Southern Historical Association

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Considering Meme-Based Non-Fungible Tokens’ Racial Implications

Considering Meme-Based Non-Fungible Tokens’ Racial Implications

Understanding Racial Inequities in the Implementation of Harm Reduction Initiatives.

Objectives. To elucidate a structurally oriented theoretical framework that considers legacies of racism, trauma, and social exclusion and to interrogate the "unmet obligations" of the institutionalization of the harm reduction infrastructure to provide equitable protections to Black and Latinx people who use drugs (PWUD) in Maryland. Methods. In 2019, we conducted a rapid ethnographic assessment of and qualitative interviews with PWUD (n = 72) and stakeholders (n = 85) in 5 Maryland counties. We assessed PWUD's experiences, service gaps in as well as barriers and facilitators to accessing services, and the potential to expand harm reduction programs. Results. The unmet obligations we found included enforcement and punitive governance of syringes, naloxone, and other drug use equipment; racism and racialization, social exclusion, and legacies of trauma; and differential implications of harm reduction for populations experiencing racialized criminalization. Conclusions. The implementation of harm reduction policies are a first step, but assessment of structural dynamics are needed for diverse communities with unique histories. This research illuminates a key paradox: progressive policy is implemented, yet the overdose crisis escalates in communities where various forms of racialized exclusions are firmly entrenched. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(S2):S173-S181. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.306767).

Culture and dreaming: A story of co‐creation

AbstractWe are haunted by “ghosts” derived from the cultural history in which we are immersed. Many of these ghosts are deeply unconscious in a psychodynamic sense―repressed, disavowed, or denied. Experiences of triangulation, via prolonged emotional exposure to a different culture, may assist in gaining awareness of the presence of these ghosts. Cultural beliefs such as the nature of reality, causality, and time are fundamental for the developing child. These beliefs develop in a child through the very earliest identifications with primary caretakers. Hence, they form the fabric of reality for the child. Loewald makes a very similar point about the development of reality sense. Evidence for the child's primary identification with the mother as subject is presented in Trigant Burrow's writing nearly a century ago, and in contemporary writing about gender development in women and in men. Further support for the very early role of culture in promoting “learning from experience” is provided by Mark Solms who demonstrates the crucial role of “precision”―that is, the ability to assess the significance of each perception. Studies of the relationship between dream reality and waking reality for an indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest show that the very fabric of reality depends upon culture. In this paper, the author discusses ghosts from his own childhood and from recent American cultural history. As a Jewish child in America, he absorbed resonances of Eastern European pogroms, Holocaust history, and ancient Jewish slavery in Egypt, commemorated in the Passover Seder. As an American boy, he grew up with the legacies of racism, the enslavement of African–Americans, and genocidal attacks on indigenous peoples. These ghosts (and others) were simultaneously displayed, hidden in plain sight, and deeply repressed in cultural artifacts such as Edward Steichen's Family of Man photographic exhibition. Discussion of that exhibition illustrates the multiple ways that culture is constitutive of conscious, preconscious, and deeply unconscious mental life. In a variety of ways, psychoanalysis both helps and hinders exploration of cultural influences. To shed light on what is culturally repressed, and to triangulate the culture one grows up in, it's helpful to live in another culture for a while. Experiences with the Achuar people in the Amazon rainforest provide a lens for examining culture, reality, and dreaming.

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America

Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America

“Teaching to Transgress”: Race and a Pedagogy of Empowerment in Kinesiology

The legacy of racism and anti-Blackness that permeates society also permeates higher education, creating marginalizing experiences for many Black students. With few exceptions, critical discussions about race in kinesiology are lacking, or race talk is oppressive, negotiated as “safe talk,” and/or often silent and masked in race neutrality, racial coding, and color blindness. Consequently, a “quiet game” is in session in many kinesiology classrooms. However, racial silence has different meanings and effects on people of color. For Black students, race is often a salient part of their history, story, and lived experiences; consequently, it often impacts their learning inspiration and aspirations. This essay discusses the concept of “learning while Black” and illustrates ways in which kinesiology may “teach to transgress” racial oppression by intentionally and boldly embracing education as a practice of freedom, imparting race into a pedagogy of empowerment.

Services Rendered

America’s legacy of racism and inequity has created a criminal legal system that privileges money over innocence. A protracted encounter with the courts has the potential to bankrupt entire families, keeping them and even their descendants in a cycle of disadvantage that can span generations. Yet there are also countless legal backwaters across the country where money, instead of insulating a defendant from the worst of the criminal legal system, puts a different kind of target on their back. Drawing on the author’s lived experience as a formerly incarcerated citizen, this piece uses personal history to explore the different financial pressure points used in the criminal legal system: the ecosystem of cash bail, fines, and fees. It outlines differences in the ways such pressure is applied depending on a defendant’s economic standing, and argues that it amounts to a form of coercion inflicted on defendants from across the spectrum of financial privilege. The piece also highlights how financial exploitation in the criminal legal system can leave defendants not only financially indebted to their support networks but emotionally indebted as well: ashamed of the money and time that was spent—and seemingly wasted—on trying to secure an outcome that the system, by design, always keeps just out of reach.