Building strength for the long haul toward liberation: What psychology can contribute to the resilience of communities targeted by state‐sanctioned violence

Abstract

State‐sanctioned violence (SSV) has resounding effects on entire populations, and marginalized communities have long persisted in the work toward liberation despite continued SSV. This paper aims to bridge the gap between the vast scholarship on resilience and the practical challenge of sustaining and thriving in communities targeted by SSV. We use the theoretical frame of the Transconceptual Model of Empowerment and Resilience (TMER) to articulate the process of resilience and the resources that support it: maintenance, efficacy, skills, knowledge, and community resources. As a practical frame, we ground our application of the model in the experiences of the first two authors in their own communities. Centering examples from the Black Lives Matter movement and the CeCe McDonald Support Committee, we use our theoretical and practical frames to explore the scholarship on resilience relevant to resisting SSV, and we identify mechanisms for supporting community stakeholders' efforts to move toward liberation from SSV. We discuss implications for future research and activism, and we include a toolkit with suggested strategies as an appendix for psychologists, activists, and community stakeholders to consider as they work to facilitate community resilience and build a society free from SSV.

“We’re not the first and we’re not going to be the last”: Perspectives of system-involved black and Latinx young adults on racial injustice during the 2020 black lives matter protests

“…George Floyd's death exists as one example of a long history of police abusing their power and engaging in excessive violence against Black lives (Jean, 2020; Ray, 2020). Though the BLM movement fights against structural racism across society, the protests focused on state-sanctioned racial violence within the criminal legal system (Gebhard et al, 2022; Merelli, 2020). BLM protests called for the indictment of police officers who directly contributed or caused the death of innocent Black lives and the abolishment of policing as a whole (Callimachi et al, 2020; Davey and Bosman, 2014; New York Times, 2020; Press, 2014).…”