How Racial Identity and Worry About Discrimination Impact Coping Responses to Racial Discrimination Among Black American Community Members

Racial Discrimination, Black Identity, and Critical Consciousness in Spain

“…Nine out of ten respondents had not reported it because they considered that it would be pointless (31%), or they had rationalized the discriminatory act as something that was normal or commonplace (24%). These results were expected, based on what has been observed in other countries where racial discrimination appears to be experienced regularly by Afro-descendant people (Clealand, 2013;English et al, 2020;Fix et al, 2021;Pager & Shepherd, 2008;Sian, 2017;Sue et al, 2007).…”

“…Despite being expressly prohibited by law, racial discrimination in domains such as employment, housing, legal contexts, and in everyday interactions, continues to occur covertly, with negative consequences on the people who experience this. The detrimental effects of racial discrimination are well documented, particularly in terms of healthcare (Brody et al, 2015;Fix et al, 2021;Paradies et al, 2015;Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009), psychological well-being (English et al, 2020;Harris-Britt et al, 2007;Henderson, 2017;Lee & Ahn, 2013;Prelow et al, 2004), academic achievement (Chavous et al, 2008;Darensbourg & Blake, 2014;Leath et al, 2019;Neblett et al, 2006), racial identity (Branscombe et al, 1999;Butler-Barnes et al, 2018;Del Toro et al, 2021;Leath et al, 2019;Seaton & Iida, 2019;Umaña-Taylor et al, 2014;Zeiders et al, 2019), and critical consciousness or activism (Clealand, 2013;Diemer et al, 2015;Mathews et al, 2020;Szymanski & Lewis, 2015).…”

“…Having experiences of racial discrimination seems to strengthen group identity and this is positively related to racial identity: discrimination is a predictor of ethnic/racial identity (Branscombe et al, 1999;Fix et al, 2021;Molina et al, 2014;Rosenbloom & Way, 2004;Zeiders et al, 2019) or reactive identity (Çelik, 2015;Portes & Rumbaut, 2001;Rodríguez-García et al, 2021;Rumbaut, 2008), that highlights the role of a hostile context of discrimination and exclusion in accounting for the rise rather than the erosion of ethnicity or identification with the racial/ethnic group. But there is also empirical evidence of the inverse relationship between racial identity and perception of discrimination: perceptions of ethnic/racial discrimination are higher when individuals identify strongly with their racial group (Gonzales-Backen et al, 2018;Sellers, 1998;Shelton & Sellers, 2000).…”

Mental and physical health consequences of police brutality toward Black community members in the United States

“…Direct and witnessed racial discrimination have been linked to mental and physical health sequelae [ 4 ]. For Black, Indigenous, and other people from communities of color, social support and active coping strategies may mitigate harmful effects of racism [ 5 ]. There is a paucity of research examining whether participation in activism like BLM serves a similar function (protecting against health consequences of direct and witnessed racism in policing).…”

Police Violence Against Black Protesters: A Public Health Issue

“…The CDC and WHO report after experiencing violence, some victims are treated for trauma and stress, physical injuries, and mental health issues (Alang et al, 2017). Sometimes, the experience has an indirect impact on their family members requiring that they also seek physical and mental health treatment (Fix et al, 2021). Recently, researchers have reported that police have inflicted violence on black protesters that has resulted in death, physical injuries, acute racial stress, and other injuries.…”