Racial Appraisal: an integrated Cultural and Structural Response to African American Experiences with Violent Trauma

“That’s My Number One Fear in Life. It’s the Police”: Examining Young Black Men’s Exposures to Trauma and Loss Resulting From Police Violence and Police Killings

“…Consistent with the work of Sharpe (2015) and McGuffey and Sharpe (2015), our findings suggest that young Black men make racial appraisals about their vulnerability to police violence and their limited ability to protect themselves from any resulting injuries or death-appraisals informed by their life course exposures to witnessing and experiencing police violence, the permanence of racism in society, and the embeddedness of racism in law and criminal justice (Crenshaw et al, 1995). These appraisals also informed young Black men's grief (Sharpe, 2015) and the meaning they constructed about the police killings of their loved ones.…”

“…How young Black men appraise their personal levels of control and ability to deal with the threat of police violence also informs how they cope with this stressor—whether through problem-focused coping or emotion-focused coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). McGuffey and Sharpe (2015) argue that Black victims of trauma may make racial appraisals of their ability to effectively respond to threatening situations. Racial appraisals are informed by an awareness of one’s status within a racially oppressed group, by history, and by institutional patterns and practices of racism in the United States (McGuffey & Sharpe, 2015; Sharpe, 2015).…”

“…McGuffey and Sharpe (2015) argue that Black victims of trauma may make racial appraisals of their ability to effectively respond to threatening situations. Racial appraisals are informed by an awareness of one’s status within a racially oppressed group, by history, and by institutional patterns and practices of racism in the United States (McGuffey & Sharpe, 2015; Sharpe, 2015). For young Black men, awareness of racial disparities in policing (U.S.…”

“…McGuffey and Sharpe (2015) argue that Black victims of trauma may make racial appraisals of their ability to effectively respond to threatening situations. Racial appraisals are informed by an awareness of one's status within a racially oppressed group, by history, and by institutional patterns and practices of racism in the United States (McGuffey & Sharpe, 2015;Sharpe, 2015). For young Black men, awareness of racial disparities in policing (U.S. DOJ, 2015DOJ, , 2016DOJ, , 2017 and the rarity at which police officers involved in killings are held legally accountable for homicide (Lee & Park, 2017;Stinson, 2017) may heighten a sense of powerlessness to protect themselves from the threat of police violence and shape their coping responses to the traumatic stressors of witnessing or experiencing police violence and killings.…”

Beyond Systems of Oppression: The Syndemic Affecting Black Youth in the US

“…The result of this intentional privation of basic human needs throughout our societal structures is most notably apparent when we consider the disproportionate impact of multiple systems of oppression for Black people with outcomes such as homicide, mass incarceration, poverty, police brutality and surveillance. These overlapping systems intersect in ways that contribute to the learning and socialization of racism and Whiteness for Black youth; and, results in chronic experiences of trauma as well as dictates the responses to those traumatic experiences (McGuffey & Sharpe, 2015 ).…”