The Violence Epidemic in the African American Community: A Call by the National Medical Association for Comprehensive Reform

Abstract

While much progress has occurred since the civil rights act of 1964, minorities have continued to suffer disparate and discriminatory access to economic opportunities, education, housing, health care and criminal justice. The latest challenge faced by the physicians and public health providers who serve the African American community is the detrimental, and seemingly insurmountable, causes and effects of violence in impoverished communities of color. According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the number one killer of black males ages 10-35 is homicide, indicating a higher rate of violence than any other group. Black females are four times more likely to be murdered by a boyfriend or girlfriend than their white counterparts, and although intimate partner violence has declined for both black and white females, black women are still disproportionately killed. In addition, anxiety and depression that can lead to suicide is on the rise among African American adolescents and adults. Through an examination of the role of racism in the perpetuation of the violent environment and an exploration of the effects of gang violence, intimate partner violence/child maltreatment and police use of excessive force, this work attempts to highlight the repercussions of violence in the African American community. The members of the National Medical Association have served the African American community since 1895 and have been advocates for the patients they serve for more than a century. This paper, while not intended to be a comprehensive literature review, has been written to reinforce the need to treat violence as a public health issue, to emphasize the effect of particular forms of violence in the African American community and to advocate for comprehensive policy reforms that can lead to the eradication of this epidemic. The community of African American physicians must play a vital role in the treatment and prevention of violence as well as advocating for our patients, family members and neighbors who suffer from the preventable effects of violence.

Correlates of PrEP Uptake Among Young Sexual Minority Men and Transgender Women in New York City: The Need to Reframe “Risk” Messaging and Normalize Preventative Health

“…Recent surveillance suggests that PrEP adoption is rising among young SMM, albeit at slower rates among racial and ethnic minority communities [9]. This has been attributed to experiences of homophobia and racism in healthcare contexts, as well as to broader structural racism, socioeconomic inequality and homophobia [10][11][12][13]. Successful navigation of health systems and medical care for young SMM and transgender women, especially in the contexts of sexual health care, demand heightened attention not only to physical qualities of access (e.g., proximity and transportation), but also to social qualities that foster trusting relationships between providers and patients, such as non-judgmental interactions and shared medical decision-making [14][15][16].…”

Videogames and guns in adolescents: T ests of a bipartite theory

“…Several control variables that may be relevant were included: year of administration (2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017), sex (0 ¼ female, 1 ¼ male), grade (0 ¼ 8th grade, 1 ¼ 10th grade), mother and father highest level of schooling (from 1 ¼ � Grade school, to 6 ¼ Graduate or post-college professional school) and average daily hours of TV (based on weighted average of self-reported weekday and weekend hours of TV). Year of administration was included to account for trends in gun violence prevalence in the US (Frazer et al, 2018). Sex was included because the sexes differ in both video gaming patterns and choices (Lucas & Sherry, 2004) and weapon-related behaviors (DuRant, Krowchuk, Kreiter, Sinal, & Woods, 1999).…”

Conclusion and Afterword

“…edu/an-american-crisis-the-lack-of-black-men-in-medicine/) Eva Louise Frazer, MD, an internist and prominent community activist from St. Louis, Missouri [6]. Following an initial White Paper on the subject, a fullscale article was published and disseminated in 2018 [7]. The report detailed the police use of excessive force, and many approaches to reducing the level of violence were suggested, including greater involvement by the community of black physicians who must play a vital role in eradicating this epidemic.…”