Under the Radar: Strategies Used by Black Mothers to Prepare Their Sons for Potential Police Interactions

Abstract

The current qualitative study explores the experiences of Black mothers who prepare their sons for potential police encounters. Police presence in the Black community has historically elicited feelings of mistrust and fear among Black Americans, and those sentiments resonate today. The discrete incidents of police violence in the United States have been exposed due to an increase in media documentation of the phenomenon. Increased awareness of police violence has also provided insight into the impact that police encounters can have on Black families. A focus group was conducted with six Black mothers with sons ranging in ages from 11 to 33 years. Results highlighted strategies that participants shared with their sons to prepare for a potential police encounter, which included knowing the harsh realities of being Black, regulating their behavior, reframing negative schemas about police, and utilizing family and community supports. Participants believed that sharing strategies and instructions with their sons could enhance safety during a potential police encounter.

The American racial divide in fear of the police

“…It occurs during social interactions with others, particularly with family members, and appears to be especially common among Black Americans: "the talk" (Gonzalez, 2019(Gonzalez, , 2020Jealous, 2018). It involves defensive legal socialization focused on communicating to others about the necessity of distrusting and avoiding officers, and about how to keep from getting hurt in contacts with them (Gonzalez, 2019;Brunson & Weitzer, 2011;Harris & Amutah-Onukagha, 2019). This type of socialization is important not only because it may hinder the development of social capital in highly-policed communities, by leading people to selfsequester and withdraw from social life (Fader, 2021;Stuart, 2016), but also because it may crystalize an understanding of police officers as untrustworthy outsiders, or even as agents of oppression, rather than sources of help and service.…”

Community Healing and Resistance Through Storytelling: A Framework to Address Racial Trauma in Africana Communities

“…For example, with the overpolicing of predominately Africana communities, research indicates that a disproportionate number of Black women are incarcerated (approximately 19%) or under correctional surveillance and experience high rates of depression (Malcolme et al, 2019). Black males have greater dire encounters with the police (e.g., increased negative perceptions of their personhood) and are twice as likely to be killed by the police before the age of 21 years compared with their White male counterparts (Harris & Amutah-Onukagha, 2019). Thus, conceptualized as a moral ideal in the C-HeARTS framework, justice is a commitment to right interrelationships between the spiritual realm, nature, and among humans; it encompasses ethical behaviors such as seeking truth, harmony, balance, and reciprocity (Karenga, 2004).…”

The American Racial Divide in Fear of the Police

“…3 about here] There are many possible consequences of police-related fear. We explored two: support for defunding the police and intentions to engage in defensive legal socialization-that is, to have "the talk" with young family members about the need to avoid the police and to take precautions around them (20,21). Both outcomes were measured by averaging responses to multiple items, and were rescaled to range from 0 to 100.…”