ABSTRACT
Planet Lockdown, a documentary film, claims that the COVID-19 pandemic was manufactured by finance capitalists, Silicon Valley, and the pharmaceutical industry to microchip the population, consolidate global wealth, and enslave the population. Viral videos from the film have received tens of millions of engagements throughout social networks and media, constituting a major source of COVID-19 disinformation. This article argues that COVID-19 enslavement fantasies consummate white conservative fears of racial displacement, brought on by an impending demographic shift and greater visibility of antiracist activism throughout the early stages of the pandemic. I argue that Planet Lockdown's preoccupation with so-called "modern slavery" restages a national primal scene to resecure white power as perceptions of its dominance wanes: a fantasy of the origins of the liberal subject that omits that subject's relationship to slavery and anti-Blackness. By imagining slavery as a future threat to white selfhood rather than the structural organization of a society underwritten by anti-Blackness, COVID-19 conspiracy rhetoric facilitates a disavowal of the structural legacy of white supremacy. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Quarterly Journal of Speech is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
ABSTRACT
The duel systemic societal harms of the COVID-19 pandemic and violent racial injustice have reexposed centuries-long oppression and violence that affects Black people in the United States. These systemic harms, however, are not unilaterally distributed across racial lines, as Black women and girls endure intersectional oppression, including the unique amalgamation of racism and sexism. It is within these interlocking oppressions that sexual abuse flourishes. This chapter opens with critical visioning regarding how we understand inequality in social justice movements. It introduces scholarship on anti-Black racism, intersectional oppression, and Crenshaw's (1991) theories of intersectionality to frame the contextually oppressive experiences of Black women and girls. The chapter provides an application for examining intersectionality within the field of psychology. It details what such intersectional oppression can actually look like in the lives of Black women and girls. Finally, the chapter closes with summary bullet points of the main takeaway messages. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Background: Black transmasculine people are disproportionately affected by a myriad of intersecting stressors including racism (specifically anti-Black racism), sexism, cissexism. Black transmasculine people are exposed daily to systemic oppression such as transphobia, dehumanization, and violence, making this community more vulnerable to mental health and physical health concerns. These experiences are further compounded by the lack of relevant literature on the unique experiences of Black transmasculine people during the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-Black racism. Aims: Utilizing a critical intersectional lens and Prilleltensky's psychopolitical validity as guiding frameworks, the present study investigates the need for support and community within the Black transmasculine community in navigating anti-Black racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The researchers integrated intersectionality and Prilleltensky's psychopolitical validity as frameworks paired with the constructivist grounded theory paradigm outlined by Charmaz to analyze data. The researchers co-constructed meaning from participants' perspectives, providing a theoretical understanding for exploring Black transmasculine participants' perceptions of community and support during COVID-19 (N = 32). Results: The researchers developed a model of pathways toward community and support. The model suggests two levels: (a) locating awareness of community and support, and (b) integrated action toward community and support. The approaches are integrated from within group action and actions that can be facilitated from outside the community on micro and macro sociological levels to provide holistic support and community for Black transmasculine people. Discussion: This model extends the current literature on liberation, community psychology, and community support at the intersection of transgender people of color. This intervention can provide awareness, insight, and action for working alongside the Black transmasculine community their unique needs of support and community. These findings hope to enhance clinical practices, and identify strategies to promote community, support, and wellness among Black transmasculine people. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Research has documented the negative mental health outcomes that anti-Black racism and cissexism, respectively, have had on Black and trans and gender-diverse (TGD) people during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research, however, has yet to explore the intersectional experiences of Black TGD young adults. Additionally, research has found that activists are often exposed to violence and discrimination. In this study, we aimed to understand how the intersection of anti-Black racism and cissexism has impacted young Black TGD activists' well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. A community sample of 15 Black TGD young adults participated in semistructured interviews. Thematic analysis revealed five themes and 14 subthemes, including (a) witnessing and experiencing violence (everyday violence, political violence, police violence, and medical violence, (b) motivating and sparking activism, (c) emotional impact (fear and anxiety, symptoms of depression, anger and frustration, and overwhelmed and shocked), (d) coping with violence and COVID-19 pandemic (activism, community connections and support, setting boundaries, self-reflection, positivity and hope, and activities and hobbies), and (e) safety precautions. We provide implications for practitioners working with young Black TGD activists such as engaging in civil disobedience within the bounds of their ethical duties. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement Little is known about the intersectional experiences of young Black TGD activists and the impact of anti-Black racism and cissexism on the well-being of this community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study explores the impact that anti-Black racism and cissexism have had in a community sample of 15 young Black TGD activists during the COVID-19 pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Anti-Black racism is a specific form of racism directed at Black people. In healthcare, there are poignant examples of anti-Black racism in the recruitment, selection, and retention stages of the job cycle. Research shows that anti-Black racism is associated with inequitable work outcomes and the under-representation of Black physicians. However, empirical findings are scattered with no organizing framework to consolidate these findings. To add to the literature, in this paper we present the attraction-selection-attrition (ASA) model (Schneider, 1987) as an organizing framework to discuss Black physicians' experiences with anti-Black racism and discrimination throughout their careers. We draw from previous literature to highlight specific experiences of Black physicians at each stage of the job cycle (i.e., attraction, selection, retention), and we offer considerations on how practitioners can mitigate anti-Black racism throughout the job cycle. In the wake of COVID-19 and highly publicized social justice movements, healthcare systems are seeking ways to increase the recruitment, selection, and retention of Black physicians to ensure health equity. We believe this guide will be valuable to practitioners, leaders, researchers, and program directions seeking to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion of Black physicians in their healthcare systems. We conclude by providing practical implications and directions for future research.
ABSTRACT
This article argues that "a dream deferred," as conceived by Langston Hughes in his book-length poem Montage of a Dream Deferred, is not a phrase defining a single moment but is instead a concept of continuity defining the ongoing atmospheric condition of existing within American racism. A dream deferred is analyzed here as a pervasiveness that can be understood as being of the air. It is an aerosolized anti-Blackness, polluted air, an atmosphere that makes it difficult to breathe-Black breathlessness. The concept indicates that the relatively nuanced atmosphere of Hughes's postwar Harlem is also the explicit atmosphere of the present with its outspoken attention on interconnected issues, including anti-Black terror and disproportionate Black birthing parent mortality and pandemic impact. A dream deferred persists as the surround, the atmosphere, is the air itself, and is of and within Black breath and breathlessness.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: As COVID-19 ravages the globe and cases increase rapidly, countries are presented with challenging policy choices to contain and mitigate its spread. In Canada and globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has added a new stratum to the debate concerning the root causes of global and racial health inequities and disparities. Individuals who exist as targets of systemic inequities are not only more susceptible to contracting COVID-19, but also more likely to bear the greatest social, economic, and physical burdens. Therefore, data collection that focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on the lives and health of African/Black communities worldwide is needed to develop intersectional, culturally relative, antiracist/antioppression, and empowerment-centered interventions and social policies for supporting affected communities. OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this review is to investigate the impact and management of COVID-19 among African/Black individuals and communities, and understand how anti-Black racism and intersectional violence impact the health of African/Black communities during the pandemic. Moreover, the study aims to explore research pertaining to the impact of COVID-19 on Black communities in the global context. We seek to determine how Black communities are impacted with regard to structural violence, systematic racism, and health outcomes, and the ways in which attempts have been made to mitigate or manage the consequences of the pandemic and other injurious agents. METHODS: A systematic search of quantitative and qualitative studies published on COVID-19 will be conducted in MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (EBSCO), Cochrane Library, PsychInfo (Ovid), CAB Abstracts (Ovid), Scopus (Elsevier), Web of Science (Clarivate), and Global Index Medicus. To be included in the review, studies should present data on COVID-19 in relation to African/Black individuals, populations, and communities in the global sphere. Studies must discuss racism, oppression, antioppression, or systemic and structural violence and be published in English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese. According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines, the findings will be synthesized quantitatively and qualitatively through thematic analysis. The risk of bias will not be assessed. RESULTS: Title, abstract, and full-text screening concluded in June 2022. Data collection is in progress and is expected to be completed by December 2022. Data analysis and drafting of the manuscript will be done thereafter. Findings from the scoping review are expected to be provided for peer review in 2023. CONCLUSIONS: This review will collect important data and evidence related to COVID-19 in African/Black communities. The findings could help identify existing gaps in COVID-19 management in African/Black communities and inform future research paradigms. Furthermore, the findings could be applied to decision-making for health policy and promotion, and could potentially influence services provided by health care facilities and community organizations around the globe. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/40381.
ABSTRACT
In the spring of 2020, African Nova Scotians were faced with two emerging pandemics: the ongoing pandemic of anti-Black racism, and the pandemic of COVID-19. The Association of Black Social Workers created a response specific to the needs of African Nova Scotians, employing the six practice principles of Africentric social work. They established a partnership with community and government partners to manage a phone line to triage based on need, and a virtual community check-in to connect about the pressing Black Lives Matter movement. This paper contextualizes the historic and current systemic racial inequities faced by African Nova Scotians within the context of the current public health emergency, and the need for an equitable, community-based emergency response. This specialized, Africentric service provision model can be used to inform the development of emergency responses for other Black communities in Canada.Alternate :Au printemps 2020, les Néo-Écossais d’origine africaine ont été confrontés à deux pandémies émergentes : la pandémie continuelle de racisme anti-Noir et la pandémie de la COVID-19. L ’Association of Black Social Workers a créé une réponse spécifique aux besoins des Néo-Écossais d’origine africaine, en utilisant les six principes d’intervention du travail social afrocentrique. Elle a établi un partenariat avec des partenaires communautaires et gouvernementaux pour gérer une ligne téléphonique de triage en fonction des besoins, et une communauté virtuelle permettant de rester connecter au sujet du mouvement « La vie des Noirs compte » (Black Lives Matter). Ce document met en contexte les inégalités raciales systémiques, historiques et actuelles, auxquelles sont confrontés les Néo-Écossais d’origine africaine dans le contexte de l’urgence sanitaire actuelle, et la nécessité de mesures d’urgence équitables et communautaires. Ce modèle de prestation de services afrocentriques spécialisés peut être utilisé pour éclairer l’élaboration de mesures d’urgence pour les autres communautés noires du Canada.
ABSTRACT
Anti-Black racism embedded in contemporary health systems harms Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPoC) in concert with various diseases. Seemingly unrelated at first, the COVID-19 pandemic is a recent example that reveals how the combined manifestations of anti-Black racism in disease governance, course, and burden exacerbate the historic and still present subjugation of Black people. Thus, such conditions highlight a biosocial network that intricately propagates and consolidates systems of oppression since the birth of the United States of America. In this article, we show how anti-Black racism in conjunction with past and ongoing epidemics exemplify intertwined conditions embodying and perpetuating racial inequities in the North American country. Through schematic visualizations and techniques of progressive disclosure, we situate disease governance, course, and burden as action spaces within a design model that alternates views of organizational strategies, operations, offerings, and people's experiences, supporting an action-oriented discussion in each of these spaces. We utilize insights from this analysis to recommend that public health moves forward, considering more holistic, solution-oriented questions that embrace systemic complexity and people-centered perspectives when seeking to improve health outcomes for all.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Racism , Humans , Pandemics , Public Health , Racial Groups , United StatesABSTRACT
Notions of ‘race’ and disease are deeply imbricated across the globe. This article explores the historical, complex entanglements between ‘race’, disease, and dirtiness in the multicultural Chilean context of Covid-19. We conducted a quantitative content analysis and a discourse analysis of online readers’ comments (n = 1233) in a digital news platform surrounding a controversial news event to examine Chileans’ cultural representations of Haitian migrants and explore online racism and anti-immigrant discourse. Drawing on a decolonial approach, we argue that Covid-19 as a crisis has been fabricated at the expense of a constructed ‘other’. We show how colonial racist logics not only endure in digital spaces, but are made viral in new ways by representing Haitian migrants as ‘filthy’ and ‘disease carriers’. We identified two contemporary forms of racism – online cultural racism and online aggressive racism – through which people construct imaginaries of racial superiority in digital spaces. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Cultural Studies is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
ABSTRACT
In this essay, a Black scholar of the cultural histories of Black women's reproductive lives launches a discussion of generations of racism, health inequities, and violence against Black bodies by looking at Black poet and essayist Dionne Brand's critique of the notion of returning to "the normal" after the Covid-19 pandemic. To what, the essay asks, is everyone so eager to return? The intergenerational wait for Black people's moment of racial reckoning is its own unique biomedical warfare, which cannot end with the end of a pandemic. This warfare undercuts Black people's daily health with anxiety and depression, altering the very chromosomes passed down to their children. To health care providers, bioethicists, and those who practice antiracist health work the author poses these questions: How will you confront anti-Black racism within every formulation of "treatment"-diagnosis, care, medication distribution, physical therapy? How long will the violence against Black lives be dissolved into talking points about our bodies? How can one listen, ethically, to Black people? These, she asserts, are questions of practice, of politics, and of care.
Subject(s)
Bioethics , COVID-19 , Racism , Black or African American , Child , Female , Humans , PandemicsABSTRACT
In addition to the devastating loss of lives, the harm caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to individuals and communities around the world has caused seismic disruptions in economic, social and interpersonal relationships. The pandemic has affected international diplomatic relations as well by amplifying existing geopolitical tensions. By situating discourses of Africa and Africans within global ferments of pandemic politics, this study interrogates how Africa and its peoples were invoked in global media. Drawing from postcolonial theory and conceptual propositions of Afrophobia, the study uses multimodal discourse analysis to critically examine news stories that engaged with two phenomena: controversies regarding the African director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) and xenophobic treatment of Africans in China. Findings indicate elements of Afrophobia were evident in the Trump Administration's and US conservative media outlets' engagement with WHO. Additionally, the study showed the mainstreaming of non-western Afrophobia through the example of the xenophobic treatment of Africans in China. It concludes by proposing a contextual, intersectional and critical geopolitical analytical optics for a more robust understanding of the global Black experience.
ABSTRACT
One of the consequences of the emergence of COVID-19 has been the glaring racial and ethnic disparities that have defined the course of the spread of the virus. As a recent migrant-minority community in China, the Black community's experience has been defined by vulgar racism, exploitation, and stigmatization. In the context of COVID-19, the Black community in China was again a target of multiple racial projects which sought to label their bodies as diseased and physical presence as a threat to the viability and safety of the Han majority. The global response was to mobilize online to expose how the Chinese government is systematically facilitating discriminatory policies against Black migrants in China. In the present paper, we explore how Twitter was utilized to mobilize awareness about anti-Black racism in China. We first present a brief history of African migration to China and then discuss the Han racial ideologies that are inspiring the anti-Black racism. We then use latent Dirichlet allocation as a topic modeling algorithm to extract underlying themes to discuss how anti-Black racism in the COVID-19 context was framed and subsequently challenged by the global community. Finally, we conclude with a brief discussion on COVID-19 and the future of the Black community in China.
ABSTRACT
Racism is a public health crisis. Black communities (including Africans, the African diaspora and people of African descent) experience worse health outcomes as demonstrated by almost any measure of health and wellbeing-e.g. life expectancy; disease prevalence; maternal mortality rates. While health promotion has its foundation in promoting equity and social justice, it is clear that however well-intended, we are not affecting meaningful change for Black communities quickly enough. Through this article, we outline the intersection of social determinants of health and anti-Black racism. We describe how in the first 8 months of 2020 Black communities around the globe have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, while also having to respond to new instances of police brutality. We assert that the time has come for health promotion to stop neutralizing the specific needs of Black communities into unspoken 'good intentions'. Instead, we offer some concrete ways for the field to become outspoken, intentional and honest in acknowledging what it will take to radically shift how we promote health and wellbeing for Black people.