Racism, police violence and public health presentation at the National Association of County and City Health Officials Annual meeting, 2015.

1. RACISM, POLICE VIOLENCE AND PUBLIC
HEALTH
Jasmine D. Graves, MPH
NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene

2. HISTORICAL
CONTEXT

3. 1935 - 2015
US Timeline of Civil Uprisings
1935
HARLEM, NY
1992
LOS ANGELES, CA
2015
BALTIMORE, MD
2014 FERGUSON,
MO
1965
WATTS, CA

4. CRIMINALIZATION OF BLACKNESS
• Dehumanization of people of
African Descent
• Chattel property
• 3/5 of a Human
• Established Slave Codes
SLAVERY
1619 - 1865
• Development of Black Codes
• Sharecropping
• Mass Lynchings
RECONSTRUCTION
1865 - 1877

5. • Codified Racial Segregation in Law
• Developed Institutionalized practices for de
jure segregation
• Depictions of Black Caricatures
• Mass Lynchings
JIM CROW PERIOD
1890 - 1965
• Civil Rights Acts
• Advent of Globalization.
• Systematic Dismantling of Black Power
Movement
• Mass Police Killing
CIVIL RIGHTS
1965 - 1980
• Mass Incarceration
- War on Drugs
- War on Gangs
• Disproportionate Police
Surveillance
- Stop and Frisk
- Operation Clean Halls
• Mass Police Killings
PRESENT DAY
1980 – Present

6. Public Displays of Black Death
NEO LYNCHING

7. IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH

8. Direct Effects
• Individual
− Serious injury
− Premature mortality as measured in Years of Life
Lost
• Family
− Homicide survivors
− Emotional and psychological trauma
• Neighborhood
− Vicarious trauma
• Broader Community
− Incites fear
− Chronic stress
Health Implications of Police Violence

9. Indirect Effects
• Need to explore ways in which police violence
adversely impacts the social determinants of
health
− Example: Outdoor physical activity, heavy
police surveillance in schools and
residential areas
• Police Violence creates distrust in government
− May begin to create broader distrust in
agencies beyond police department
Health Implications of Police Violence

10. ENVISIONING A PATH FORWARD

11. • APHA Recommendations (1998)
− Local, state and federal health personnel should collect
stats on the incidence and health consequences of police
violence
− Need funding for CDC research on disproportionate
impact of police violence on people of color
− Establish independent community review boards to
consider complaints of police bruatlity
• Explicitly name structural racism as a fundamental cause
of health inequity
• Support and extend other disciplines’ efforts to address
police violence by documenting its nature and prevalence
SHIFTING PUBLIC HEALTH FRAMEWORKS

12. BOOKER INFO
THANK YOU