African American Health and Anti-Racist Resources

Posted by Tessa Zindren on June 10th, 2020 Posted in: The MAReport
Tags: 2020 Issue 2

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This article was adapted from Latitudes, the Newsletter from PSR.

In light of recent events including police brutality and ensuing protests, the staff at the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region, stand with the African American community. In this article, you will find resources related to recent funded projects, African American mental health, cultural competency, NLM African American and race history, racism in science, and PubMed Central articles about police brutality and African American health.

We support this statement from the African American Medical Library Alliance:

We are hurting, frustrated and our emotions are raw.

The cumulative toll of microaggressions, institutional racism, police brutality, and state-sanctioned violence coupled with the emotional labor of navigating a predominantly white profession is exhausting. We are tired of not being seen, heard, included, or appreciated for the value that our unique voices, experiences and perspectives bring to the narrative.

We appreciate the sentiments of our fellow caucuses and colleagues throughout the Medical Library Association. Collectively, we share community with other marginalized members who live in dread that the color of their skin, race and ethnicity, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, political beliefs, language, culture, nationality, age, ability status, and religion make them targets of violence and possibly death.

We are committed to using our collective voices in bringing about change in the profession and the Association.

“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
______________________________
Kelsa Bartley, Chair
Michael S. Fitts, Chair-Elect
Shenita Peterson, Immediate Past Chair
Tara Douglas-Williams, AHIP, National Program Committee, Co-Chair 2021
Shannon Jones, AHIP, Caucus Mentor
Beverly Murphy, AHIP, FMLA, MLA Past President
Tamara Nelson, AHIP, MLA Information Services Domain Hub Chair
Aidy Weeks, AHIP, Virtual Engagement Committee

Recent NNLM MAR Funded Projects

• Green Thumbs in your Library (Black Girls with Green Thumbs and Influencing Action Movement (IAM))
• BGH College Ambassador Program: Mental Health Awareness Campaign (Black Girl Health Foundation)
• African Women’s Wellness Initiative (AWWI) (African Cultural Alliance of North America)
• Eat, Move & Live in Balance (COFFEE and BeautiFitStrong, LLC)
• Confronting the Opioid Crisis: A School-based Education Outreach Program (Advance African Development, Inc.)

NNLM MAR encourages BIPOC-led organizations in NY, NJ, PA and DE to apply for funding. Contact us to learn more.

African American Mental Health Resources

• Mental Health America: Black & African American Communities And Mental Health
• HHS Office of Minority Health: Mental and Behavioral Health – African Americans
• HHS Office of Minority Health: Minority Mental Health Awareness Month – July

Cultural Competency

• NNLM Webinar: Cultural Competency for the Information Professional
• NNLM Webinar: Cultural Competencies and the Strategic Prevention Framework
• HHS: Think Cultural Health – Improving Cultural Competency for Behavioral Health Professionals

NLM African American and Race History

• Leonidas H. Berry and the Fight to Desegregate Medicine
• For All the People: A Century of Citizen Action in Health Care Reform
• Circulating Now from NLM – African American History

Racism and Science

• COVID-19 and Health Inequities
• NLM Special Lecture: Gender, Race, and Power in Science
• Beginning June 9: APHA’s Advancing Racial Equity Webinar Series

PubMed Central Articles

• Alang S, McAlpine D, McCreedy E, Hardeman R. Police Brutality and Black Health: Setting the Agenda for Public Health Scholars. Am J Public Health. 2017;107(5):662‐665. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2017.303691
• Bowleg L, Maria Del Río-González A, Mbaba M, Boone CA, Holt SL. Negative Police Encounters and Police Avoidance as Pathways to Depressive Symptoms Among US Black Men, 2015-2016. Am J Public Health. 2020;110(S1):S160‐S166. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2019.305460
• Edwards F, Lee H, Esposito M. Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race-ethnicity, and sex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019;116(34):16793‐16798. doi:10.1073/pnas.1821204116
• Hall JM, Fields B. “It’s Killing Us!” Narratives of Black Adults About Microaggression Experiences and Related Health Stress. Glob Qual Nurs Res. 2015;2:2333393615591569. Published 2015 Jul 9. doi:10.1177/2333393615591569
• Schneider JA, Lancki N, Schumm P. At the intersection of criminal justice involvement and sexual orientation: Dynamic networks and health among a population-based sample of young Black men who have sex with men. Soc Networks. 2017;51:73‐87. doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2017.04.001

 

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Adapted & written by Kate Flewelling, Executive Director, for the Spring 2020 edition of The MAReport quarterly newsletter.