Browsing by Subject "Black"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Assessing Unequal Airborne Exposure to Lead Associated With Race in the USA
    (Wiley, 2023-07-24) Laidlaw, Mark A. S.; Mielke, Howard W.; Filippelli, Gabriel M.; Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of Science
    Recent research applied the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Chemical Speciation Network and Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments monitoring stations and observed that mean concentrations of atmospheric lead (Pb) in highly segregated counties are a factor of 5 higher than in well‐integrated counties and argument is made that regulation of existing airborne Pb emissions will reduce children's Pb exposure. We argue that one of the main sources of children's current Pb exposure is from resuspension of legacy Pb in soil dust and that the racial disparity of Pb exposure is associated with Pb‐contaminated community soils.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Effect of Resume Whitening on African Americans Ingroup Members' Perceived Likability, Hireability, Future Encounters, and Emotional Reactions: The Role of Perceived Racial Identity
    (2021-03) Abdul Karim, Muhammad Fazuan; Ashburn-Nardo, Leslie; Pietri, Evava; Williams, Jane
    Members of stigmatized racial groups who realize that they might face employment discrimination may engage in résumé whitening, whereby they downplay the role of their group identity in their résumés. Although it has been documented that this approach helps members of stigmatized groups, such as Black American and Asian American individuals, move forward in their pursuit of employment (Kang, DeCelles, Tilcsik, & Jun, 2016), little is known about how their ingroup members would perceive this behavior. The current study explores the potential backlash coming from their own ingroup members when Black targets engage in résumé whitening.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Exploring How the Terms “Black” and “African American” May Shape Health Communication Research
    (Taylor & Francis, 2021) Ridley-Merriweather, Katherine E.; Hoffmann-Longtin, Krista; Owusu, Raiven K.; Communication Studies, School of Liberal Arts
    Several distinct terms are used to identify descendants of the African diaspora (DADs) as fellow members of a racialized population. However, “Black” and “African American” are the two labels most commonly used. Given the recent calls for examining institutionalized racism in the United States, health scholars must contemplate the problems that may arise when these two terms are used interchangeably, namely the extent to which mislabeling may reify already significant health disparities. This essay examines the histories and meanings of “Black” and “African American” as identity labels and explores their importance in relationship to the effective recruitment of DADs to health research and clinical trials. In this paper, we employ the communication theory of identity and critical race theory as lenses to call attention to the discursive challenges associated with recruitment of DADs in health research. We also encourage health communication scholars to explore and extend the scope of this research. We do this by first describing the unintended consequences in health research through disregard of DADs’ chosen identity labels. We then use the various terms to describe DADs to illuminate existing tensions between “Black” and “African American.” We describe how each moniker is used and perceived, broadly and in health contexts. Finally, we call for more research into the effects of mislabeling and propose a plan for researchers’ next steps.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    In the Crosshairs: How Systemic Racism Compelled Interstate Development Through Black Neighborhoods
    (2020-12) Townsend, Andrew L.; Scarpino, Phillip V.; Wokeck, Marianne S.; Mullins, Paul R.
    I present this thesis in two parts. The first is composed of a 35:41-minute documentary film entitled In the Crosshairs: how systemic racism compelled interstate development through Black neighborhoods. Accompanying it is this written essay that outlines my position and provides citations linking evidence to argument. Each component serves a different master. While the essay is intended for an academic reader, the film is intended for a general audience. Each component advances the argument. As a result of systemic racism, minority neighborhoods in Indianapolis have been devalued over time and, therefore, their residents have been left disproportionally vulnerable to displacement from federal interstate highway construction. They were vulnerable because their property was assessed as less valuable than surrounding land. Also, they lacked the political clout to resist “urban development”. Furthermore, their vulnerability was socially constructed. It never occurred to me that my place in society was arranged to my advantage. I didn’t feel advantaged in any way. Everybody I knew was like me or better than me, it seemed. As I matured, I learned that history is subjective and my world is only a small slice of history. I had never considered my whiteness an advantage. In truth, my situation has been shaped by a myriad of forces that were socially constructed. I discovered that the definition of “white” is fluid but, throughout history, has had an enormous impact on how people are treated. The following is a deep dive into what I discovered when I examined only one aspect of how race impacted the advantages I enjoyed simply because my parents were deemed sufficiently “white.”
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Reframing parental involvement of black parents: black parental protectionism
    (2016-05-11) Moultrie, Jada; Scheurich, James Joseph; Lopez, Gerardo; Mutegi, Jomo; Scribner, Samantha; Waterhouse, Carlton
    In 1787, Prince Hall, a Revolutionary War veteran, community leader, and Black parent, petitioned the Massachusetts legislature on behalf of Black children demanding a separate “African” school. Hall claimed that Black children were met with continuous hostility and suffered maltreatment when attending White controlled schools. Many have documented similar claims and actions by Black parents throughout history. These experiences present a consistent insidious counter-narrative of parental involvement challenging the notion of race neutral schools but congruently demonstrate a racial phenomenon in the purview of parental involvement that is undertheorized. Considering these experiences, my central research question was, how is one involved as a Black parent in their child’s education? Among 16 sets of Black parents, this study explored the relationship between race, racism, parental involvement using critical race theory (CRT), and critical qualitative research methods. Findings indicate that Black parental involvement included the consideration of how race and racism in schools may impact, at the very least, their children’s academic achievement, which led to two means of protection of their children from anticipated or experienced school related racism; racial socialization, which was chiefly exercised as involvement at the home level, and racial vigilance, which seemed to be a pervasive form of involvement at the school and home level. I consider the totality of these parental involvement means, Black parental protectionism drawing from Mazama and Lundy conception of racial protectionism. This finding should reframe our understanding of parental involvement but the implications of Black parent protectionism suggest that Black children need protection from racist institutions. When considering the treatment of Black children in White dominated schools over the last four centuries, perhaps Black parents have been their children’s only saving grace to escape the continuous racial maltreatment in schools through time. Instead of falling into traditional research paradigms, which typically relate involvement to achievement, this study concludes with questioning if Black children can receive an optimal education in a pervasive system of racism in schools regardless of Black parental protectionism.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Sexual Communication Self-Efficacy and PrEP Literacy Helps to Meet HIV Prevention Outcomes Among Black and Latinx Individuals
    (Sage Journals, 2022) Carter, Gregory; Brown, Lucy; Mahnke, Brianna; Ohmit, Anita; Woodward, Brennan
    Background: Ending the HIV Epidemic is a campaign dedicated to reducing new HIV infections in the United States by 90% by 2030. Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) holds significant promise as a prevention tool. However, uptake has not improved much since then. As a result, this research looked at how PrEP literacy relates to sexual communication self-efficacy. Methods: Between August 4 and 21, 2020, we performed a community-informed cross-sectional study of Black and Latino residents in Indiana. We collected demographic information as well as PrEP literacy, sexual communication self-efficacy, and awareness of HIV status. Results: Being unaware of one's own HIV status and being unsure of one's sexual identity were both linked to reduced self-efficacy in the domain of sex communication. Those who had a greater level of PrEP literacy felt more confident in their ability to communicate with others about sexually related topics. People living in rural areas showed a significantly lower degree of sexual communication self-efficacy than participants in urban settings. Conclusion: Providing information about PrEP to those at risk of acquiring the virus may help them connect with treatment or prevention services. Healthcare professionals should take the time to understand their patients' levels of PrEP literacy and communication self-efficacy regarding sexual health.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Trauma and racial discrimination: examining their association with marijuana behaviors among black young adults
    (2022-08) Rowe, Alia T.; Zapolski, Tamika; Stewart, Jesse; Cyders, Melissa; Eliacin, Johanne
    Marijuana use has been shown to increase and peak during young adulthood (i.e., ages 18-35). However, it appears that Black individuals do not decline in use at rates similar to other race groups. Marijuana use among Black adults has been linked to more problems such as increased arrests, greater mental health disorder diagnoses, and substance dependence. The biopsychosocial model of racism and race-based theoretical framework aims to understand how factors such as racial discrimination as a traumatic event could be associated with marijuana behaviors, particularly among Black adults. The present study aims to examine the association between racial discrimination and marijuana use and problem use above and beyond trauma exposure. Further, I aimed to explore whether gender or vocation (college, community, and military) moderated the relationships. 391 Black adults (57.5% female; mean age 24.9) completed measures on marijuana use and problems, trauma exposure, and racial discrimination distress. Hierarchical linear regression and Hayes PROCESS macro were used to evaluate the study aims. Racial discrimination distress was associated with marijuana use above and beyond trauma exposure (R2=.016, p=.004). However, racial discrimination distress did not add significant variance within the model for problem marijuana use (R2=.001, p=.419). Additionally, moderation by gender and vocation were not supported in either model. Taken together, the present results support that examining psychological and health outcomes among Black young adults should include an evaluation of racial discrimination distress. Further, future studies should continue to evaluate sociodemographic factors in larger more representative community-based studies to better understand potential variation in risk among Black young adults.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    untitled: color body
    (2018) Tesmer, Casey; Baker, Lesley
    My research poses questions to the audience of how people see color on a body, what subconscious preconceptions that comes packaged with, and the ties of those preconceptions to American culture and how that might affect people's actions in society.