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Investing in the Frontlines: Why Trusting and Supporting Communities of Color Will Help Address Gun Violence Amber K

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Investing in the Frontlines: Why Trusting and Supporting Communities of Color Will Help Address Gun Violence Amber K Investing in the Frontlines: Why Trusting and Supporting Communities of Color Will Help Address Gun Violence Amber K. Goodwin and TJ Grayson Introduction approaches to the problem.9 But there are solutions Day-to-day interpersonal gun violence in communi- we can implement today if we adopt one simple ties of color constitutes a disproportionate number of approach: trusting and empowering those directly shootings across the country. According to the Cen- impacted by exposure to gun violence to decide what ters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more the response should look like. In this article, we argue than 70 percent of America’s 13,958 gun homicide vic- that the United States’ focus on policing first strate- tims in 2018 were either Black or Latinx.1 Black men gies to address gun violence has contributed to the make up 6 percent of the US population, yet account persistence of gun violence in communities of color. for more than half of all gun homicide victims each We critique the over reliance on law enforcement as year; gun violence is disproportionately dangerous for the solution to gun violence in these communities Black women, who are nearly three times as likely to and instead advocate for evidence-based and commu- be murdered with a gun than white women;2 worse nity-endorsed violence prevention programs that are yet, transgender women are four times more likely to already being implemented by people of color through- experience gun violence than cisgender women, and out the nation. To avoid the severe consequences asso- nearly 85 percent of transgender victims are women ciated with a policing-centered approach, law enforce- of color.3 Incidents of gun violence like these cost the ment solutions to gun violence should be avoided and United States at least $229 billion every year4 — with ultimately defunded. Instead, those directly impacted research indicating a single gun homicide can cost by gun violence must get sustained resources to take more than $10 million in medical, criminal legal, and on this problem and address the negative repercus- other expenses.5 Still, the physical, economic,6 and sions of our current response.10 social7 consequences of this violence do not end there. A radical shift in our understanding and approach How Gun Violence Is Currently Addressed in to gun violence in communities of color would likely Communities of Color lead to more compassionate,8 public health-centered Criminal Legal Approaches to Gun Violence Responses to gun violence in communities of color Amber K. Goodwin is the Founder and Executive Director are commonly addressed through a criminal legal of the Community Justice Action Fund. She is currently com- approach centered around policing at the local, state, pleting a law degree at Mitchell Hamline School of Law where 11 she serves as Student Bar Association President. She received and national levels. her B.S. from Florida State University, and her Masters in Social Policy from St. Edward’s University. TJ Grayson is a We have to bring back law and order. Now, third-year law student at Yale Law School. He is the former whether or not in a place like Chicago you do President of Yale Law’s Black Law Students Association, Co- stop and frisk, which worked very well … It Director of Yale Law’s 2020 Critical Race Theory Conference on Reparations and Prison Abolition, and a Coker Teaching brought the crime rate way down. But you take Fellow in constitutional law. He received his B.A. from the the gun away from criminals that shouldn’t be University of California, Berkeley. having it ... We have to protect our inner cities, 164 journal of law, medicine & ethics The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 48 S2 (2020): 164-171. © 2020 The Author(s) DOI: 10.1177/1073110520979418 Goodwin and Grayson because African-American communities are Black people are three times more likely to be killed being decimated by crime, decimated. by police than white people.18 Eight of the largest city police departments kill Black men at rates higher than - Donald Trump, President of the United States12 the United States murder rate.19 Police may jeopardize the safety of women of color facing disproportionate Ninety percent of all people killed in our city rates of gun related domestic violence.20 In a 2015 — and 90 percent of all those who commit the survey by the National Domestic Violence Hotline murders and other violent crimes — are black analyzing survivor experiences with law enforcement, and Hispanic. It is shameful that so many over half of the participants said calling the police elected officials and editorial writers have been would make their situation worse; one in four said A radical shift in our understanding and approach to gun violence in communities of color would likely lead to more compassionate, public health-centered approaches to the problem. But there are solutions we can implement today if we adopt one simple approach: trusting and empowering those directly impacted by exposure to gun violence to decide what the response should look like. In this article, we argue that the United States’ focus on policing first strategies to address gun violence has contributed to the persistence of gun violence in communities of color. We critique the over reliance on law enforcement as the solution to gun violence in these communities and instead advocate for evidence-based and community-endorsed violence prevention programs that are already being implemented by people of color throughout the nation. largely silent on these facts … Instead, they have they would never call the police again; two-thirds said argued that police stops are discriminatory that they were afraid of not being believed and not get- because they do not reflect the city’s overall ting the help they need as a result; and one in four census numbers. By that flawed logic, our police reported that they were arrested or threatened with officers would stop women as often as men, arrest during a partner abuse incident.21 Similar prob- and senior citizens as often as young people … lems have been identified for transgender people of The absurd result of such a strategy would be color who face staggering rates of gun violence22 and far more crimes committed against black and report experiencing high rates of police harassment Latino New Yorkers. When it comes to policing, and discrimination.23 political correctness is deadly. In addition to the violence of everyday police encounters and harmful responses to domestic vio- - Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor, City of New lence, these factors negatively impact the relationship York13 between communities of color24 and the state.25 For example, children of color are forced to endure physi- These comments are emblematic of our over reli- cal or verbal police violence which can lead them to ance on law enforcement as the primary solution for distrust and despise police and the laws they enforce.26 gun violence in communities of color. Yet, the experi- And the recent clashes between protestors and police ences14 of these communities15 and evaluations of evi- following the police killings of Tony McDade, Bre- dence-based violence prevention programs16 indicate onna Taylor, and George Floyd provide an example that relying on policing centered measures will not of exactly how fraught the relationship between com- stop the violence. Instead, they expose communities of munities of color and police have become.27 color to violence stemming from policing itself.17 gun violence in america: an interdisciplinary examination • winter 2020 165 The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 48 S2 (2020): 164-171. © 2020 The Author(s) JLME SUPPLEMENT The benefits experienced by communities of color in Floyd and Ahmed Arbery in 2020, Javier Lopez, a exchange for violent police intervention may be mini- violence interventionist and public health expert with mal at best. For example, when a Black or Latinx per- the Red Hook Initiative37 recently commented on son is fatally shot, the likelihood that local detectives this very distinction: “The brothers and sisters doing will catch the culprit is only 35 percent — 18 percent- violence interruption work have an aversion to hold- age points fewer than when the victim is white. For ing a firearm. That’s because it’s not war for us. It’s gun assaults, the arrest rate is 21 percent if the victim peacekeeping.”38 is Black or Latinx, versus 37 percent for white vic- Several organizations implementing models cen- tims.28 With respect to gun violence prevention, some tered on positive interventions like those supported studies have found that police patrols focused on ille- by Muhammad are led by people of color — Black gal gun carrying can prevent gun violence.29 Yet, these and Latinx individuals in particular — using a pub- studies note that a small amount of research supports lic health approach. The central tenants of a public these findings,30 while the impacts of police violence health approach can roughly be described as those on communities of color — Black and Latinx commu- that treat violence as an epidemic similar to communi- nities specifically — cannot be denied. And although cable diseases recognizing that both the victim and the policing may result in gun violence reduction when perpetrator are impacted by violence because of their officers dedicate their time to this specific issue, the direct experiences with harm and attempts to provide reality is that police devote approximately 4 percent of resources to both groups to prevent future violence.39 their time to handling violent crime.31 People of color across the country have created organizations focused on addressing gun violence Perspectives of Those Impacted by Criminal Legal through this lens.
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