After the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, videos of police brutality on television and social media widely circulated across the nation triggering depression and other post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in young people of color.
In the report, Power in Our Truths: Girls and Gender-Expansive Young People of Color Speak Truth About How Videos of Police Brutality Detrimentally Affect Their Mental Health, a team of Women of Color researchers and scholar-activists, including NYU Institute of Human Development and Social Change (IHDSC) affiliate and Applied Psychology Assistant Professor, Dr. Lauren Mims and her protégé NYU Student Amina Patricia Anekwe, partner with the Justice + Joy National Collaborative to share the perspectives and experiences of girls and gender-expansive young people of color on the impact of the virality of violent videos. The report offers insights into the impacts of the detrimental effects of videos of police brutality on the mental health and wellbeing of girls and gender expansive young people of color.
The report found three major findings:
91% of participants saw videos of police brutality ‘most days’ or ‘sometimes’.
The most common emotions felt after viewing the videos were anger/frustration (80.2%), sadness/grief (76.9%), and fear (59.5%).
80% of young people stated they take breaks from social media or watching, reading, or listening to news stories after encountering police brutality content.
A 23-year-old participant from Mississippi shared, “Sometimes it’s an unexplainable anger and wave of adrenaline rushing through me because I wasn’t able to be there or couldn’t stop this from happening. These situations make me feel queasy and uneasy because, in the blink of an eye, things just go wrong without any remorse from the very people sworn in to serve and protect its citizens!”
Youth participating in the study shared several coping mechanisms they used to protect their wellbeing. The five self care themes they identified are as follows:
- Psychological Self-Care like reading, disconnecting from social media, and journaling
- Spiritual Self-Care like meditation, prayer, and listening to music
- Relationship Self-Care talking to friends, having conversations with others, and being in family/community.
- Physical Self-Care like exercise, walking, or yoga.
- Emotional Self-Care like watching TV shows, arts & crafts, and crochet.
A central goal of this report is to amplify the emotional ramifications of videos of police brutality on girls and gender-expansive young people of color. Scholars, activists, and practitioners must work to take action to center their voices, spotlight their coping strategies and take action with them to collectively reimagine new structures that will safeguard everyone's health and wellbeing.
This is the second report in the Power In Our Truths series. For more information and to learn more, visit the Power in Our Truths Report Series page on the Justice + Joy National Collaborative website.
Suggested citation:
Anekwe, A.P., Mims, L.C., Harris, J.N., Washington, K.S., Weems, E. (October 2023). Power in Our Truths: Girls and Gender-Expansive Young People of Color Speak Truth About How Videos of Police Brutality Detrimentally Affect their Mental Health. Justice and Joy National Collaborative
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