I've always thought that research was a "cool" and essential way to prove that we need certain systems-level and community-level changes. That's what drew me to it originally, at least. I love figuring out answers to complex questions as long as they were able to be readily applied to improve the material conditions of people. During my first year as a public health graduate student and a graduate research assistant, I realized that research's utility goes only as far as we are able to implement on a policy level.
When I talk about policy, I want to be clear what I mean. Policy change at the national level would be something of a dream, but I quickly realized that it is a long, arduous process that is dominated by a lot of people not really wanting to change and disrupt systems that benefit them (and simultaneously uphold white supremacy).
I saw these memes* today and I think it perfectly encapsulates the issue of public health research and common sense not translating to big P policy :
(credit to @buddyhead_ on Instagram)
Lawmakers who spend millions of dollars convincing the American people that electoral politics is where their salvation will come from will very quickly turn around and say that the issues we face are "out of their hands". Which begs the question, then who is responsible?
I write this as we face an ongoing pandemic that has been greatly mishandled due to a lack of coherence between policy decisions and research guidance. I will be the first to say that we have always been working at a disadvantage where the data cannot keep up with a rapidly evolving and global virus, but the implementation of data-based recommendations has been colored by consistently dissenting influences: mismanagement and a lack of emphasis on data at the national policy level, state and local level government politicizing COVID-19 for their own electoral gain and as a result of their willful ignorance, and federally funded public health research and prevention efforts being overly influenced by what corporations want (i.e. Delta and Amazon influencing decisions on how long employees should stay home if they test positive).
The sentiment that America is still "the greatest country in the world" rests on the precedent that this "great" country was built on the continual oppression and exploitation of marginalized populations and basically anyone who wasn't wealthy and white. White supremacy is so insidious and characteristic of the American Dream that we are trained to behave in the same way it does: putting others down, pitting our success against the downfall of others, and even excusing more than one major shooting per day in 2022 because the priority is always on upholding white supremacy.
All of this to say, until we reconcile the fact that our current systems operate within and work to promote white supremacy, policy change won't even matter in the long term.
Let's use the example of gun control. It is true that we need stricter gun control in order to keep communities safer, the public health research supports this. Efforts taken in other countries support it. But gun control is just one part of the problem. We need to look more upstream in order to really address the root of the issue. When we look at the violence inflicted on communities, we are seeing a cultural norm at play. We have to challenge what "legality" means and how little it means in a society that has always used "legality" to allow unmentionable harm to be done to marginalized populations. When we are operating from a basis of control of Black and Brown bodies, the same policies will always be construed to harm us.
I'm including the following graphics from @vrye on Instagram who will always do a better job at situating atrocities in their historical context than I ever could:
(credit to @vrye on Instagram)
Let me be perfectly clear: I cannot speak for the author of these posts, but I do not fully agree with the suggestion that we do nothing because it has a role in inadvertently upholding white supremacy. I am not saying that we shouldn't push for it to be harder for people to access firearms. I am also not saying that we shouldn't have mental health be part of the conversation.** I am saying that if we stop at this and focus all of our energy on this debate, we miss a greater issue that is not talked about enough.
Additionally, the extremely apparent intersection of police and prison abolition and gun control policy is something that needs to be discussed more. Police do not do what we have been told that they do. Their role is mainly to address harm after it has been done, a more downstream effort. In our current existence, we have not addressed the root of harm enough to live in a society where a lack of police presence seems realistic for many. But for many of us who live and breathe as a part of marginalized communities, the harm that is done by police and prisons is irrevocably worse than anything that they have done to "serve" us, which I argue, is never the case. Police serve white supremacy and control Black and Brown folks as a result. They protect property over bodies and ideals over lives.
In the police's apparent role of mitigating harm after it has been committed, they sat idly by while children were massacred in Texas. What are we paying for?
Oh, yes, I forgot. Undocumented parents of murdered children to be persecuted at a crime scene on the basis of the illegality of their presence there.
The connection between legality, white supremacy, control, and the harms of policing are all there. We need to address those things too or we will continue to end up here.
Backpedaling to a conversation on policy: local and community-level policy may not seem like it has as big of an impact, but changing things on a city or county level does impact a lot of people. It may be more manageable and we may be able to have more accountability and representation at a more local level. Local health departments can put funds towards supporting community-based organizing efforts that center on community voice and desires. This is what I would define as little p policy and really where I see myself doing more work.
So let's recap: research can't really change things without policy and policy change without dismantling white supremacy is relatively futile.
What can we actually do that will lead to growth and progress on a more lasting scale?
This is the question that has kept my heart beating faster than it should because honestly, I don't know. You all know my arena is public health. I see the world and its atrocities from the angle of how they prevent people from living healthful and fulfilling lives. In the long term, my idea of being able to make change is in supporting the work of community-based organizations. Right now, I am interning with a public health evaluation firm whose clients are state health departments, many of which have control over what is funded. One client, in particular, uses their state funds to fund community-based organizations that are doing work on a public health issue. They know that the people within the specific communities are going to have a better idea of how to implement a program effectively. It is such a cool model to be able to see because the evaluation firm is able to support and document what works and what doesn't work and think through ways to improve with these community organizations. I see this as a really encouraging way that I would be able to do work that has a real impact and doesn't get bogged down in the theoretical and research side of things. By being able to work with communities while not reinventing the wheel or writing reports that collect dust on shelves, I would be able to advocate for real change within a lot of these issues and initiatives.
This is a future hope, something that I can address long-term throughout my career. But for right now, I feel pretty powerless and I know I am not the only one.
I had a supervisor give me this advice yesterday: to be hyper-local. She talked about how if we all were hyper-local and committed to influencing change in the level of community that we have an impact over, the world would be a better place. It makes perfect sense. If we are all concerned enough to mobilize ourselves towards something, our chances of improving things are a lot higher.
This leads me to want to say, find ways to make your collective voice heard and to find the power in numbers. Organizing is way more than protesting. Organizing involves us getting together around a common cause and thinking through solutions that force those who have the ability to change things to act.
In the back of my head, this feels too simple. But, in full transparency, I don't have anything else to offer you. Sometimes I like to imagine that one day, a window of opportunity to completely transform our systems will open, and when it does, I'll be ready and equipped to walk through. I don't have any of the answers, but I want to continue learning how to be better and challenge myself and those around me to be catalysts for that window to open.
I genuinely hope that there is space made for both grieving and healing for the victims' families of the Uvalde, Texas school shooting. Additionally, we just experienced the two-year anniversary of George Floyd's murder and we continue to hope in the face of insurmountable hardship.
* I think the notion that it is unprofessional or even not advantageous to use memes in public discourse surrounding our society and political issues is classist at best. Memes are made to comment on what we are going through in a satirical yet authentic way and I think that we should include them in writing more, not less.
** The conversation we should really be having and honestly less of a conversation and more of something that should just be done is increasing accessibility and funding towards culturally responsive and integrated mental health services as a part of free and accessible care. We are way overdue on this.
Cover image illustration by Neka King for Refinery29. I reserve no rights to any aforementioned photo content.
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