43rd Annual Du Bois Lecture, featuring Joseph Richardson

The Humanities Forum and the Social Sciences Forum present the 43rd Annual Du Bois Lecture, featuring Joseph Richardson, Joel and Kim Feller Professor of African-American Studies and Medical Anthropology at the University of Maryland, College Park, who will speak on Life After the Gunshot: Structural Violence, Interpersonal Violence and Trauma Among Young Black Men In Washington, D.C.

Gun violence is the leading cause of death and disability among Black boys and young Black men between the ages of 16–34. In 2020, over 19,000 people were killed in the U.S. from firearm related incidents, the highest death toll from gun violence in 20 years. According to a recent research report on the economic cost of gun violence published by Everytown for Gun Safety, the cost of gun violence is approximately $280 billion dollars. The social determinants of health that contribute to gun violence as a public health crisis: structural racism, concentrated poverty, the effects of mass incarceration and hyper-surveillance, limited access to mental health resources, underfunded and under-resourced schools, and poor housing are all forms of structural violence that contribute to lower life expectancy rates among young Black men. For example, while gun violence is the leading cause of death among young Black men, the COVID pandemic reduced the life expectancy of Black men in the U.S. by three years, the largest gap among all racial and ethnic groups. Furthermore, undiagnosed and untreated trauma from exposure to structural and interpersonal violence also increases the likelihood of poor health outcomes among Black boys and young Black men. This talk will illuminate and interrogate the ways structural violence, interpersonal violence and trauma impact the lives of young Black male survivors of firearm injury in the nation’s capital.

Joseph B. Richardson, Jr., is the Joel and Kim Feller Endowed Professor in the Departments of African American Studies and Anthropology at the University of Maryland. He holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. As the Research Director for the Center for Injury Prevention and Policy (CIPP), Violence Prevention Program, at the University of Maryland Medical Center R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, his research team investigates gun violence, firearm-related injury, trauma, and the effectiveness of University of Maryland Medical Systems hospital-based violence intervention programs. Richardson is the Co-Founder and Founding Director of the Capital Region Violence Intervention Program (CAP-VIP), a hospital-based violence intervention program, at the University of Maryland Prince George’s Hospital Center, which he directed from 2017 to 2019. He is the Executive Director of the Transformative Research and Applied Violence Intervention Lab (TRAVAIL) a multidisciplinary gun violence research lab in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland. He is currently producing a digital storytelling project, Life After the Gunshot, exploring the intersection of the health care and criminal justice systems among young Black male survivors of violent firearm injury in the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County, Maryland.

This online event is free and open to the public.

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