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We already know that mass shootings in this country disproportionately impact Black people. A new study from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Surgery that was released last month, explains that racism may be why.
Per the results, “This study found that major US cities with higher populations of Black individuals are more likely to be affected by MSEs [(mass shooting events)], suggesting that structural racism may have a role in their incidence. Public health initiatives aiming to prevent MSEs should target factors associated with structural racism to address gun violence.”
Tulane University researchers analyzed data between 2015 and 2019, utilizing the definition of “a mass shooting as a shooting that injured or killed four or more people, not including the shooter.” Structural racism was defined in the study as “the normalized and legitimized range of policies, practices, and attitudes that routinely produce cumulative and chronic adverse outcomes for people of color.”
They found that MSEs were more likely to occur in cities with higher Black populations than communities with a higher percentage of white residents. Additionally, the findings said that Black people are more likely to be injured or killed during a mass shooting.
Tulane University School of Medicine surgeons and senior author Dr. Sharven Taghavi and study co-author Dr. Michael Ghio said, “We found that there is an association with some markers of structural racism, although this manuscript could not fully examine the root causes and our study shows an association, not causation…We hypothesize that this is secondary to decades of structural inequities.”
After reviewing the findings, Drs. Kimberly B. Golisch and Leah C. Tatebe with Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine’s Department of Surgery said, “The (study’s) results have implications for targeted interventions to address firearm violence at community and national levels.”
Golisch and Tatebe continued that although the study “provides evidence to support interventions to decrease the downstream effects of structural racism…it is time to focus on supporting patients beyond the hospital and research.”
“Solidifying how surgeons can combat the influence of structural racism on gun violence on a grander scale is critical to combat these prevalent and deadly disparities,” they said. “We need to call on strengths from our interdisciplinary teams and ability to provide resources and support to those who have suffered from gun violence.”
This isn’t the first time the American Medical Association (AMA) has begun to include race as a determinant in their public health recommendations. In recent years, the AMA has faced criticism with respect to an allegedly politicized agenda. The AMA released a guide in 2021, which “included a section on ‘Counter-Narrating the Attacks on Critical Race Theory.’” Just earlier this year, the AMA claimed that the Body Mass Index (BMI) scale is an “imperfect” medical tool and has “racist” origins.
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