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Abstract

Grief from homicide is a global phenomenon. A pattern of structural racism and systemic inequities have shaped Black homicide deaths and have increased the prevalence, susceptibility, spread, and impact of homicide grief for Black communities throughout the global diaspora. A complex interplay of structural vulnerabilities has constituted a worldwide pandemic of homicide grief for Black communities. In this paper, homicide grief is conceptualized as a pandemic. Historical and structural factors that create vulnerability to homicide loss, enhance susceptibility, and facilitate the spread of homicide grief for Black communities is described. A public health framework incorporating prevention, protection, and mitigation strategies is critical to addressing pandemics. A public health framework that incorporates anti-Black racism and other sociopolitical factors that render Black communities disproportionately vulnerable to homicide grief is proposed. Recommendations for reducing the prevalence and interrupting the inequitable spread of homicide grief within Black communities is discussed, including improved access to culturally responsive grief and bereavement services, influencing policy structures, and increasing culturally attuned research efforts.

Keywords

homicide grief Black pandemic public health

The Pandemic of Homicide Grief

A pandemic is an outbreak of a disease that has spread across several countries or continents (National Institute of Health, 2011). Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic of homicide grief wreaked havoc on Black communities around the world. Distinct from traditional grief, homicide grief is defined as a prolonged, complicated, and life-threatening psychosomatic response accompanied by distressing thoughts and a sense of meaninglessness (Neimeyer & Burke, 2011; Zakarian et al., 2019). Twenty-five studies across the Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD) and non-OECD countries revealed that roughly half of individuals bereaved due to homicide met the diagnostic criteria for prolonged homicide grief disorder (Hilberdink et al., 2023). It is estimated that every homicide victim has at least 7 to 10 surviving family members or friends grieving their deaths (Redmond, 1989). These numbers suggest that worldwide, in 2021, there were 4.58 million surviving family members and friends grieving the murder of 464,000 homicide victims (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2023). This widespread tragedy has persisted since the 1990s and is expected to continue increasing into 2030 (UNODC, 2023). Thus, the number of people grieving the murder of loved ones will transpire into pandemic proportions. Moreover, Black communities frequently encompass chosen family members who are neither biologically related nor geographically close. This indicates that the ripple effects and impact of homicide are extensive and likely surpass existing research estimates (Richardson, 2020).

Like a pandemic, homicide loss and grief follow demographic, spatial, and social structural patterns that are predictive of inequitable consequences for communities (Gaynor & Wilson, 2020). While global race-based data on homicide loss is inconsistent, there is strong evidence to support disproportionately higher Black homicide deaths due largely to structural and racial discrimination that give rise to debilitating traumatic grief in Black communities (Sheats et al., 2018; Umberson, 2017). Recent literature points to a racial proportionality of inequity in the burden of homicide grief, with Blacks unduly bearing the brunt of the pre-existing vulnerabilities of systemic racism and social inequities that increase the prevalence, susceptibility, spread, and impact of homicide grief within their communities (Unnever et al., 2023).

Although homicide grief is widespread within Black communities, it is often masked due to the racial stigma and epistemology of ignorance that silences public empathy for Black homicide deaths (Bailey et al., 2015; Maguire, 2015; Sharpe, 2015). Conceptualizing Black homicide grief as a pandemic provides a framework through which it can best be understood and addressed. Interdisciplinary analyses have historically proposed a public health approach to reduce homicide rates and prevent homicide grief through strategies that limit exposure to socio-environmental risks (e.g., diminished economic opportunities, limited social capital, and social cohesion) and reduce rates of homicide (Pridemore, 2003). However, there remains an epistemological gap in the conceptualization and study of homicide grief, rendering it difficult to create solutions to disrupt its spread and impact.

This paper conceptualizes homicide grief for Black communities as a pandemic due to the risk of exposure, susceptibility, and spread. Historical and structural factors that increase vulnerability and the spread of homicide grief are described. A public health framework is proposed to further conceptualize the issue and provide recommendations for building pathways to immunity for Black communities.

Prevalence: Black Communities Impacted by Homicide

Prevalence refers to the total number of individuals in a population with a disease or health condition during a specific period, usually expressed as a percentage of the population (Noordzij et al., 2010). The prevalence of homicide grief among Black communities is a measure of the frequency of homicide loss witnessed and experienced in the form of stabbing, police brutality, shootings, or other forms of killing (Harris & O’Brien, 2024). The consistent collection and analysis of data to support the global prevalence and impact of homicide for Black communities is lacking. However, as with any pandemic, prevalence follows population density. In countries with a high population of Blacks, homicide rates have remained high. For example, of the global estimate of intentional homicides in 2021 (458,000 victims), the highest numbers (176,000 victims) occurred on the African continent. Also, in 2021, Caribbean countries recorded the highest proportion of gun-related homicides globally (67%) (UNODC, 2023). More generally, the representation of Black homicide victims across African diasporic countries remained disproportionate to other countries: the United States Virgin Islands (49.26 per 100,000 people); Jamaica (47.01 per 100,000); Lesotho (41.25 per 100,000 people); Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (36.46 per 100,000); Saint Kitts and Nevis (34.23 per 100,000); South Africa (33.97 per 100,000); Uganda (11.52 per 100,000); Ethiopia (7.56 per 100,000); and Tanzania (6.95 per 100,000).

High prevalence of Black homicide rates is also prevalent in North American countries. Research suggests that every Black American will experience the homicide of a loved one at least two times in their lifetime (Sharpe, 2015). In 2020–2021, homicide rates were eight times higher for Black American males and four times higher for Black American females than their white counterparts (Council on Criminal Justice, 2023). Moreover, Black Americans die younger from homicide and have 4.14 more potential years of life lost to homicide than white Americans (Zimmerman et al., 2024). Firearm fatality is a threat to Black lives, with higher prevalence seen in countries where gun violence is most problematic. In the US, gun homicide rates among Black Americans are estimated to be 12 times higher per capita than for whites (Piquero, 2024). Although Black Americans make up roughly 14% of the U.S. population, they account for more than half of gun homicide victims (Everytown for Gun Safety, 2023).

In Canada, Black populations comprise only 4.3% of the Canadian population (Statistics Canada, 2024) and yet the rate of homicide victims who identify as Black is four times higher than the rate for non-racialized people. While gaps in race-based crime data remain in Canada, homicide research has shown disproportionately high rates of gun homicide among young Black men living in economically disadvantaged metropolitan areas (Bailey et al., 2023; Khenti, 2013). Of the 10 provinces and three territories in Canada, homicide has consistently been highest in Ontario (Statistics Canada, 2021a). When comparing the rates of homicide in major Ontario cities, Toronto has the highest number of homicide victims in the country, averaging 77 homicide victims annually (Statistics Canada, 2021b). In 2007, Black males were 4% of the population in Toronto and accounted for almost 40% of the city’s homicide victims (Owusu-Bempah & Wortley, 2014). The homicide victim rate is nearly 10 times higher for Black males in Toronto than for the whole Toronto population, placing already marginalized males at greater risk (Amick-Mcmullan et al., 1991). Central to homicide studies in Canada is the debilitating grief of these murders that impact Black family members, friends, and communities economically, socially, and spiritually (Bailey et al., 2013; Sharpe et al., 2024).

While homicide rates vary across countries, it is the cumulative burden of Black death that informs the global weight of homicide grief. The sustained prevalence of homicide among Blacks is shaped by measures of structural racism, racial inequity, and spatial residential disadvantage that enhance the impact of Black homicide deaths across global spaces and constitute a global pandemic of homicide grief in Black communities (Houghton et al., 2021; Salmon et al., 2023). Understanding how this global pattern of structural inequity drives the prevalence of homicide, death, and grief should be a critical strategy in any public health approach aimed at addressing this issue (Pridemore, 2003). This requires a comprehensive understanding of how decades of enslavement have justified the systematic dehumanization of Black lives, which continues to be a fundamental aspect of exposure and vulnerability to homicide grief today (Kihlström & Kirby, 2021).

Vulnerability: The Racial and Structural Inequities of Homicide Grief

In public health, vulnerability is defined as the increased exposure to disease created by structural and systemic factors (Gaynor & Wilson, 2020). Vulnerability to homicide loss and the long-term grief that ensues is not a result of a singular factor but rather a complex interplay of racial and systemic inequities that are both drivers and consequences of exposure for Black communities (Unnever et al., 2023). These inequities constitute structural violence, a term that refers to the unnecessary and avoidable suffering faced by marginalized groups, such as Blacks, with its power derived from the normalization and omnipresence of this violence (Farmer, 2004, 2009; Galtung, 1969). Anti-Black racism and police brutality are intentional consequences of structural violence, serving as catalysts of systemic inequities which expound Black people’s vulnerability to homicide loss and grief.

Anti-Black Racism

Anti-Black racism is a mechanism to weaponize social inequalities and violent events to oppress and marginalize Black people (Nugent et al., 2012). Permeated by historical processes of dehumanization, anti-Black racism has served as a conduit to both homicide death and profound homicide grief in Black communities (Harris & O’Brien, 2024). Social structures continue to enforce dehumanizing values and policies that perpetuate violence against Black people while also restricting the provision of essential social, psychological, and cultural resources required for Black survivors of homicide to cope with their grief (McGuffey & Sharpe, 2015).

Anti-Black racism also fosters a global socioeconomic stratification, aligned with ethno-racial divisions, that preserves homicide susceptibility and grief for Black communities (Conrick et al., 2023). This stratification, particularly in North America, is a continuing consequence of the historical legacies of settler colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade (Kelly & Bailey, 2017). According to the 2018 United States Census, 20.8% of Black Americans fell below the poverty line compared to 8.1% of white Americans, despite Black people making up 14% of the population (Semega et al., 2019). Similarly, while Black people account for 3.4% of the population in Canada, 23.9% live in poverty (Colour of Poverty, 2019). Socioeconomic stratification also disproportionately affects Black people globally. Black Jamaicans, who account for 91.6% of the population, are more likely to be amongst the poorest group in the country (Kelly, 2020). In South Africa, nearly 80% of Black people are more likely to live in poverty, almost half below the poverty line (Statistics South Africa, 2018). It is within this context of dehumanization and socioeconomic stratification that the role of anti-Black racism in homicide grief among Black communities can be analyzed and understood. Anti-Black racism is the connective tissue that gives relevance to the other determinants of homicide and ensures enduring homicide grief in Black communities (Bailey et al., 2023; Hill-Briggs et al., 2022).

Policing/Law Enforcement

Recent research has established policing as a factor associated with Black death and homicide grief. Whether it be sanctioned Black death (Waldron, 2021), trauma from police brutality that leads to gun homicide involvement (Bailey et al., 2023), or unlawful murder of Black people (Waldron, 2021), police violence has illustrated that the very systems assigned to ensure safety for Black people are often the ones enforcing acts of violence against them (Potter, 2013). Black communities are disproportionately impacted by policing practices such as racial profiling, over-policing, “stop-and-frisk” procedures, and the excessive use of force, which contribute to the erosion of trust between law enforcement and communities (DeVylder et al., 2017; Edwards et al., 2023; Graham et al., 2020; Pratt-Harris et al., 2016; Sekhon, 2019; Sierra-Arévalo, 2019). This lack of trust becomes a barrier that impedes the ability of Black communities to seek assistance and receive justice from law enforcement following incidents of homicide. Moreover, these procedures foster a sense of distrust of civil servants, which ultimately exacerbates the pandemic of grief (Graham et al., 2020; Pratt-Harris et al., 2016; Sekhon, 2019; Sharpe, 2015; Sierra-Arévalo, 2019).

Additionally, law enforcement is often permitted to employ lethal force as a method of self-defense when they believe it is necessary to defend themselves against a perceived threat without the obligation to retreat. These “Stand Your Ground” procedures have drawn widespread scrutiny for placing Black communities at significant risk of experiencing brutality that can result in tragic death (Light et al., 2023). These laws have been further criticized for disproportionately favoring white perpetrators, leading to instances in which Black victims of homicide and their surviving family members are denied justice under the pretense of self-defense (Light et al., 2023). Unjust legal standards such as “Stand Your Ground” convey a consistent disconcerting message that Black lives hold lesser value and that violence against them is more readily justifiable than their white counterparts.

Taken together, anti-Black racism and police brutality reinforce the dehumanization of Black lives and intersect seamlessly to perpetuate a pandemic of homicide loss and grief for Black communities (Gregory & Clary, 2022; Harris & O’Brien, 2024). The normalization of these forms of injustice within social structures that appear invisible renders them both dangerous and resistant to change. A public health agenda focused on homicide prevention in Black communities should address the multifaceted ways anti-Black racism impacts the Black population’s vulnerability to homicide death and grief (Jee-Lyn García & Sharif, 2015).

Susceptibility to Homicide Grief for Black Communities

In the public health context, susceptibility refers to the state of being predisposed to, or sensitive to, developing a particular disease (Noordzij et al., 2010). One can be exposed to a disease and not become ill, but it is the specific elements of vulnerability working in tandem that weaken the body to enhance susceptibility (Watson et al., 2020). Black communities’ susceptibility to homicide grief is enhanced by current structural and historical factors that weaken their ability to cope with the ongoing pressures of homicide loss.

Racial Trauma as Susceptibility to Homicide Grief

Racial trauma from both intergenerational and present-day traumatic experiences of racism, discrimination, and other social struggles is shown to trigger, complicate, and prolong homicide grief while weakening family social support systems upon which Black communities rely to cope (Bailey et al., 2015, 2023; Lee et al., 2023; Sharpe, 2015). Racial trauma as an element of homicide grief susceptibility is an important contribution to the trauma literature. Scientifically proven to be passed down through generations, racial trauma creates shifts in both the psyche and bodies of impacted persons (Yehuda & Lehrner, 2018). Menakem (2017), author of My Grandmother’s Hands, examines the impact of racism on Black bodies in the United States. Menakem puts forth a theory describing how historical, familial, and personal trauma from racism is stored deep inside the nervous system. The body’s adaptation to survive this trauma is visible in the distortion of Black hands due to burrs from cotton plants on plantations during enslavement, as well as the callusing and roughening of the hands (2017).

Above and beyond discriminatory social structures that increase the Black community’s susceptibility to homicide loss is the invisible impact of intergenerational trauma from the social systems which operate to foster prolonged homicide grief. The global institution of chattel slavery that relied upon the exploitation and dehumanization of Black bodies is another example of intergenerational trauma that has left deep emotional wounds and a legacy of homicide that is supported by current societal structures (Butler, 2003). When homicide trauma is not given the appropriate support, its effects accumulate in the body and mind, further complicating the grief and bereavement process. When grieving is fractured, a person can be rendered unable to accept the reality of the loss, engage in relationships, and manage the complex array of emotional and physiological reactions that supersede the homicide (Pabon & Basile, 2022). These experiences have heightened Black people’s susceptibility to homicide grief.

Cumulative and Frequent Witnessing of Black Death

In addition to the disproportionate intimate personal experiences of brutal murders of family members and friends, Black people are frequently exposed to Black death (Smith & Patton, 2016). The constant exposure to Black death, both interpersonally and through the frequent viewing of Black death on television and social media platforms, creates and magnifies homicide grief (Bailey et al., 2023; Gruenewald et al., 2013). The homicide grief from cumulative Black deaths is complex due to the ongoing trauma of repeatedly viewing the violent dehumanization of Black lives (Mowatt, 2018). Media attention often highlights the ways that Black communities are “prone to homicide” or assume the murders were drug or gang-related (Fuchs, 2019; Gruenewald et al., 2009, 2013; Sharpe, 2015). These narratives ensure that the grief of Black survivors of homicide is ignored, and this grief is compounded when swift action to capture and prosecute perpetrators is not prioritized. Traumatic stress and homicide grief often appear in the form of hypervigilance, an elevated psychological state characterized by consistently assessing potential threats in the environment (Bailey et al., 2023; Phan et al., 2020). Research suggests that operating at a constant state of hypervigilance can increase avoidance behavior, elevate blood pressure, increase heart rates, and magnify a fixation on external threats (Jones et al., 2023; Nugent et al., 2012).

The frequency of homicide in Black communities creates a constant, pervasive threat to physical and mental well-being (Smith, 2015; Smith & Patton, 2016). Further, the frequent occurrence of these homicides does not allow for ample opportunity to process grief. As a result, the grieving process becomes complicated (Smith & Patton, 2016). The frequency with which Black people experience the traumatic impact of homicide and the circumstances that surround the brutal deaths requires a fundamental understanding and acknowledgment of how these experiences implicate complex grief for Black people. While feeling safe following a homicide loss is important for well-being, personal relations, trust, and cohesion, the frequency at which Black deaths occur and are witnessed through media platforms impedes upon feelings of safety and homicide grief recovery.

Lack of Access to Social Services and Grief Supports

The inequitable access to vital resources and support services for surviving family members and friends contributes to the pandemic of homicide grief for Black communities. Limited access to quality mental health care, grief counseling, and victim support services impacts the process of healing (Hoofnagle et al., 2020; Johnson & Hong, 2017; Unnever et al., 2023; White et al., 2021), yet victim resources and services often fail to provide diverse, culturally responsive support, forcing Black communities to rely heavily on overburdened informal support systems (e.g., family and friends) to help cope with their grief (Sharpe, 2015; Sharpe & Iwamoto, 2022). Moreover, bereavement services are often limited to individuals who are directly related to the victim, either by blood or by marriage. As a result, people who are close to the victim but are not related by blood or marriage do not receive the benefits of bereavement services (Sharpe et al., 2022).

The lack of grief and bereavement services is particularly critical to contexts in which access to these services is based on socioeconomic status and private health insurance coverage. Services available to clients without private insurance are of lower quality, with longer wait times and fewer sessions per client (The Commonwealth Fund, 2021). This discrepancy is particularly salient for Black communities in the United States, where less than half of Blacks (45%) are covered by private health insurance, second only to Latine groups (The Commonwealth Fund, 2021). This inequitable access to grief and bereavement services amplifies stress and hypervigilance post-homicide and prolongs the grieving process for Black survivors (Kochel & Nouri, 2021).

Spread: Pandemic on a Pandemic

The spread of a pandemic is facilitated by external factors of inequity that cause or exponentiate transmission of the disease (Ali Maher & Bellizzi, 2020). External factors are unique to the spread of a disease across different contexts, but they work together to create a pandemic story for the world. The spread of homicide mirrors trends of structural and racial inequity (Sheats et al., 2018; Unnever et al., 2023). Thus, the disproportionate spread of homicide grief among Black people, whether direct victims of homicide or family members surviving their loved one’s tragic death, is similarly affected by structural inequities.

Consider the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black and Brown communities. Black Americans experienced death from COVID-19 at 1.9 times the rate of white Americans and hospitalization at 2.9 times their white counterparts (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, & Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2021). The inequitable spread of COVID-19 exposed the systemic structural inequities rooted in racism that contributed to the chronic spread of the disease. As evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, intersecting factors of structural inequity resulted in the rapid, seamless spread of the virus among vulnerable populations. In 2020, approximately 97.9 out of every 100,000 Black Americans died from COVID-19, a third higher than Latinos (64.7 per 100,000) and more than double that of whites (46.6 per 100,000) and Asians (40.4 per 100,000) (Vasquez Reyes, 2020). This disproportionate impact and elevated transmission rates of COVID-19 among Black and racialized communities serve as a stark illustration of the pervasive reach of anti-Black racism (Gursel, 2021; Kumar et al., 2021; Watson et al., 2020).

Consider a concurrent (double) pandemic, in which structural inequities conglomerate to cause greater health and social destruction. During the COVID-19 pandemic, homicide rates increased 34% among racialized people in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2022). In the United States, both the CDC and the FBI reported a 30% increase in the number of homicides during the height of the pandemic from 2019 to 2020 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention & Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2021). Moreover, the data shows notable differences in homicide rates based on race. For Black people, the homicide rate in 2020 (28.3 per 100,000) and in 2019 (20.5 per 100,000) was consistently higher in comparison to, Latino, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, and white populations in the United States (CDC, 2023). These increases are the synergistic amalgamation of racial inequalities underpinning both COVID-19 and homicide loss (Houry et al., 2022).

Seedat (2021) noted that grief and trauma intensified across Black communities during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic due in part to increased economic pressures, decreased access to resources, and anti-Black racism. The concurrent amplification of the effects of both COVID-19 and homicide grief for Black communities speaks to the role of anti-Black racism. Laurencin and Walker (2020) describe the combined effects of racism from the COVID-19 pandemic with ongoing anti-Black racism as a pandemic on a pandemic for Black people. Given the role of anti-Black racism in the spread of homicide grief among Black communities, a public health model should consider the influence of systemic racism on the disease of homicide, its irrefutable spread, and abiding symptoms of grief that compromise the health and well-being of Black communities.

Prevention and Protection: Creating a Pathway to Immunity

Understanding and addressing grief, especially in the context of homicide within Black communities, requires a fundamental paradigm shift in our perspective and approach. Preventing and mitigating the effects of homicide-related grief requires a public health approach that spans the spectrum of prevention and protection strategies. The primary, secondary, and tertiary stages of prevention outlined in this section encompass distinct strategies that collectively contribute to understanding, addressing, and alleviating the profound impact of homicide-related grief for Black people.

Primary prevention aims to intercept the trajectory of a pandemic before it occurs (Betz et al., 2022). This sphere of prevention demands comprehensive policy and societal transformations that address the root causes of homicide. Intervening at the primary stage involves acknowledging and addressing the social injustices of anti-Black racism and the structures designed to maintain inequities that perpetuate and normalize the violent erasure of Black people. An example of this was present during the COVID-19 pandemic, where racial and ethnic minorities were 2 to 3 times more likely to contract and die from the virus than their white counterparts (Johnson et al., 2023). Calls were made by researchers to bring attention to the differential impact of COVID-19 infections and deaths due to structural racism. In this same fashion, research to understand structural inequalities, policies that fortify their existence, and the frequency of homicide and its devastating impact on Black communities must be supported. Findings from such research have the potential to inform the development of policies which prioritize the structural and interpersonal safety and holistic well-being of Black communities.

Secondary prevention involves recognizing the importance of early detection and sustained support for those already grappling with the impact of a pandemic (Betz et al., 2022). The frequency in which Black communities experience homicide and the pervasive complexity of grief that follows suggests that early detection is necessary to reduce the pandemic spread of grief. Early detection can provide critical information to inform the type of support and services survivors of homicide victims need while considering the sociocultural context of their grief experiences. Detection can be conducted in three ways. First, consistent screening of current and historical, individual, and collective trauma histories is essential. Chronic exposure to homicide in the form of intergenerational trauma, structural violence, and the frequent witnessing of homicide for Black communities highlights the critical importance of understanding the manifestation and prevalence of traumatic grief. Second, consistent mandated collection of demographic and situational data (e.g., race of the victim, socioeconomic status, homicide typology, etc.) is necessary for an adequate analysis of the impact of homicide. For example, collective coping and caring for each other is a coping strategy frequently utilized by Black survivors of homicide victims (Sharpe, 2015). However, in the case of intrafamilial homicide, family systems of social support are often fractured, signaling a need for diverse services that can supplement resources to help surviving family members and friends of homicide victims grieve. Third, assessment measures to detect and evaluate prevalence and susceptibility to homicide and grief should be implemented. Tracking the frequency at which homicide occurs allows service providers to be better positioned to help prevent the spread of homicide grief. Detection of homicide occurrences reduces the risk of grief complications such as depression, isolation, and retaliation and allows service providers to respond to the needs of surviving family members and friends of homicide victims in a timely manner.

Trauma from witnessing cumulative death and inequitable access to supportive services are common consequences of any pandemic. These ongoing challenges for Black communities suppress their capacities to effectively cope with homicide grief. Strengthening Black community capacity and resources for coping while building equity policies and strategies to increase accessibility to services is an important public health approach to mitigate susceptibility to homicide grief (Quinn et al., 2011). Services that are available and equitable to survivors affected by homicide loss can help to break the cycle of violence and mitigate further harm caused by traumatic and disenfranchised grief. This requires a deliberate approach to protect vulnerable groups through understanding the differences in coping with the traumatic impact of homicide depending on the type of homicide, such as intra-familiar or police-related (Boeck et al., 2020). Understanding the source of exposure to traumatic incidents of grief allows policymakers and service providers to be better positioned to respond to both the root causes and consequences of homicide grief.

Tertiary prevention aims to reduce the severe impact of the disease. Tertiary prevention requires recognition of the long-term impact of grief on the mental, physical, and spiritual well-being of Black survivors of homicide victims while offering support to reduce the effects of the disease (Betz et al., 2022). The pervasive nature of chronic homicide-related grief in Black communities calls for specialized interventions that acknowledge the intersectional nature of the traumas of anti-Black racism and homicide that contribute to the pandemic of grief (Sharpe et al., 2022). The focus in this stage is addressing chronic grief and lasting emotional wounds. Within this context, a possible solution to preventing homicide grief could be the implementation of a Post-Homicide Training Certificate program. A post-homicide training certificate program could involve specific, culturally responsive training for service providers, which is essential for addressing homicide grief. Such a program would aim to effectively support and address the distinct needs of Black communities affected by homicide, focusing on the specific barriers and the intersectional nature of trauma associated with anti-Black racism and homicide-related grief.

Conclusion

This conceptual paper articulates three main points: (1) homicide and the grief that follows is disproportionately pervasive among Black communities worldwide; (2) historical and contemporary structural violence, rooted in anti-Black racism, underlies the pandemic-level prevalence of homicide grief among Black populations; and (3) adopting a public health framework provides pathways to prevention, where such changes in action permeate community social norms and influence behavior at the structural level, thereby reducing homicide and the grief that follows. This framework has the potential to affect homicide intervention, policy, and research. For service providers (e.g., social workers, public health practitioners, etc.), understanding the factors that contribute to the prevalence and spread of homicide grief within Black communities can help inform culturally responsive and equitable interventions. For policymakers, this framework may provide evidence for developing victim service policies that address the unique needs and challenges in reducing homicide and managing the grief that follows for Black communities.

Addressing the pandemic of homicide grief for Black communities requires urgent, decisive action. The painful realities of COVID-19 have taught us that to understand the susceptible spread of disease and its deadly consequences, we need look no further than the historical and contemporary structural violence driven by anti-Black racism. Adopting a public health framework designed to tackle the systemic factors perpetuating homicide is essential not only for preventing homicide but also for addressing the immediate consequences of traumatic injury, that chronic exposure to homicide leaves in its wake.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iDs

Tanya L. Sharpe

Annette Bailey

Monte-Angel Richardson

Author Biographies

Dr. Tanya L. Sharpe is a community-based researcher who is passionately committed to the development of innovative approaches and sustainable opportunities allowing Black communities to thrive in the face of homicide violence. Her research examines sociocultural factors that influence the coping strategies of Black family members and friends of homicide victims. She has developed culturally appropriate interventions and best practices designed to assist African-American survivors of homicide victims in the management of their grief and bereavement. Her comprehensive Model of Coping for African-American Survivors of Homicide Victims (MCAASHV) (Sharpe, 2015) has informed the development of a psychosocial educational intervention (Sharpe, Iwamoto, Massey & Michalopoulos, 2018), and a tool of measurement designed to assess the needs and coping strategies of African-American survivors of homicide victims. Tanya L. Sharpe joined the Factor-Inwentash Faculty in July 2018 after serving as an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Social Work for 11 years. Dr. Sharpe is the founder and director of the Centre for Research and Innovation for Black Survivors of Homicide Victims (The CRIB). The CRIB is an interdisciplinary community-based social work research centre dedicated to reducing service inequities for communities of Black survivors of homicide victims by advancing collaborative culturally responsive research, restorative policy, and evidence-based practice.

Dr. Annette Bailey has worked in both acute and community health nursing settings. Much of her work in community health nursing has focused on interagency collaboration to address key determinants of health for diverse populations in Toronto. Bailey completed her PhD in Public Health Science with a specialization in Health Promotion and Education. Her research examines traumatic stress and resilience among survivors of community and interpersonal violence. Her research interests span violence prevention, violence and trauma, trauma and resilience, homicide loss, resilience and grief. Her most recent research activity focused on traumatic stress and resilience among Black Women who have lost a child to gun violence in Toronto.

Monte-Angel Richardson’s research interests are violence prevention within communities, immigrants and refugees, trauma informed practice, and transformative justice models. Combining social work and public health at local, state, national, and international levels, Monte-Angel focuses on the prevention gun violence and interruption of the processes that permeate trauma within marginalized populations and communities. Monte-Angel’s research in the U.S., Canada, and Japan is diverse methodologically, spanning from participatory action research to surveys with complex sampling design, from building machine learning models to intervention research, including the use of machine learning to analyze trends in gun violence, a study of survivors of a mass shooting in California, and multi method qualitative studies of residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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From Susceptibility to Immunity: The Pandemic of Homicide Grief

Abstract

Keywords

The Pandemic of Homicide Grief

Prevalence: Black Communities Impacted by Homicide

Vulnerability: The Racial and Structural Inequities of Homicide Grief

Anti-Black Racism

Policing/Law Enforcement

Susceptibility to Homicide Grief for Black Communities

Racial Trauma as Susceptibility to Homicide Grief

Cumulative and Frequent Witnessing of Black Death

Lack of Access to Social Services and Grief Supports

Spread: Pandemic on a Pandemic

Prevention and Protection: Creating a Pathway to Immunity

Conclusion

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Funding

ORCID iDs

Author Biographies

References