By Valerie Batts, Ph.D., Executive Director

The current national debate on safety and guns is providing a much-needed opportunity for a "Vigorous Intervention" in our societal awareness. David Brooks, the conservative commentator, wrote in a recent op-ed piece,

"Sometimes the behavioral research leads us to completely change how we think about an issue. For example, many of our anti-discrimination policies focus on finding the bad apples who are explicitly prejudiced. In fact, the serious discrimination is implicit, subtle and nearly universal. Both blacks and whites subtly try to get a white partner when asked to team up to do an intellectually difficult task. In computer shooting simulations, both black and white participants were more likely to think black figures were armed. In emergency rooms, whites are pervasively given stronger painkillers than blacks or Hispanics. Clearly, we should spend more effort rigging situations to reduce universal, unconscious racism."

Brooks' acknowledgement of the complex way modern racism plays out in several disciplines is worthy of serious consideration. In each example, the historic reality of racial inequities plays out at the personal, interpersonal, institutional and cultural levels. The Center for Disease Control is also now defining alternatives to violence at four levels: individual, relationship, community and societal. Changing these disparities will take awareness and intervention at each level.

VISIONS work is about doing just that, and it is hard! Cultural level change is hampered by the lack of awareness among many US citizens that modern racism even exists. The current attention on how to best address gun violence, however, gives us the opportunity to take off the veil and see how this unfinished legacy plays out with respect to this issue.

We've linked three articles in our "Check These Out" section that address gun policy and racism. One speaks to the Second Amendment being historically used in the service of slavery. The other articles detail how the assault weapons ban became important to many whites when the Black Panthers used the Second Amendment to justify their position on guns in the 1960s.  

We need to wrestle with these cultural level contradictions as part of creating a policy moving forward. I invite each of you to try on seeing modern racism as we consider the recent shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. Read on...