Perspective: African American Public Health Student Traumatized In Training Program

By Anonymous

"I am completing my graduate studies at a top research US university while trying to heal from racial trauma and other forms of psychological injury that I have experienced while training - senior faculty speaking to me of "lazy Black people," being separated by race for class activities, instructor disdain for critical race theory and other critical theories, assigned readings on Blacks and criminality, and denial that any racism exists at all in the learning environment. As a form of historical re-traumatization due to being a descendant of enslaved African Americans, I was not able to negotiate the value of my labor when a faculty member exploited other students' and my labor by using course assignments to fulfill activities that a federal grant specifically funded. We had not consented to use our labor in this way and had no insight into the unethical and illegal practice until the end of the semester when it was too late.

This is only a glimpse into my lived experiences as a racial minority at a public university. Rampant racism, apathy, and lack of accountability are commonplace - no less at a public university. I recoil to think that all levels of students are being incubated as future public health scholars and leadership in this environment. The outdated curriculum is another issue - lack of critical perspectives and theories, an assumption of non-existent researcher bias in research development and methods, hegemonic views on race and racism, absent community perspectives and contemporary local challenges with health inequity, and lack of attention to sociocultural attitudes and practices for research development. The siloing within and across departments and schools is a major barrier to realizing health equity. I only recently learned that there was a plan about eight years ago intended to address these very issues in institutional culture that has still yet to be implemented. Like many institutions that swiftly developed statements on Black Lives Matter, its 2021 slate of new programming appears to have been a disingenuous public relations campaign. A major shift is needed in public health training to center around the needs of diverse student populations and the general public and to modernize its curriculum, institutional culture, and faculty training to prepare a competent public health workforce to close gaps in the public health economy. In fact, academic determinants of health help explain the persistent vast health inequity. If my experience is any reflection of the state of training, public health programs require immediate accreditation and institutional intervention and a radical transformation toward accelerating health equity."