Saturday, September 6, 2014
Week #3 (9/10): News Article Blog - Mary
"How psychology can help Ferguson heal" by Nadine J. Kaslow and Norman B. Anderson
St. Louis Post Dispatch, September 5, 2014
http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/how-psychology-can-help-ferguson-heal/article_f6d6e76e-92c7-59a8-b7da-6321c3be882f.html
There are a few significant developments this week in the Michael Brown case which are interesting but also well covered and I found this article while I was reviewing those. This article is different in that it is a commentary rather than “what’s the latest?”
I like this article because it furthers the question of “What now?” rather than reviewing what happened in depth while still summarizing the facts and the issues realistically. The authors call us (well, really, I think they are speaking to other psychologists) to action. The specifics listed in the article bring to mind some of our assignments for this class that Holly went over with us Wednesday. For example, the authors say: “Fund evidence-based interventions to prevent violence, treat trauma and help individuals cope with violent environments.” What about using this idea for one of the interventions to research for the Community Study Paper and the Intervention Proposal paper?
So maybe there’s something here we can build on from the article or maybe the article just confirms how “spot on” and topical her assignments are for us.
I almost changed the last couple of sentences because I don’t want to make light of the issues or offend anyone. This quote from my daughter in a facebook post regarding St. Louis after the shooting of Michael Brown sums up my feelings as well, “I love this city and it hurts me to see this happening here, but not as much as it hurts me that I am not entirely surprised that it could.” While it hurts to talk about all of this, I don’t see that as a reason to stop talking or stop joking around about how our professor is picking out the best assignments for us.
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Thank you Mary for finding this article. Finally, an article about what to do next instead of focusing solely on this specific incident ('m not saying the incident was insignificant just that I believe we need to take this conversation further). I know we have talked about this in class, but I think the key element I'm taking from this article is the encouragement of people to openly talk about race. People are so afraid to discuss how they feel and offer solutions to the problem. Some people believe racism is still an issue because we keep talking about it-I believe it is still an issue because we don't talk enough about the solution. I also like how the author has more or less said what needs to be done is research, data collection, and using this to find appropriate interventions and programs to rectify the situation.
ReplyDeleteThis was great article. This article was refreshing to hear more of the, “what now" perspective. I agree that we need to be open and honest about race relations to learn and grow. I really found the aspect in the article of more thorough training for officers to understand their bias and stereo-types very interesting. I'm curious within law enforcement training how much of this is done and is it done on and ongoing basis. I do agree with the article stating that increased community presence on creating policies could greatly benefit the communities. This could increase a sense of community involvement as well as increase possible intervention programs for the community and understand exactly what the communities needs are at the time. While this has been a difficult time, I sincerely hope that continued focus will remain on what changes can be made for the future.
ReplyDeleteAwesome read Mary! I found this article to be informational as well as relative to our class and discussions. I agree with Kylee as far as individuals in the community being more involved which will help tremendously. As far as community presence with creating policies this is a huge issue because majority of individuals focus on the presidential election instead of the smaller state elections. President Obama is in office and is having a difficult time because he does not have individuals in office that are working with him, rather being a stronghold against him.
ReplyDeleteRacism is a hard topic to talk about because no one wants offend the next person. It is a very "ouch" topic that needs to change.
As Jennifer Eberhardt said I agree with stereotypes as I have been guilty of this. When I see a homeless person or someone asking for money I automatically assume that they want money for drugs or have been on drugs. This is a stereotype that I have to work on within myself.