No Time to Breathe: Black College Students' Experiences of Racial Battle Fatigue from Highly Publicized Anti-Black Violence

Background and Purpose

Anti-Black violence in the United States is not a new problem, but rather a long-standing phenomenon that Black people historically and routinely experience. The year of 2020, however, was a stinging reminder of what it means to be Black in America—with the onslaught of viral videos showing unarmed Black people being brutally killed by the police (e.g., George Floyd, Breonna Taylor) and racist, white vigilantes (e.g., Ahmaud Arbery). These events became national stories that sparked public outrage and widespread discussion around anti-Blackness and state-sanctioned violence.

There is a growing body of research that examines how exposure to highly publicized anti-Black violence (i.e., police killings, white racial terrorism) contributes to trauma and adverse mental health outcomes particularly for other Black people and communities. There is a paucity of research, however, that explores how these racially charged events contribute to cumulative stress and weathering, or racial battle fatigue. To help address this gap, the current study explored Black college students’ experiences of racial battle fatigue from exposure to highly publicized acts of anti-Black violence.

Methods

The first author conducted semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 15 self-identified Black male and 15 self-identified Black female undergraduate students from four historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in South Carolina during the Spring and Summer of 2020. The average participant was 21 years old with ages ranging from 18-28. Student were from various academic disciplines, and classification ranged from freshman to senior (47% seniors, 23% juniors, 20% sophomores, 10% freshmen). Due to the global outbreak of COVID-19, participants were recruited primarily through virtual communications including digital flyers and email correspondence with student organizations. Additionally, the study used thematic analysis to understand participants’ experiences of exposure to anti-Black violence. Interviews and focus groups were transcribed and coded thematically using NVivo qualitative software.

Results

The study uncovered several themes that provide critical insight into students’ experiences of racial battle fatigue. Students reported conflating acts of white racial terrorism with police killings based on their historical awareness of social control and unchecked violence inflicted on Black people at the hands of the white people, including police officers. Students also described racially identifying with deceased victims of police violence and white racial terrorism which exacerbated their experiences of racial stress and grief. Furthermore, students reported experiencing the tension between resilience and burnout because of repeated police acts of anti-Black violence, constantly engaging in activism efforts, and witnessing the lack of judicial punishment for perpetrators of violence.

Conclusion and Implications

Findings from this study not only underscore the need for culturally-relevant interventions to support resilience among Black people in the aftermath of anti-Black violence, but also highlight the urgency for systemic police reform. By increasing public awareness of anti-Black violence and its effects, social workers can promote social change using evidence-based practices and community interventions that eradicate police violence and structures of anti-Blackness.