Conversations Are Required: Coping Methods of Black College Students at a PWI in the South after Encountering Police Violence

Background. Conversation is said to rule the nation, meaning there is power and importance in dialogue. Black college students have expressed the desire for dialogue following both direct and indirect encounters with police violence. Experiencing, witnessing, or hearing reports of police violence against Black individuals can evoke emotions such as anger, grief, stress, and hopelessness (Alang et al., 2017). Questions remain about the coping mechanisms Black college students use following exposure to police violence. This study addressed the question: How do Black students at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) in the U.S. South cope with repeated exposure to police violence?

Methods. The study employed a phenomenological qualitative approach. Participants were recruited through flyers containing a QR code, which were disseminated across the campus of a PWI in the Southern U.S. Eligible participants included Black undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in on-campus courses. A total of fifteen students, aged 19 to 27, participated in the study. The interviews were conducted either in person or via Zoom, with each session lasting between 25 and 50 minutes. An open-ended interview guide was used to explore how participants became aware of violent police encounters involving Black individuals, the impact of these incidents on them, and their coping mechanisms in response to repeated exposure to police violence. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. The transcriptions were analyzed using thematic analysis as outlined by (Braun & Clarke,2006). The data were systematically coded and categorized to identify emergent themes.

Results. Participants articulated various coping mechanisms in response to police violence, including listening to music, engaging in conversations with friends, and disengaging from social media platforms. Despite these strategies, some participants expressed uncertainty regarding effective coping methods, particularly given the recurrent nature of police violence against Black individuals. As college students, they conveyed a desire for their university to establish safe spaces for students to convene, engage in dialogue, and hold discussion forums following high-profile incidents of police violence. The participants noted that the issue of police violence targeting Black individuals was not openly addressed within classroom settings, a fact they lamented. They emphasized that having a designated space to discuss these matters freely would significantly aid in coping. During one interview, a participant highlighted the potential benefits of having a university-provided space to discuss, process, and strategize responses to encounters with police violence.

Conclusion. Black college students at this Predominantly White Institution (PWI) emphasized the necessity of having designated spaces to process and cope with encounters of police violence. The inability to reflect on and digest such information in real-time fostered feelings of hopelessness and a sense that the impact of these events on their lives was inconsequential. Despite their fatigue with the persistent nature of police violence and the expectation of its recurrence, most participants expressed a desire to maintain hope in the system. They posited that creating safe spaces for all students, not exclusively Black students, could facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of their experiences and contribute to a broader worldview.