Structural racism could be a factor in mass shootings according to a recent study released in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Surgery Wednesday.
Researchers at Tulane University analyzed data of nearly 900 mass shooting events (MSEs) over 52 metropolitan areas from 2015 to 2019 compiled by the Gun Violence Archive. MSEs were defined as four or more people injured or killed, not including the shooter.
"This study found that major US cities with higher populations of Black individuals are more likely to be affected by MSEs, suggesting that structural racism may have a role in their incidence. Public health initiatives aiming to prevent MSEs should target factors associated with structural racism to address gun violence," the article, titled "Association Between Markers of Structural Racism and Mass Shooting Events in Major US Cities," read.
The study described structural racism as "the normalized and legitimized range of policies, practices, and attitudes that routinely produce cumulative and chronic adverse outcomes for people of color." It used measurements such as a Black-White segregation index, the Black percentage of a population and crime rates.
Though the study concluded that mass shootings "disproportionately affect Black individuals in major US metropolitan areas," and "Structural racism appears to be associated with MSE incidence," it avoided analyzing perpetrators beyond an aside about mass public shooters in a paragraph discussing gun laws.
"In a study by Jewett et al, the authors analyzed 104 mass public shootings, which they defined as those with at least 4 fatalities. These authors found that 49% were committed by White perpetrators compared with 19% by Black perpetrators," the study noted. "These data, while important, are difficult to interpret completely because not all cases are resolved with perpetrators identified."
In an editorial comment on the paper, Dr. Kimberly B. Golish and Dr. Leah C. Tatebe with the Department of Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine suggested that these findings could be used to help surgeons over the "influence" of racism in treating gun violence.
"Solidifying how surgeons can combat the influence of structural racism on gun violence on a grander scale is critical to combat these prevalent and deadly disparities," they wrote. "We need to call on strengths from our interdisciplinary teams and ability to provide resources and support to those who have suffered from gun violence."
FBI statistics from 2019 found that the majority of homicides with Black victims were committed by Black perpetrators.
The AMA has come under fire in recent years for appearing to promote a more political agenda. In 2021, the AMA released a "Advancing Health Equity" guide that included a section on "Counter-Narrating the Attacks on Critical Race Theory."
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By 2023, the AMA was further attacked by critics after it claimed the body mass index scale (BMI) is "imperfect," "problematic" and has been used for "racist exclusion."
