George Floyd's Autopsy and the Structural Gaslighting of America
The weaponization of medical language emboldened white supremacy with the authority of the white coat. How will we stop it from happening again?
By Ann Crawford-Roberts, Sonya Shadravan, Jennifer Tsai, Nicolás E. Barceló, Allie Gips, Michael Mensah, Nichole Roxas, Alina Kung, Anna Darby, Naya Misa, Isabella Morton, Alice Shen on June 6, 2020
The world was gaslit by misreporting about George Floyds initial autopsy report. As concerned physicians, we write to deconstruct the misinformation and condemn the ways this weaponization of medical language reinforced white supremacy at the torment of Black Americans.
Gaslighting is a method of psychological manipulation employed to make a victim question their own sanity, particularly in scenarios where they are mistreated. The term comes from a 1938 play and, later, a popular film, wherein a predatory husband abuses his wife in a plot to have her committed to a mental institution. He dims the gas lights in their home; then, when she comments on the darkness, knowingly rejects her observation and uses it as evidence that shes gone insane. Its a torturous tactic employed to destroy a persons trust in their own perception of reality. Its a devastating distraction from oppression. Its insidious. And it happened recently when millions of people who had seen nine agonizing minutes of murder were told by an autopsy report that they hadnt.
In America, widespread anti-Black violence is often paired with structural gaslighting. Racism, after all, thrives when blame for its outcomes are misattributed. When Black families are refused loans in criminally discriminatory housing schemes, their credit is blamed. When youth of color are disproportionately stopped and frisked, they are told the process is random, and for their safety.
And when Black people are killed by police, their character and even their anatomy is turned into justification for their killers exoneration. Its a well-honed tactic. One analysis of the national database of state-level death certificate data found that fewer than half of law enforcementrelated deaths were reported. In addition to this undercounting, police actions were further minimized by the use of diagnostic codes that incorrectly labeled the cause of death as accidental or undetermined rather than police-related. For centuries, our systems have relied on this psychological torturea host of mental gymnasticsto deny the truth of what Black people have always known. The cause of death is racism.
More:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/george-floyds-autopsy-and-the-structural-gaslighting-of-america/
kas125
(2,472 posts)I swear, between here and facebook, the stuff you find is what's keeping me halfway sane these days. Thanks for that.
Judi Lynn
(160,545 posts)Pretty sure so many would have gone around the bend without DU during these strange times!
Have a great week.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Plus they steal and sell your most intimate personal information. Be very careful there.
Hav
(5,969 posts)So it wasn't the local medical examiner but the prosecution (how wrong is that?) at the time that was setting this up to let Chauvin walk. I'm surely glad that this isn't a local matter anymore.
Arkansas Granny
(31,519 posts)Scruffy1
(3,256 posts)The ME's report from George Floyd was a classic example. The same ME waved by a gangland killing in north Minneapolis a couple of years ago. Further investigation finally figured out the identity of the victim. he didn't need to bring up chronic cardio and the possibility of drugs. Hell, nearly every one has some chronic conditions. My ribs have been broken so many times that the last time I broke one all the x-ray guy could tell was many chronic. A lot of them by cops in Mississippi and some by bovines and motorcycles.
Nitram
(22,822 posts)I think if you want to persuade Trump supporters, you need to simplify the vocabulary and shorten the explanation. The rest of us already got it.