Witnessing racism against racial minority individuals online and loneliness among White emerging adults: Anti-racism advocacy as a moderator

Extant literature suggests that racism is associated with difficult emotional reactions and feelings of social disconnect among White individuals. These feelings of social disconnect may be particularly salient in today's digital era in which racism against racial minority individuals is conveniently and frequently witnessed via online platforms. Thus, we examined whether witnessing racism online may be associated with feelings of loneliness among White emerging adults. We also tested whether anti-racism advocacy buffered loneliness given its potential for relationship building and community organizing to promote racial justice and equity. Using data from 227 White emerging adults (M_age  = 20.86, SD = 4.82), we conducted a latent moderated structural equation modeling to test individual and institutional anti-racism advocacy as moderators in the link between witnessing racism online (racial victimization of racial minority individuals in online interactions and online content on cultural devaluation/systemic racism against racial minority individuals) and loneliness. Greater exposure to online content on systemic racism and cultural devaluation of racial minority groups significantly predicted greater loneliness. Engagement in individual anti-racism advocacy (mean to high levels) buffered this link. White allies must engage in anti-racism practice to address racism in our society, and our findings advance our understanding of the associated psychosocial costs. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Tackling racism as a "wicked" public health problem: Enabling allies in anti-racism praxis

Racism is a "wicked" public health problem that fuels systemic health inequities between population groups in New Zealand, the United States and elsewhere. While literature has examined racism and its effects on health, the work describing how to intervene to address racism in public health is less developed. While the notion of raising awareness of racism through socio-political education is not new, given the way racism has morphed into new narratives in health institutional settings, it has become critical to support allies to make informing efforts to address racism as a fundamental cause of health inequities. In this paper, we make the case for anti-racism praxis as a tool to address inequities in public health, and focus on describing an anti-racism praxis framework to inform the training and support of allies. The limited work on anti-racism rarely articulates the unique challenges or needs of allies or targets of racism, but we seek to help fill that gap. Our anti-racism praxis for allies includes five core elements: reflexive relational praxis, structural power analysis, socio-political education, monitoring and evaluation and systems change approaches. We recognize that racism is a modifiable determinant of health and racial inequities can be eliminated with the necessary political will and a planned system change approach. Anti-racism praxis provides the tools to examine the interconnection and interdependence of cultural and institutional factors as a foundation for examining where and how to intervene to address racism.