Officer Wilson’s racialization of Mike Brown: a discourse of race, gender, and mental health

ABSTRACT

Mike Brown an 18-year-old, unarmed African American male, was stopped, while on foot, by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer named Darren Wilson, on August 9^th, 2014. The encounter ended with Officer Wilson firing several shots, striking and killing Mike Brown Jr. Wilson’s testimony, specifically his description of Mike Brown, is critical in better understanding the perception of Black bodies, particularly Black young men such as Brown in society. Wilson constructs a testimony highlighting the functionality and significance of race and gender. Wilson’s testimony contains language which further racializes Black men as a threat in society and is important in exploring the implications racialized narratives created for Black males and their mental health.

KEYWORDS:

• Mike Brown
• blackmaleness
• mental health
• critical race theory CRT

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. According to hooks 2004, Milton 2012 and Staples 1982, the Jim Crow and Reconstruction eras (1867-1877) is distinguished as a time period where a series of constitutional amendment were extended to the rights, protections and citizenships of emancipated slaves. However, after the Reconstruction era, Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation and racism often used by law enforcement and white supremacist organizations to dehumanize and impose violence upon Black bodies.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Erica Campbell

Erica Campbell received her PhD from the University of Missouri, where she also received her Masters in Social Work and Bachelors of Arts in Psychology. She currently serves as the BSW Programme Director and Assistant Professor of Social Work at Fayetteville State University teaching courses such as Statistics, Research Methods and Generalist Practice. Dr. Campbell’s current agenda involves focusing on the development and enhancement of interventions, research and practice which emphasizes the importance of including a racialized lens to better serve minority women of colour. The interdisciplinarity of her research interests is reflected in the range of journals in which her work has been published: these include Journal of Social Work and Human Rights, Sociology and Social Work, and International Journal for Innovation Education and Research.