The 2024 SSSP Presidential Address “Every Damn Day in America”: Racism and the Politics of Gun Violence
Abstract
Abstract This presidential address disrupts common misperceptions about what gun violence in the United States looks like, who is most affected, and how we should think about reducing the scourge of gun violence. I draw on seven years of ethnographic and interview-based research on gun violence prevention activism in Connecticut and nationally. Focusing on community gun violence and mass shootings, I demonstrate that structural racism and racist discourse distort what we know about gun violence, the experience of gun violence, and how we respond to and organize to reduce gun violence. Theoretically, I take a multi-institutional politics approach to understanding gun violence, examining how racist meaning systems as well as structural and institutional power shape discussions of gun violence. I conclude with a call for policy approaches that support intervention and prevention organizations, while simultaneously addressing the underlying causes of community gun violence that stem from the legacy of systemic racism: disenfranchisement, segregation, crumbling infrastructure, despair, warrior policing, lack of well-paying jobs and affordable housing, and lack of activities for youth.
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Record history
| When | Event | Field | Old | New |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-18 19:37:53.011249+00:00 | identifier_assigned | DSEID | DSEID-000-2201944 |