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Recent research has shown that during early adolescence, Black youth can identify and articulate connections between systemic issues and inequities in their schooling experiences. Critical Consciousness theory suggests that without an awareness of oppression, marginalized groups cannot work to disrupt oppressive norms and societal inequities. To date, there has not been a psychometric tool that captures the multidimensionality of Black youth's cognitive understanding of racism, a specific form of oppression. Understanding Black youth's cognitions around racism has the potential to enhance clinical approaches to addressing racial stress and trauma, provide empirical support for untested theoretical assumptions, and strengthen research approaches to examining the influence of racism in the lives of Black youth and their families. Finally, this work has the potential to provide empirical support for intervention programs aimed at combating racism by developing a psychometric tool that will be used to evaluate resilient pathways for racially marginalized youth.

Natasha C. Johnson, Ph.D., M.S.W., is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Spelman College. In 2016, she came to the University of Michigan and obtained her master’s degree in psychology as well as her Ph.D. and M.S.W. degrees through the Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Psychology. Her research looks at how systemic and interpersonal racism, within educational contexts, influences and is influenced by cultural assets, such as racial identity and racial socialization. In her dissertation, You Must Work Twice as Hard for Half as Much: Racial Socialization, Racial Identity, and Racism Awareness in Adolescence, she examines how racial context (i.e., racial socialization, racial identity, racial discrimination) shapes Black adolescents’ perceptions of discrimination and awareness of systemic racism — conceptualized as youth's awareness of the structural factors that contributes to the Black-White opportunity gap (formerly known as the achievement gap).

In response to recent tragic events involving systemic racism and violence against Black Americans, the Depression Center created a new and targeted funding opportunity for researchers exploring issues of racism and its effects on mental health. To that end, monies from the Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg Collaborative Innovations Research Fund were directed to fund this Racial Injustice Award.