Although it has recently entered into the public square with negative political views, these (and other) social, public health, medical and economic contexts in the Black community call for the deployment of the structural intersectionality lens. While health disparities literature have acknowledged that the current disparate outcomes are due to biological, genetic, social, behavioral influences, there exist few opportunities in medical legal partnerships to explore the ways in which the intersection of multiple forms of structural violence follow Black patients and their informal caregivers throughout the cancer continuum, and that lives in the bodies and cells of Black families for generations.
It is in this spirit, that Cancer Legal Care-along with LaShaune P. Johnson, PhD (a three time cancer survivor, and member of the Board), are embarking the start of a new journey. In our ongoing efforts to support more inclusive practices in our work, we are starting a series of exploratory conversations about the relationship that medical legal partnerships such as CLC have in the lived experiences of Black families and communities. Starting in October, Dr. Johnson will be speaking with a small group of Black healthcare professionals, Black cancer co-vivors/support persons, and Black people on the cancer care continuum about the role that the living histories of the Black communities play in Black people’s decisions around cancer support services. Using the knowledge gained during these conversations, in addition to the conversations had at the open and participatory data analysis events (ie, “Data Cookouts”), and guided by Givens’ Radical Empathy framework and the structural competency framework, the Cancer Legal Care board, staff and partners will work to integrate the knowledge gained from these conversations to support the revision of existing educational and outreach materials, the co-creation (with Black community members) of revised/additional onboarding materials for Cancer Legal Care staff and board members, the possible enhancement/expansion of formal and informal partnerships, and the development of an educational program to community-level liaisons/volunteers to support more culturally-responsive care for the Black community and to promote more equitable living conditions for families on the cancer care continuum.
