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Objective: Driven by intersectionality, a central tenet of Critical Race Theory, this study examines the combined associations of racial and gender discrimination, which are interlocking, macro-level social forces, and teen dating violence (TDV).Design: Self-report surveys were admin­istered via Audio Computer Assisted Self Interview (ACASI) equipment. Logistic regression models were used to estimate associations between racial and gender discrimination and TDV.Setting: Study participants were recruited during August 2003 to June 2004 from high school health classes and an after-school program located in South Bronx neighbor­hoods of New York City.Participants: Non-probability sample of 142 Black and Latino teens aged 13-19 years who reported experiences dating someone of a different sex.Main Measures: Experienced discrimina­tion based on race and gender adapted from the Experiences of Discrimination (EOD) instrument, dating violence items from the Youth Dating Violence Survey.Results: Of the participants, 40.1% re­ported experiencing both racial and gender discrimination, and nearly all (93%) experi­enced dating violence. Participants reporting both racial and gender discrimination were 2.5 times more likely to report experiencing the highest frequency of dating violence, adjusted for age and sex (95% CI: 1.0- 6.7). A dose-response of EOD observed in unadjusted models (P for trend =.024) was no longer statistically significant after adjust­ment for age and sex (P for trend =.073).Conclusions: Strategies to prevent TDV in this population should not ignore the com­pounding negative effects of racial and gen­der discrimination.Ethn Dis. 2018;28(Suppl 1):253-260; doi:10.18865/ed.28.S1.253.

Background: In April 2014, the emergency manager of Flint, Michigan switched the city’s water supplier from Detroit’s water department to the Flint River. The change in water source resulted in the Flint Water Cri­sis (FWC) in which lead (Pb) from the city’s network of old pipes leached into residents’ tap water. Residents of Flint reported con­cerns about the water to officials; however, the concerns were ignored for more than a year.Objective: This study sought to understand how Black youth in Flint conceptualize, in­terpret, and respond to racism they perceive as part of the normal bureaucracy contribut­ing to the FWC.Methods: In 2016, we conducted four community forums with Flint youth aged 13 to 17 years. Sixty-eight youth partici­pated with 93% self-identifying as Black. Participants completed a brief survey. We audio-recorded the forums and transcribed them verbatim. Critical Race Theory (CRT) guided the development of the interview protocol and Public Health Critical Race Praxis (PHCRP) served as an interpretive framework during qualitative data analysis. Content analyses were completed using software.Results: Many youth viewed the FWC through a racially conscious frame. They described Flint as a Black city where historical and contemporary forms of racial stratification persist. Some described the contamination of the city’s water as a form of genocide targeting Blacks.Conclusions: The findings from this ex­ploratory study suggest some Black youth in Flint have difficulty coping with the FWC. Those who perceive it through a racial frame attribute the crisis to racism. They feel distressed about this and other traumas (eg, failure to address high rates of crime) they perceived as racism-related. Future research should examine the implications for specific mental health outcomes among youth. Ethn Dis. 2018;28(Suppl 1): 241-246; doi:10.18865/ed.28.S1.241.

Objective: Race consciousness serves as the foundation for Critical Race Theory (CRT) methodology. Colorblindness minimizes racism as a determinant of outcomes. To achieve the emancipatory intent of CRT and to reduce health care disparities, we must understand: 1) how colorblindness “shows up” when health care professionals aim to promote equity; 2) how their colorblindness informs (and is informed by) clinical prac­tice; and 3) ways to overcome colorblind­ness through strategies grounded in CRT.Design/Setting/Participants: We conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with key informants and seven focus groups with personnel employed by a large Minnesota health care system. We coded transcripts in­ductively and deductively for themes using the constant comparative method. We used a race-conscious approach to examine how respondents’ accounts align or diverge from colorblindness.Results: Evading race, respondents consid­ered socioeconomic status, cultural differ­ences, and patients’ choices to be the main contributors to health disparities. Few criti­cized the behavior of coworkers or that of the organization or acknowledged structural racism. Respondents strongly believed that all patients were treated equally by provid­ers and staff, in part due to race-neutral care processes and guidelines. Respondents also used several semantic moves common to colorblindness to refute suggestions of racial inequality.Conclusions: Colorblindness upholds the racial status quo and inhibits efforts to promote health equity. Drawing on CRT to guide them, health care leaders will need to develop strategies to counter personnel’s tendency to focus on axes of inequality other than race, to decontextualize patients’ health behaviors and choices, and to depend heav­ily on race-neutral care processes to produce equitable outcomes.Ethn Dis. 2018;28(Sup­pl 1):235-240; doi:10.18865/ed.28.S1.235

Public Health Critical Race Praxis (PHCRP) contributes three functional elements to health equity studies: a race conscious orientation; an antiracism lexicon based on Critical Race Theory (CRT); and an integrat­ed, reflexive approach. Few big data studies employ all three functional elements. There­fore, this article describes the application of PHCRP to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Testing, Linkage and Retention in care (HIV TLR) study (N=3,476,741), which con­nects multiple large datasets to electronic medical records to examine contextual de­terminants of racial/ethnic disparities in HIV care continuum outcomes in southern Cali­fornia. As HIV TLR demonstrates, PHCRP’s innovative tools and strategies help big data research maintain fidelity to CRT. Ethn Dis. 2018; 28 (Suppl 1):261-266; doi:10.18865/ed.28.S1.261