News of Erica Garner’s heart attack and coma hit activist communities and beyond really hard the holiday week of 2017. Having observed how gracefully and eloquently Garner, 27, took up Black Lives Matter cause after her father’s chokehold death in 2014 , I couldn’t help but wonder whether there was a direct correlation to her condition and the psychological and physical impact of racism. One night, I just decided to take a peek at the research and fell down a proverbial rabbit hole of research on racism’s affect on individuals, especially black women. So I set out to talk to the experts — researchers and physicians — to better understand. VICE ran the piece Jan. 2, just as the nation headed back to work, and as many of those who had followed Garner’s trajectory in the movement wanted answers.
