Finger on the Trigger: Police Violence and Trigger Warnings

• In Event: Roundtable: Critical Teaching: Teaching Critically About Race and Policing

Abstract

“Trigger warnings,” are a politically divisive and highly contested topic. Debates centered around them often reference “coddling,” overly sensitive millennials, academic freedom, mental health crises in higher education, neoliberal education policies, and capitalism in crisis but rarely address students in a way that is reflective of their needs. Academics have become caught in tautological arguments about the use of trigger warnings, while paying little, if any, attention to the possibility of harm. I consider the ironic possibility of well-intentioned trigger warnings serving as a source of re-victimization. As criminologists, sensitive topics make up the bulk of our curriculum. When discussing issues such as police violence and race it is often easy to rely on social media posts, such as video of Eric Garner’s death, the shooting of Tamir Rice, and the body of Michael Brown to show students the reality of a grave social ill. Many instructors choose to provide trigger warnings when showing these types of clips. The purpose of my work is to begin thinking about better ways to employ trigger warnings that supports environments which are conducive to learning, respecting of persons, easy to implement, and allow us to view collectively tragedies that criminal justice produces.

Author

• Bethany Callan Nelson, University of Tennessee