Activism

U.C. Berkeley Professor Sheds Light on Gun Violence as a Public Health Issue

“Regardless of where you stand on guns, there is no doubt that gun violence is a key contributor to disability, injury and of death for Americans,” said Jason Corburn, a professor at UC Berkeley School of Public Health,. “Gun violence is both a source of trauma and stress and a response to unaddressed traumas. Urban gun violence is a community health equity issue, since Black and Brown youth, men under 35 years old, and hyper-segregated neighborhoods are most likely to experience firearm violence.

Published

1 year ago

August 17, 2024

Oakland Post

iStock image by Aquaturkus.

By Elinor Simek | UC Berkeley News

Last month, after years of debate, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared gun violence an urgent public health crisis and released an extraordinary report outlining its devastating consequences.

Murthy’s 32-page advisory is the first federal government report to fully acknowledge the health impacts of gun violence on Americans, whether they are direct victims, families, and friends of victims, or live in communities that face ongoing street violence or have experienced a mass shooting.

To Jason Corburn, a professor at UC Berkeley School of Public Health, gun violence has always been a public health issue, and he has just finished teaching students at Berkeley School of Public Health how to address it as one.

The class, “Urban Gun Violence Prevention: A Public Health Perspective,” was Berkeley Public Health’s first course dedicated to addressing urban gun violence.

“Regardless of where you stand on guns, there is no doubt that gun violence is a key contributor to disability, injury and of death for Americans,” said Corburn. “Gun violence is both a source of trauma and stress and a response to unaddressed traumas. Urban gun violence is a community health equity issue, since Black and Brown youth, men under 35 years old, and hyper-segregated neighborhoods are most likely to experience firearm violence.

“Yet, this is also a population and place issue, because the impacts of firearm violence can also affect others in the community, regardless of direct or witnessed experience,” Corburn said.

Firearm-related injuries, such as suicides and homicides, are the No. 1 cause of death for children and adolescents (ages 1 to 19) in the U.S., with the heaviest burden disproportionately falling on the Black community. Homicide is the No. 1 cause of death for Black men under 44 years-old in the U.S.

Urban gun violence is sometimes called “street violence” or “community gun violence,” and is defined as violence in public spaces between individuals who do not know each other intimately. It’s distinct from domestic violence, mass shootings, or suicide.

“By offering this course, I wanted to bring attention to today’s urban gun violence epidemic,” Corburn said. “While this type of violence is often overlooked compared to the bigger headlines of mass shootings, urban gun violence is ongoing, harming the same communities over and over again.”

Corburn, a joint professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning, taught the class with Joe Griffin and DeVone Boggan. Griffin, who received his MPH and DrPH from Berkeley Public Health, is executive director of Youth ALIVE!, an Oakland-based nonprofit organization that works to reduce violence.

Boggan, also a UC Berkeley grad, is chief executive of Advance Peace and former director of Richmond’s Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS). Corburn has worked in partnership with Richmond’s ONS and Advance Peace since 2007.

The class was structured as a seminar which combined readings, videos, and discussions with researchers and practitioners. Anchoring the course was a review of structural racism in America and how specific policies, such as redlining, dehumanizing policing, and environmental injustices, create the social, spatial and institutional conditions for gun violence.

Ten students from Berkeley Public Health and City and Regional Planning participated. The instructors co-facilitated class each week, along with students who gave presentations.

Each class also hosted a guest speaker from leading research and governmental organizations around the country. The guests, many of whom had firsthand experiences with gun violence, led students in discussions of street outreach, participant engagement, hospital-based interventions, the role of media and other potential solutions to urban gun violence.

Among the speakers was Greg Jackson, deputy director of the first White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, created in 2023. Other guests included Abené Clayton, a journalist who is part of The Guardian’s Guns and Lies in America project; David Muhammad, executive director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, Dr. Shani Buggs and Dr. Kravitz-Wirtz from UC Davis’s Violence Prevention Research Program; and Sam Vaughn, director of Richmond’s Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS); among others.

Inspiring students

“The class was an amazing opportunity to learn of the cutting edge research within the gun violence prevention field,” said Ricardo Sarmiento, who graduated from UC Berkeley in May with an MPH in Health Policy & Management. “The guests that were invited had their finger on the pulse of the community.

“The class used the lenses of public health, city planning, policy advocacy, and community organizing,” Sarmiento said. “The presenters all provided different approaches to reduce gun violence.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Dominique Dawes: The Golden Journey of a Gymnastics Pioneer

Don't Miss

Julie Wenah Appointed to Federal Communications Commission

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

As California Hits Aging Milestone, State Releases Its Fifth Master Plan for Aging

“California’s Master Plan for Aging started a powerful movement that is shaping the future of aging in our state for generations to come,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement, calling the initiative a “future-forward” model delivering real results for older adults, people with disabilities, and their families.

Published

15 hours ago

February 9, 2026

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

On Jan. 27, California released its Fifth Master Plan for Aging Annual Report,titled “Focusing on What Matters Most,” outlining the state’s progress and priorities as its population rapidly grows older.

The report, issued by the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS), provides updates on the Master Plan for Aging’s “Five Bold Goals”: housing, health, inclusion and equity, caregiving, and affordability.

The report comes as Californians aged 60 and older now outnumber those under 18 for the first time, a demographic shift expected to accelerate over the next decade.

Launched in 2021, the Master Plan for Aging takes a “whole-of- government” and “whole-of-society” approach, coordinating state agencies, local governments, community organizations, and private partners. The annual report highlights significant milestones, including more than 100 California communities joining AARP’s Age-Friendly Network and $4 million in state funding awarded to local organizations to develop aging and disability action plans in 30 communities statewide.

The report also underscores California’s leadership at the national level, noting that dozens of states have followed its example and that federal legislation inspired by the plan was reintroduced in the U.S. Senate in December 2025.

CalHHS Secretary Kim Johnson emphasized the plan’s focus on equity and resilience amid ongoing challenges.

“The Master Plan for Aging continues to provide a vision, a focus, and a platform for collaboration,” Johnson said. “Equity is at the center of all that we do.”

Looking ahead, the report notes that by 2030, one in four Californians will be age 60 or older, positioning the Master Plan for Aging as a central framework for meeting the state’s long-term social, economic, and health needs.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

After Don Lemon’s Arrest, Black Officials Raise Concerns About Independent Black Media

Elected leaders joining the call included U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37), Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell (2nd District), Assemblymembers Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood), Mike Gipson (D-Carson), and Sade Elhawary (D-Los Angeles), and State Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles). While the meeting was prompted by Lemon’s arrest, the discussion quickly moved beyond him, turning to growing concerns about the vulnerability of Black journalists covering protests and dissent.

Published

15 hours ago

February 9, 2026

Oakland Post

Don Lemon. Shutterstock.

By Joe W. Bowers Jr., California Black Media

On Jan. 30, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass attended independent journalist Don Lemon’s federal court appearance at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Courthouse following his arrest in Los Angeles by federal authorities for conduct tied to his reporting on a protest nearly 2,000 miles away in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Shortly afterward, Bass convened a Zoom roundtable of Black elected leaders, city officials, and journalists to discuss what the case signaled — not just for Lemon, but for journalism more broadly.

While Lemon was being arrested, Georgia Fort, an award-winning Minneapolis journalist, was also arrested and charged in connection with her coverage of the protest inside the Cities Church in St. Paul reportedly targeted because a pastor worked as field director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Both Fort and Lemon have said they were reporting.

However, prosecutors allege conspiracy and violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act — a federal law that prohibits force, threats, or obstruction at reproductive health facilities and places of worship.

In a public statement issued after the arrest, Bass said the case “is about the First Amendment and the right of journalists to do their jobs without fear of intimidation or retaliation,” adding that journalists “must be able to cover events of public concern without being treated as criminals.”

That framing set the tone for the Zoom discussion. Participants raised concerns that Lemon’s speech and presence were being used to transform journalistic activity into evidence of criminal intent. Several warned that such an approach places journalists working outside major institutions at heightened risk.

Kamlager-Dove said the arrests cut to the heart of democratic accountability.

“Journalists must be able to report on protests, government actions, and civil rights issues without fear of arrest or retaliation,” she said. “When reporters are targeted for doing their jobs, it threatens the public’s right to know and undermines our democracy.”

As the discussion continued, the roundtable’s participants also made clear why Fort’s arrest mattered. Unlike Lemon, she is not a national television figure, a distinction participants said shows how independent journalists without major institutional backing are often the most vulnerable.

McKinnor said that reality cannot be ignored. “Black journalists have long played a critical role in documenting what others overlook or avoid,” she said. “When reporters are arrested for covering protests, it sends a message that truth-telling itself is being criminalized.”

Participants noted that the Minnesota protest space was multiracial, yet Black journalists were among those arrested — a pattern several described as familiar when Black reporters cover protests, immigration enforcement, policing, or civil rights issues.

Smallwood-Cuevas called the arrests “deeply troubling” and warned that “when journalists are arrested for documenting protests, it sends a chilling message not just to the press, but to the public.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

“Victory” for Voting Rights: Weber and Bonta Hail Judge’s Decision on Huntington Beach I.D. Law

“Today’s victory makes one thing crystal clear: No city in our state, charter and non-charter alike, is above the law,” Bonta said. “All along, Secretary of State Weber and I have maintained that Huntington Beach’s voter ID policy is illegal, and now, the state’s highest court has weighed in and agreed with us. Measure A won’t be taking effect — ever.”

Published

15 hours ago

February 9, 2026

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber hailed a major legal victory for voting rights after the California Supreme Court declined to review a challenge brought by the City of Huntington Beach against the state, effectively ending the city’s attempt to impose voter identification requirements in municipal elections.

The high court’s action leaves intact a Fourth District Court of Appeal ruling that struck down Huntington Beach’s voter ID law, known as Measure A, finding it unlawful and preempted by state law. By rejecting the city’s petition for review, the Supreme Court has fully resolved the case in favor of the state, concluding litigation initiated by Bonta and Weber on April 15, 2024.

Measure A amended the Huntington Beach city charter to purportedly authorize voter identification requirements at polling places for municipal elections beginning in 2026. State officials argued the measure conflicted with California election law and was adopted without evidence of voter fraud in the city. Courts at every level agreed, rejecting the city’s claims that such requirements were necessary to protect election integrity.

Bonta also criticized city leaders for promoting unfounded concerns about election security. “Huntington Beach’s leaders have been parroting the Trump Administration’s talking points by questioning the integrity of our elections,” he said. “In court, the City’s allegations were resoundingly rejected. I remain fully committed to protecting the right to vote from baseless attacks.”

Weber emphasized the broader implications of the ruling for voters statewide.

“Today the California Supreme Court declined to review the Fourth District Court of Appeal’s decision prohibiting the City of Huntington Beach from implementing illegal voter identification requirements,”

Weber said. “As California Secretary of State, I have a responsibility to ensure that every eligible Californian can exercise their constitutional right to vote, and I take that duty seriously.”

Weber added that state law clearly supersedes local efforts to impose additional voting barriers.

“Attorney General Bonta and I have held steadfast that state law preempts the City’s attempts to impose illegal voting requirements on eligible voters and that Huntington Beach’s Measure A is unlawful,” she said. “This is another victory for California, for voters, and for democracy.”