[Perspectives] In search of rest—Kerry James Marshall: The Histories

00:00 - 23 Dec 2025

Like many academics, I once wrote a paper I never submitted. It seemed beyond the acceptability of every mainstream academic health journal I have encountered. The title was “They shoot Black intellectuals, don't they”. In it, I reflected on what it meant to be a Black scholar, working in the wake of many who spoke on the interconnectedness of Black life, health, and the wider political order—and who eventually found themselves on the receiving end of the murderous gaze of violence and erasure.