New Books In Psychoanalysis

This episode of “A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Racism in America” takes a deep dive into the disturbing legal outcomes of state-sanctioned violence. The host and co-host, Dr. Karyne Messina and Dr. Felecia Powell-Williams, analyze the Department of Justice's sentencing recommendation for Brett Hankison, one of the officers involved in the raid that led to Breonna Taylor's death. The episode uses this case as a springboard to explore the central question: what unconscious processes are at work when the state acknowledges harm but refuses to assign it meaningful consequence? And how does this shape the racial psyche of a nation already strained by the traumatic repetition of Black death without accountability? The episode begins by examining the DOJ’s sentencing memo for Brett Hankison, who was convicted of federal civil rights violations for blindly firing his weapon. Drs. Messina and Powell-Williams note that while Hankison was not found directly responsible for Taylor's death, his actions contributed to a