Theory of social disruption and the silent silver serpents

There is a continuous level of background social disruption within disparately impacted communities, where inequities abound. It is very easy to point out factors which gain immediate media attention due to their precipitous and "explosive" appearance within communities of color. However, the real threats are often ignored and even trivialized due to the fact that they are accepted as what is "customary and usual." These are what I call the "silent silver serpents." This term relates to a serpent (a harmful agent or condition) that becomes silver (with the passage of a requisite amount of time)and does so in a silent (unnoticed and unheaded) fashion. Once the serpent gains strenght and becomes manifest, however, it strikes and results in pain, suffering and, all too often, a premature death. In order to explain this theory, I list and use several examples of disease states (e.g., diabetes, hypertension) and social conditions (e.g., mis-education,food deserts) to demonstrate the overall design of this conceptual framework. I then go on to clearly and succinctly define the components of the model and discuss its use as a framework for the evaluation and analysis of community-based settings and efforts to address inequities and disparities. This social disruption model addresses the root causes and factors which initiate and perpetuate the emergence of social injustice, disparities and inequities. Further, it offers perspectives on the formulation and design of future community-based intervention models that are culturally and linguistically appropriate.