This commentary argues that crises facing the U.S. public-health workforce — marked by mass attrition particularly among Black women, increasing incidence of disease and illness, loss of critical social safety nets, mediated surveillance, and eroding public trust — represent a manifestation of state-sanctioned violence through decades of systemic divestment. The authors propose a critical matriarchal framework for reimagining public-health communication leadership that centers Black women's expertise and lived experience.