And Then the Wall Rose: Counternarrative of Black Males in an Urban Public Elementary School in Georgia

• In Event: Pushing Methodological Boundaries and Performing Dissertation Writing

Abstract

Katrana Seay explores her experience of working with Black males in a public elementary school in urban Georgia. Theoretically drawing on the works of critical race theory (Bell 1980, 1992; Delgado, 1995; Dixson, & Rousseau, 2006; Ladson-Billings, 2003, 2009; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 2006; Solόrzano & Yosso 2001, 2009; Yosso, 2006), culturally relevant pedagogy (Gay, 2000; Irvine & Armento, 2001; Ladson-Billings, 1995), critical pedagogy (Friere, 2000; Kincheloe, 2008; McLaren, 1998; Wink, 2005), education of Blacks in the South (Anderson, 1988; Dubois, 1901, 1903, 2007; Fairclough, 2000; Franklin & Moss, 2004; Spivey, 1978; Watkins, 2001; ), race, class, tracking, and social justice (Oakes, 1985; Oakes & Wells, 1998), education of Black males ( hooks, 2004; Ladson-Billings, 2011; Noguera, 2008), and critical literacy (Finn, 1999; Tatum, 1999, 2009), Katrana Seay explores institutional racism and obstacles that hinder Black males’ academic achievement and push them further to the margins. She challenges deficit discourse (Fordham & Ogbu, 1986; Mcwhorter, 2001; Ogbu, 1990, Ogbu & Simons, 1998) to illustrate how public schools and policies perpetuate the underachievement of Black males by denying their access to critical literacy and equitable opportunities.

Methodologically drawing on the works of counter-storytelling (Bell, 1990; Delgado, 1995; Solorzano & Yosso, 2009; Ladson-Billings, 2009) and fiction (Avi, 2010; Doll, 2000; Ellison, 1995; He, 2003; Wright, 2009), Katrana Seay creates five composite characters, Darius, David, Deonte, Jared, and Michael and fictionalizes settings, events, time, and places based on my lived experiences with Black males at home, communities, neighborhoods, and schools.

Katrana Seay illuminates that public schools are racialized spaces that reproduce power structures and perpetuate inequalities that negatively affect Black males’ academic achievement. Stereotypes, prejudice, meritocracy, racism, white privilege, testing, tracking, deficit theories, and discipline policies imprison Black males’ minds and bodies and sabotage hopes and dreams for their success in learning and life. Historically Black males have been denied access to literacy and equitable opportunities and burdened by hardships, disadvantages, and vulnerabilities. Counter-storytelling empowers Black males and other disenfranchised individuals and groups to challenge majoritarian stories and to understand the sources of inequality, inequity, and injustice within racialized, commodified, and politicalized schools and societies. There is an urgent demand to develop critical pedagogy that helps raise critical race consciousness within Black males and empowers them to understand their locations in schools and societies and to develop strategies to fight against injustices. It is of paramount importance to develop a culturally relevant pedagogy of caring and justice where educators cultivate critical race consciousness within themselves and others; where educators strategically and creatively educate policy makers and work with students, parents, and other members of school communities to fight against all forms of oppression, suppression, and repression and to create hopes, dreams, and equal opportunities for all to reach their highest human potential. Instead of disciplining their bodies and imprisoning their minds, educators need to create an environment where Black males and many others are motivated, organized, and liberated to cultivate invigorating and equitable human conditions in an unjust world.

Author

• Katrana Seay, Georgia Southern University