"We Are Not Saved": The Devaluing of Black Male Bodies in an Urban High School

• In Event: Blackness as an Act of Social Justice

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to share the voices of African American male students in a Midwestern urban high school as they struggled with school policies and discipline issues that were aligned with historical and cultural patterns where both care and justice are often viewed as separate spheres. These young men spoke of punitive measures and unfair practices that permeated the culture of the school and often presented barriers for learning. As one young man stated, “you cannot grow with the barriers.”

Author

• Loyce E. Caruthers, The University of Missouri-Kansas City