Dismantling the White Supremacist Patriarchy Working Against Black Boys and Men, One Teacher at a Time

• In Event: Honoring Black Boys and Men in the Age of #BlackLivesMatter: Critically Conscious Reflections From Women Teachers, Teacher Educators, and School-Community Activists

Abstract

As some of the state sanctioned violence and murders of Black and Brown people are currently being storied for the public, many people are asking what they can do to actively stop racial and gender injustice. We all have to find our own path and attend to it seriously. There are several ways to affect activist level change. One can participate in marches to voice rage and call out social inequities. One could lobby for revisions in legislation and public policies to shift culture. Or, one might speak out and write against media depictions to expose, and work to eliminate, racial and gender biases. Direct instruction is another way to do activism. It is one I pursue vigorously, and specifically, through an undergraduate course I designed and implement at Penn State. In this paper, I explore how I build my course to address directly, and dismantle, the ways my mainly white undergraduate students are taught to imagine Black boys and men in schools and society.

Author

• Jeanine M. Staples, The Pennsylvania State University