The Roar of a Caged Bird: Utilizing Youth Participatory Action Research to Find Voice With Formerly Incarcerated Youth

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: Disrupting Systems and Structures: Youth and Community Action for Liberation, Resistance, and Transformation

Abstract

Objectives
Student activism was at the forefront with the #NeverAgain movement created by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students, whose tragic experiences brought attention to gun violence and gun control reform. While these students should be applauded for their activism, it is important to note that youth of color have been passionately advocating for gun control for years, only to be “demonized, obfuscated and overlooked” (Blades, 2018). Likewise, minortized LOUD (Leaders Organizing 2 Unite and Decriminalized) youth members, have also faced similar push back while engaging in juvenile justice system (JJS) reform. While these obstacles could have deterred LOUD youth, it has only strengthened their resolve to use their voices to bring about change. Thus, we ask: How does counterstorytelling empower marginalized youth to use their voice to advocate for juvenile justice reform?
Framework
Critical race theory (CRT) is a multidisciplinary framework that challenges dominant ideologies by emphasizing experiential knowledge of communities of color by privileging their lived realities, helps to analyze and reveal the ways in which race, class, gender and other forms of oppression intersect, and ultimately aims for emancipation and empowerment (Yosso, Smith, Ceja, & Solórzano, 2009). A key element of CRT is counterstorytelling (Delgado, 1990; Solórzano, 1997), which privileges marginalized voices. Martinez (2014) states, “Through the formation of counterstories or those stories that document the persistence of racism and other forms of subordination, voices from the margins become the voices of authority in the researching and relating of our own experiences.”
Methodology
Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is defined by social action, challenges traditional research paradigms, valorizes local knowledge, and empowers marginalized youth to generate research findings to enact social change (Mirra, Filipiak, & Garcia, 2015). LOUD youth contributed to all aspects of the research project.
Methods
For three years, the first author co-facilitated LOUD meetings once a week with 10 youth (Latino/as, Black, and Native American) with Jasmine, a community organizer and a graduate student. Each meeting was audio recorded, transcribed and coded. Data included ethnographic fieldnotes and three semi-structured interviews. Inductive analysis and constant comparison were utilized to systematically code data, develop categories, and address issues of connectedness (Huberman & Miles, 1998).
Findings
Through counterstorytelling, LOUD members were able to challenge dominant narratives concerning incarcerated youth and affected JJS reform. Layla (Latina) stated, “I think one thing that we did was present youth voice...It’s like proof to the system of this is why you should listen to youth” (FN 1.27.18). Here she discussed how LOUD youth voice contributed to helping key decision-makers at the county and state level to question harmful policies.
Significance
Zelda (Latina) summarizes the importance of marginalized youth being empowered via counterstorytelling, when she discussed how LOUD provided youth with the opportunity to advocate for JJS policy reform by speaking directly with legislators. She said, “I was glad that I got to be that voice because even though some didn’t listen, some did. And they fought on our side when others [were] fighting against us” (FN 9.10.17).

Authors

• Shiv Raj Desai, University of New Mexico

• Dre Abeita, University of New Mexico