"We Came Together as One": Building Community Among Black Parent Activists in an Urban District

• In Event: Participatory Action Research: Transformative Learning Through Community Engagement and Agency

Abstract

This paper reports on a community-based participatory action research study of a race- and power-conscious parent engagement program in the upstate New York school district of “Rivertown.” We use critical race counter-storytelling to highlight the resistance strategies parents of color use to address disciplinary practices that target youth of color. Drawing on interviews with 16 parent participants, we argue that participants’ roles have expanded to include multiple modes of activism and advocacy beyond their work in the classroom, and these multiple roles are supported by a family-like community that provides strength and resilience in the face of institutional opposition. We conclude with implications in the current context of both a global pandemic and Black Lives Matter uprisings.

Authors

• Marguerite A. Wilson, Binghamton University - SUNY

• Denise G. Yull, Binghamton University - SUNY

• Ada Robinson-Perez, Binghamton University - SUNY

• Dominic Davy, Binghamton University - SUNY