Youth of Color Social Movements: Interrogating Overpolicing of Their Schools and Communities

• In Event: The Politics of Student Voice: How Students Interrogate Policy Discourses, Processes, and Practices

Abstract

Purpose
For this paper we examine how youth of color activists are challenging the school-prison nexus (Turner et al., 2021) a policy issue that is now a larger youth social movement and policy focus at the state and federal levels. The school-prison nexus represents policies and practices that link K-12 schools and incarceration. Research on the school-prison nexus primarily considers how school administrators and teachers explore policy alternatives that are more humanizing and restorative to students of color (Author et al., 2021). Yet, research considering how students are leading change in this policy arena is limited. However, for this paper we examine one political aspect of the school-prison nexus, youth of color social movement and activism against excessive policing in their schools and communities. To do so, we highlight youth of color social movement work on this policy issue in two specific contexts: Wake County, North Carolina and Chicago, Illinois.

Theory, Methods, and Data Sources
We draw upon research on activism and social movements and theoretical ideas from Black Radicalism as an epistemology to inform our analysis for each case. Youth employ an array of activism methods like protests demonstrations, contacting legislators (Pender et al., 2019); youth participatory research, and social media to educate the public about and build collective power for their policy issue (Jocson & Carpenter, 2019). Whereas, we use Black Radicalism to examine how youth activism exposes the extent to which over-policing commodifies racially minoritized youth for social, economic, and political gain (Andrews; 2014; Leong, 2013)

Since online media is the primary source for which youth social movements are communicated, we use these data sources and other documents to examine student activism across both cases. We chose to comparatively study Wake County, NC and Chicago, IL because the local youth social movement against over-policing in schools is well documented in both cases through online media sources, a testament to the youth’s influence on the school-prison nexus policy discourse. We also analyzed federal, state, and/or local government and school district documents.

Findings
In Wake County, NC two Black students co-founded a coalition that challenged the local district’s expansion of school resource officers, and in Chicago, IL an extensive cross-racial youth social movement mobilized against excessing use of police in their schools and neighborhoods. Across both cases we found that context matters to social movement building, youth activists were strategic in how they used activism to influence certain aspects of the policy making process; and finally adults, whether political allies or opponents, still had power over youth to either derail youth’s political efforts or champion youth’s vision for policy change.

Scholarly Significance and Connections to AERA Conference Theme
We must acknowledge the identity politics that youth of color confront when taking these risks given the intersectional aspects of oppression they face when engaging in any policy work. However, students are in a unique position to take risks when leading racial justice policy work as they can navigate outside institutional bureaucracies in ways that adults may be unable or unwilling to (Mitra, 2005).

Authors

• Anjalé D. Welton, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Tiffany Harris, College of Charleston
  Presenting Author