A 16-Year-Old Black Boy’s Reading of The Trouble With Black Boys With an Abolitionist, Afro-Pessimist, and Black Feminist Lens

• In Event: From K-12 to Postsecondary: Repositioning Black Masculinities, Identities, and Vulnerabilities

Abstract

This paper rereads, reimagines, and repositions Pedro A. Noguera's classic 2008, The Trouble with Black Boys: ...And Other Reflections on Race, Equity, and the Future of Public Education with an abolitionist, Afro-pessimist, and Black feminist perspective. The author personifies the text as it celebrates its 16th anniversary as if it were a sixteen-year-old Black boy in 2024. The paper argues that abolition, Afro-pessimism, and black feminism are essential frameworks for discussing, thinking, and researching Black boys. 

Author

• Andre S. Anderson-Thompson, University of California - Davis