Between Bridges: Black male genius and educational imagination in the shadow of incarceration

• In Event: Unforgetting Deficit Depictions: Disrupting Education Systems of Injustice to Unlock the Hidden Geniuses

Abstract

Robert “Yummy” Sandifer’s short life reveals how the criminalization of Black boyhood obscures the realities and potential of Black males. In 1994, this 11-year-old Chicago youth became known as the “embodiment of the mythical super-predator,” (Taylor, 2019, para. 19) instead of being known as a child “who loved cookies” (Taylor, 2019, para. 5) and became the actualization of a host of systemic failures. This framing reflects a persistent American narrative that positions criminality as intrinsic to Blackness that continues to shape education for Black boys today. The session seeks to move research and scholarship in a matter that unforgets pathological depiction of Black males in schools and society.

Authors

• Jennifer M. Wilmot, University of Kansas

• Subini Ancy Annamma, Stanford University