Examining Black Male Identity Through a Prismed Lens: Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and the Complexities of Black Males' Experiences

• In Event: Critical Race Theory Perspectives in Teacher Education and Praxis

Abstract

Across the world, people are organized, protesting the state-sanctioned murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Arbery Ahmaud who were killed during an international health pandemic. COVID-19 has not slowed the deadly effects of racism Black US citizens are susceptible to every day. In fact, the virus has disproportionately affected Black communities (Pareek, Bangash, Pareek, Pan, Sze, Minhas, & Khunti, 2020; Yancy, 2020) and schools (Dooley, Bandealy, & Tschudy, 2020; Doyle, 2020), and an uptick in police violence has continued and increased attention given to Black males (Brunson, 2007; Carbado, 2017; Desmond, Papachristos, & Kirk, 2016). Their life outcomes warrant attention. This presentation illuminates Black males’ nuanced experiences in and out of US schools. An analysis of literature through a critical race theory lens allows for a robust discussion of race and racism, gender and sexism, and intersectionality (Davis, 2008) as they relate to Black males’ identities. A review of the literature also allows for a deconstruction of hyper-masculinity (Johnson, 2008), anglonormativity, and heteropatriarchy as they interact and prescribe archetypes Black males are compelled to consider, respond to, accept, or reject as they navigate diverse contexts; especially schools.

Black males’ educational outcomes necessitate investigation into these interlocking identities, as they continue to be overrepresented in special education, underrepresented in Gifted and Talented programs (Grantham, 2004), under-enrolled in Advanced, Honors, and college prep coursework (Howard, 2008), overpoliced by school personnel, disproportionately suspended and expelled (Farmer, 2010; Morris, 2016; Agyepong, 2018), and lagging behind their peers on standardized tests. We take up Love’s (2019) notion of the education survival complex and reframe Black male’s behavior with Milner’s (2018) assertion of “disobedience” as means to resist oppressive, dehumanizing conditions Black boys are often subjected to in schools.

Finally, we offer implications and recommendations for educational research, policy, and practice around Black males’ experiences and life outcomes. Hopefully, this presentation facilitates a clarion call to continue rethinking the manner in which we study Black males. Abundantly clear from the literature is how our epistemologies, theories, practice, policy and methods are ever-evolving and informing educators about how to best identify and address the needs of Black males. We still have more work to do. It is not our intent to claim that an intersectionality framework on its own will redress years of oppression, exclusion, and emasculation, even mutilation and murder countless numbers of Black males have experienced and continue to experience in US schools and society. We simply want to urge more probing, more encompassing, deeper levels of analysis which would center Black males and have them define, describe, and analyze their realities on their own terms, without being placed in restrictive categories informed by narrow constructions of race, class, and gender. For example, more studies that delve into and help identify resiliencies, struggles, and joy Black males possess (Coates, 2008) are necessary. Most importantly, it is vital for educational researchers and practitioners to allow for multiple manifestations and iterations of those experiences and identities to be integral to our discourses around Black males.

Authors

• Rema Reynolds, Eastern Michigan University

• Tyrone C. Howard, University of California - Los Angeles