Mattering During the "Dual Pandemics": Black Boys' Perceived Educational (Un)Importance Throughout Health and Racial Crises

• In Event: Critical Consciousness Perspectives on Race and Racism

Abstract

Over two years, the “dual pandemics” – COVID-19 and anti-Black extrajudicial police violence – wrought peril on the Black community. These pandemics and the accompanying Black Lives Matter movements also awakened Black youth to systemic challenges they navigate in society and school and mechanisms that prove their (in)significance, (un)importance, or (non)-mattering. We use data from four focus group interviews captured over two school years with a group of Black boys at one high school (N=5) to explore how they made meaning of the dual pandemics. Our inquiry, grounded in critical consciousness, and racialized formulations of mattering (e.g., inferred importance and significance) reveals the interplay between their school’s response to the dual pandemics, the boys perceived school mattering, and their visions for change.

Authors

• Roderick L. Carey, University of Delaware

• Camila Polanco, University of Delaware

• Horatio Blackman, National Urban League

• Holly Abrams, University of Delaware