1-166 - Parenting and Growing on High Alert: Consequences of Political and Community Volatility on the Development of US Black Children

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Integrative Statement

The History of the SRCD Black Caucus was published in 2006, and in its pages lies the critical intersection between national and local community experience, research, and policy. Among the many contexts of these research transactions of Black Caucus members and others is a remembrance of the work conducted around the Atlanta child murders. From these researches and Spencer’s work (1986) in particular, we know that there are associated costs of living on high alert for families and children especially Black families, but also for the researcher’s conducting the work.

Recent national and global events have highlighted once again the threat of violence to all of us as global citizens, but especially to Black and Brown youth and their families as some of the most vulnerable members of our society. As such the need for rational research and policy responses, not for civility but for the future of Black children, has emerged as urgent. Attempts to underscore these vulnerabilities and experiences have been met with mixed, and sometimes negative, national response. For instance, the political climate and battle for the presidency has often used the Black Lives Matter movement as a springboard for a range of policy stances.

Moreover, we have often emphasized the impact on boys. However, girls and, immigrant and refugee Black youth and their parents are struggling with identity, the dangers of misidentification and meaning during these times as well. We ask: What of the impact on Black families and youth and the researchers who conduct the work?

Sub Unit

• Diversity, Equity & Social Justice

Moderator

• Deborah J. Johnson, Michigan State University

Panelists

• Margaret Beale Spencer, University of Chicago

• Barbara Thelamour, The College of Wooster, USA

• Michael Cunningham, Tulane University

• Vivian L. Gadsden, University of Pennsylvania