Stakes Is High

Derrick R. Brooms

Description

Drawing on interviews that span over seven years, Derrick R. Brooms provides detailed accounts of a select group of Black young men's pathways from secondary school through college. As opposed to the same old stories about young Black men, Brooms offers new narratives that speak to Black boys' and young men's agency, aspirations, hopes, and possibilities. Even as they feel contested and constrained because they are Black and male, these young men anchor their educational desires within their families and communities. Critical to their journeys are the many challenges they face in public discourse and societal projections, in their home neighborhoods and schooling community, in educational environments, and in their health and well-being. In charting these challenges and the high stakes of the trials, lessons, and triumphs they experience, Brooms shows that we cannot understand the educational journeys of Black boys and young men without accounting for the full sociocultural contexts of their lives and how they make sense of those contexts.
Acknowledgments
Preface
an invocation . . . for Black young men

Introduction

1. "They don't give us a chance to be us": Black Boys' Sense Making and Theorizing about Their Lives

Part I: Secondary School Experiences

2. "I needed to get out": Educational Desires and the Urban Neighborhood

3. "I always knew that I was smart": Personal Perspectives and Educational Pursuits

4. "Getting the preparation and knowledge about college": Schooling and College-Going Support

Part II: Collegiate Experiences

5. "I knew I was gon' struggle": Stories and Expectations of College Struggles

6."I never wanted to give up, but . . .": Navigating and Coping with Challenging Experiences

7. "I didn't have no Plan B": Staying Focused on Collegiate Goals

8. "I'm creating my own story": Young Black Men Enacting and Embodying Agency

Part III: Lessons

9. "Sometimes the odds are just stacked against you": Reassessing the Challenges That Make Education High-Stakes

10. Looking Forward: Addressing the Stakes for Black Boys and Young Men

Appendix
Notes
References
Index

Sujets

• Gender studies
• Tertiary education
• Ethnic studies
• Student life

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438486550
• Langue: English

Extrait

STAKES IS HIGH
SUNY series, Critical Race Studies in Education

Derrick R. Brooms, editor
STAKES IS HIGH
Trials, Lessons, and Triumphs in Young Black Men’s Educational Journeys
DERRICK R. BROOMS
Cover image: © Nathan Brown. Used with permission.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2021 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Name: Brooms, Derrick R., author.
Title: Stakes is high : trials, lessons, and triumphs in young Black men’s educational journeys / Derrick R. Brooms.
Description: Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, [2021] | Series: SUNY series, critical race studies in education | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021011015 | ISBN 9781438486536 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438486550 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: African American men—Education, Higher. | African American men—Social conditions. | African American college students—Biography. | Education, Higher—Social aspects—United States.
Classification: LCC LC2781 .B759 2021 | DDC 378.1/982996073—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021011015
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This work is dedicated to our young people— may you continue to become and pursue all your possibilities.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
an invocation … for Black young men
Introduction
Chapter 1 “They don’t give us a chance to be us”: Black Boys’ Sense Making and Theorizing about Their Lives
Part I: Secondary School Experiences
Chapter 2 “I needed to get out”: Educational Desires and the Urban Neighborhood
Chapter 3 “I always knew that I was smart”: Personal Perspectives and Educational Pursuits
Chapter 4 “Getting the preparation and knowledge about college”: Schooling and College-Going Support
Part II: Collegiate Experiences
Chapter 5 “I knew I was gon’ struggle”: Stories and Expectations of College Struggles
Chapter 6 “I never wanted to give up, but …”: Navigating and Coping with Challenging Experiences
Chapter 7 “I didn’t have no Plan B”: Staying Focused on Collegiate Goals
Chapter 8 “I’m creating my own story”: Young Black Men Enacting and Embodying Agency
Part III: Lessons
Chapter 9 “Sometimes the odds are just stacked against you”: Reassessing the Challenges That Make Education High-Stakes
Chapter 10 Looking Forward: Addressing the Stakes for Black Boys and Young Men
Appendix
Notes
References
Index
Acknowledgments
First, to the men whose lives are the focus of this project, thank you for trusting me with your experiences, narratives, sense making, ideas, thoughts, and perspectives. I appreciate you sincerely. I look forward to continue bearing witness to your genius, intellect, resourcefulness, resilience, and beauty. You are royalty.
Love, blessings, and thanks go to Joseph McCoy. Thank you for believing in me, supporting and mentoring, pushing and calling me higher, and sharpening my iron. I am grateful every day. Thank you, Darryl Brice: your constant encouragement is a gift that I cherish deeply. To Arthur Davis and Reggie McClain, know that I continue to walk in gratitude. Special thanks go to Bianca Baldridge; I truly appreciate you and your friendship as well as all the ways you keep me accountable and how you both encourage and continuously inspire me. Thank you for our talking sessions, your feedback, and your critical insights, which helped me further develop this project and pushed my writing and analysis in so many ways. Collectively, you all keep me on my path, strengthen my resolve, and keep me grounded.
A sincere thanks goes to my scholarly community. Through individual relationships and connections as well as the collective, I remain energized and uplifted by every opportunity to be in community. Thank you James Moore III for your example and encouragement, for your graciousness, and for your ongoing support. I am grateful for your support of this project from its early beginnings; thank you for your invaluable feedback and the ways you pushed me to better appreciate what this project could entail. Thank you, Jelisa Clark; it continues to be both an honor and a privilege to work with you, to collaborate, to coconspire, and to bring work to life. Your brilliance is energizing. Sincere gratitude goes to Bros. Matt Smith and William Franklin; working with you all continually inspires me in so many ways, and I remain humbled by and excited about our collective efforts.
Thank you Courtney Bell for your friendship and for helping me bring Kwa Jamii into being; I look forward to our future work together. Special thanks go to Adrienne Paul; your friendship and support are blessings. You are truly appreciated.
As Audre Lorde attested, without community there is no liberation. I give thanks for my many communities—from students and coworkers to colleagues and coconspirators to family and the larger collective. Sincere thanks go to a collective of people who offer critical support in a number of ways. For believing in me, pouring into me, and supporting me through a number of professional endeavors, I wish to thank Yoshiko Harden, Bob Green, Earl Wright, Tanya Robinson, Gwendolyn Purifoye, Linn Posey-Maddox, Sandra Barnes, Marvin Lynn, Darrell Hucks, Joe Goodman, Lateefah Id-Dean, Deadric Williams, Reuben Miller, Chris Jett, Marcelle Medford, Jerlando Jackson, Jamie Patton, and Eligio Martinez.
A very special thanks to Regina Dixon-Reeves for your early guidance and support in helping prepare me for the profession and in welcoming me to ABS. Those early sessions, both formal and informal, helped me better envision and define my path. It is indeed an honor to be your colleague and collaborate on joint and collective efforts. A special thanks goes to Armon Perry for your collegiality, your commitment, and your friendship. Thank you for teaching me, being an example, and providing me with opportunities. I will continue to pay it forward. To Theresa Rajack-Talley, thank you for your leadership and your ongoing support and encouragement. I appreciate our connection, and I’ve truly enjoyed and learned a great deal from our collaborations. To Kenneth Hutchinson, know that I miss you and our bond every day; thank you for shining your light on me. Please know that your legacy lives in me—and in us.
To Ayana Karanja, thank you for master teaching and mentoring, for your guidance and wise counsel, and your ongoing support. To Andre Phillips, thank you for your support and always making space for me; your office was my refuge and sacred space. To Maxine Proctor, thank you for advising and guiding me on my path; and a special thanks goes to Neal Bailey El for believing in me, giving me a chance, and encouraging and supporting me to strive for excellence. Thanks go to several teachers and staff who contributed to my development: (at Hirsch) Ms. Adams, Ms. Lee, Ms. Walker, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Smith, Mr. Bush, Mr. Watson, Coach Thomas, Mr. Beverly; (at Horace Mann) Ms. Williams-Bey, Ms. Williams, Ms. Jones, Mr. Green, and Mr. Whitfield; (at Kenwood) Mr. Stevenson and Mr. Fraser.
To Mary Pattillo, Alford Young Jr., Reuben May, Ray Reagans, and Mignon Moore, thank you for your examples.
I am grateful to be connected and in community with the following colleagues and friends, all of whom I wish to thank: Daphne Watkins, BarBara Scott, Elighie Wilson, Lionel Howard, Jarrod Druery, Ruby Mendenhall, Frank Tuitt, Milagros Castillo-Montoya, Ted Thornhill, Dwayne Compton, Ernesto Mejia, Samantha Ellert, Roderick Carey, Daphne Chamberlain, T. Elon Dancy, Veronica Newton, Cam Williams, Felix Kumah-Abiwu, Brian McGowan, Paul Harris, L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy, Rabia Khan Harvey, Emily Ignacio, Sam Adams, Greg Thompson, Dion Steele, Richard Glass, Terrell Strayhorn, Ebonie Cunningham-Stringer, Thomas Calhoun, Zandria Robinson, Onnie Rogers, John Eason, James Jones, Mauriell Amechi, Stevie Johnson, Lisa Covington, Ahmad Washington, Torie Weiston-Serdan, Brian Burt, George Wimberly, Odis Johnson, Bianca Williams, Adrian Huerta, Derrek Griffith, Tim Eatman, LaVar Charleston, Danny Malone, Siobhan Smith, Courtney Luedke, Chance Lewis, Antoinette Hudson, Erik Hines, Elsa Camargo, and Antar Tichavakunda.
I give thanks to several people in my community of scholars who have taught me a great deal by their example, leadership, and commitment as I read and engaged with their work; attended conferences and heard their words, perspectives, and analyses; and engaged in conversations and in bearing witness: Walter Allen, Phillip Bowman, James Earl Davis, Leslie McLemore, Charles Payne, Janice Johnson Dias, Ivory Toldson, Lori Patton Davis, Cheryl Matias, Wizdom Powell, Jamal Eric Watson, Tobin Miller Shearer, J. Luke Wood, Sean Joe, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Sydney Freeman, Whitney Pirtle, D-L Stewart, Eboni Zamani-Gallaher, Michael Cuyjet, David Pate, and Shawn Anthony Robinson.
I send a shout-out to several University of Cincinnati graduate students whom I’ve had the privilege to work with in numerous ways: Shaonta’ Allen, Curtis Webb, Chad Sloss, Shobha Kansal, Ayesha Casie Chetty, Faisal Alsenea, Nola Almageni, Amaha Sellasie, Kierra Toney, Antho