Blurring reality. The Dystopian Narrative of Black Males In Research and the Media. How it Impacts our Perception of Boys and Men of Color.

Originally written on April 9th 2018.

Last week I received a text from a friend with a link to the now well known article from the New York Times."Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism For Black Boys." The article read as an alarming and depressing narrative regarding the state of boys and men of color in America. It has become the source of major national debate among the African American community, non profit leaders, educators and policy makers, etc. For some it's a call to action. For others, though, it has raised the angst of being another in a long line of articles, cryptic headlines, presentations and dissertations, produced by media and the research world, that paint a dystopian-like narrative and image of boys and men of color in America. In a more consequential way, this narrative, commonly known as deficit data, is used to determine and define what Black male achievement looks like. The question is, how can we ever set a high bar for Black male achievement? How can we ever know the greatness in Black boys if our cultural lens is solely focused on perceiving our young men as one monolithic group? How we will ever know their potential to succeed, rather than fail, if we allow ourselves to be governed by these dystopian laden narrative that we have established as the premise to view them by?

The deficit data approach to research and how it impacts and influences the way many organizations operate programs and initiatives for Black males is far reaching. Many mentoring programs for boys of color, in example, create their mission around their ability to prevent negative outcomes such as school dropout, gang affiliation and or drug abuse. Inner city school districts often target resources and support systems around the primary objective of increasing high school graduation rates and lowering school discipline and truancy. Many philanthropic organizations that fund programs for boys of color emphasizes the usage of data, narratives and terms (like those above) to be utilized in their grant solicitation. Even the federal government has made the equation of programming to preventing negative outcomes. Government grants for mentoring programs, in example, lies in the Office of Juvenile Justice and practitioners are often recommended to the website Crime Solutions for resources and support.

Lets be clear. No individual who has an ounce of understanding the current state of Boys and Men of color in America is under any illusion of the challenges, trials and tribulations in which they face through socio economic barriers, cultural micro-aggression’s and the evolved legacy of structural and systemic racism. Most people understand that there is a segment of the Black male population that is in need of preventive measures that turn their course away from the tragic negative outcomes that often awaits so many. But the point is, this neither the destiny and narrative of every Black male and nor should any Black male be defined by their potential to do or be the worst than the best. That is what's missing in most of the practice. The high bar. What's the potential of boys of color? What is the best they can become? Better known as an "Asset Framework."

“I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there.”

-Mother Theresa

The power of how we utilize our words and the perceptions it can create should be noted by the words of caution exemplified here by Mother Theresa in differentiating "anti-war" from "pro-peace." Her rationale was that anti-war demonstrations focused on "war" while pro-peace rallies focused on "peace." Now, take a look again at the word box above which that are frequently used in narratives to discuss or strategize around the state of men of color. Think about the questions they may influence an organization to ask itself.

"Crime." How do we prevent Black Boys from entering a life of "crime?"

"Poverty." How do we keep Black boys from ending up "poor?"

"Drop Out." How do we keep Black Boys from "dropping out?"

But, if we apply Mother Theresa's argument about the power of words, perceptions and the actions we take because of them, look at the central words we have used to describe Black males..

Of course no one who is authentically working to improve the lives of boys and men of color intentionally see them as criminals, drop outs or poor. The uncomfortable truth is, though, that the repetition of terms and phrases can have a psychological effect on how we perceive whats in front of us and blur what we believe to be real, truth or false. In contrast lets remove the negative connotations and shift to more powerful and asset based frame work around words.

Now think about the type of questions an organization is forced to ask itself:

"How do we increase the number of Black boys and men in
Leadership roles?"

"How do we increase the number of Black boys in AP & Honors Classes?"

"How do we increase the number of Black boys accepted to college
on scholarship?"

Apply this approach and narrative in addressing the challenges of Boys and men of color because not only does it force the education, non profit, philanthropic and public sector to view them from a positive and asset based perspective, it now forces the organization to critically think about what are the proper resources and support systems necessary for young men of color to achieve those outcomes. Thus creating a cultural paradigm shift in our lens of and the work for boys and men of color.

Once again. No one is under the illusion of what is facing boys and men of color. Nor is anyone telling the media, research world, philanthropists, educators or practitioners and leaders in the non-profit sector to not take into consideration the educational, life and socio-economic concerns. What is being said is that there needs to be balance in the narratives we create for Boys of color. It cannot be dominated by the current dystopian story that continues to play out before our eyes. For one we need hope. But secondly because its not the reality. Boys and men of color are succeeding in mass numbers in the classroom, community and all fields of human endeavor. In fact, they have been for a long time. We just have not elevated those stories or pushed the research field to be more aggressive in publishing and presenting this narratives. Well it's time for us to have "Breakthrough Narratives."

Creating The "Breakthrough Narrative."

Every so often major news networks will report on a major breakthrough in advancing medicine. It may have to do with fighting AIDS. A better vaccine for the flu. Or even, hopefully, a cure for cancer. Nevertheless when that one breakthrough is made, we give notoriety to it, discuss it and then determine ways to implement it across the world. In the movement for Black Male Achievement, there are breakthroughs happening every single day. Inner youth getting accepted to top 25 Universities. Young men of color being social justice leaders in their schools. Others doing transformational work in the areas of STEM, Education and Community development. Thus, in this work, we need researchers to focus more effort and time researching, reporting, publishing and presenting this work. Pushing out the positive and powerful breakthroughs that boys of color are doing everyday.

If we can push for this paradigm shift in the way we study boys of color, we can raise the cultural bar for every sector and society on how they view our young men. Then and only then can we truly define Black Male Achievement in its rightful way: as a powerful narrative and movement on helping each young person reach their God-given potential. Moving us to ask ourselves what is in in each young man we want to promote rather than prevent.