Transcript Young, Male & Black-Strategies to Encourage and Empower

The NYS Coalition for Children’s Mental Health Services
and the NYS Office of Mental Health
Children’s Mental Health Services Staff Development
Training Forum
Young, Male & Black-Strategies to Encourage
and Empower
7/21/2015
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What Do We Know & How Do We Know It?
• At your tables, please have a dialogue about your experiences
working with African American/Black boys.
• What was your earliest working experience?
• Did you have any non-work related experience (volunteer
work)?
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Gap Analysis
• What is it like for African American/Black boys now?
(Might include socio-economic, education, juvenile
justice, fatherhood, cultural issues)
• What should it be like at its optimal/best
circumstance?
• What is the difference? (gap)
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We can, whenever and wherever we choose,
successfully teach all children whose schooling is
of interest to us. We already know more than we
need in order to do this. Whether we do it must
finally depend on how we feel about the fact that
we haven’t so far.
Ron Edmonds
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Perceptions Count!
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In the wake of Hurricane Katrina we are learning much about the
way that
the media portray race and class in America today.
Observe these two popular pictures
taken at the time of the Hurricane.
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• The second photograph,
showing a black man, was
reported this way: "A
young man walks through
chest deep flood waters
after looting a grocery
store in New Orleans on
Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005."
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• The first, showing two
white residents of New
Orleans was reported this
way: "Two residents wade
through chest-deep water
after finding bread and
soda from a local grocery
store after Hurricane
Katrina came through the
area in New Orleans,
Louisiana
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Facts and Truth vs. Distortions and Misinformation
Cell Blocks versus Classrooms.
What do you know or what have you heard
about the number of Black men in College
compared to the number in College?
Today, two realities exist. First, there are
approximately 395,443 more black men in college
than in prison. Approximately 1,236,443 black men
are enrolled in institutions of higher education (Knapp,
Kelly-Reid, & Ginder, 2010), and 841,000 are serving time in
jails and prisons (West, 2010). Second, black men
continue to be overrepresented in the criminal
justice system, and more work needs to be done to
address deep and persistent inequities in arrests,
convictions, and sentencing
…it is time to retire the line, “There are more black men in jail than in
college.” Not only is this statement untrue today, it undermines
strategies to prepare, recruit, and retain black men in college. Most
evidence suggests that the percent of black men in college, or college
educated, and those in prison are so far apart socially, that to
juxtapose one on the other is inherently absurd. In reality, college
bound black males and black males at risk for incarceration typically
have completely different emotional, social, and educational needs,
and black community leaders should not confuse one with the other.
Former Harvard Professor Pedro Noguera explains the
dilemma this way:
"It is imperative that efforts to help black youth be
guided by ongoing attempts at understanding the
cultural forms they produce, and the ways in which
they respond and adapt to their social and cultural
environment. Without such an understanding, efforts
to influence the attitude and behaviors of AfricanAmerican males will most likely fail to capture their
imagination and be ignored."
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References to Our Children, Youth, Families,
Neighborhoods
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Inmate
Prisoner
Offender
Convict
Projects
Ghetto
Hood
Banger
Delinquent
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Intimidating
Angry
Uncooperative
Belligerent
Resistant
Homeboy/girl
Homie
Poor
Homeless
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Current Knowledge
Are we using 8 track/VHS tools in a MP3 Age?
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How does it feel to be a
problem?
W.E.B DuBois, Souls of Black
Folk
What Do You Know About The Following?
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Cool Pose
Whistling Vivaldi
Stereotype Threat
Identity Stasis
Street Harassment
Prejudice Apprehension
Invisibility
Living in a world of smoke and mirrors
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• A Black male is 700 % more likely than a White male to
be sentenced to a local, state, or federal prison.
• Black males are imprisoned at a rate of 3,405 per
100,000 (3.4 %)
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Education - A National Crisis
African American boys spend more time in special ed,
less time in advanced college prep courses, and
receive more disciplinary suspensions & expulsions
that other groups in U.S. schools today.
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Graduation Rates
Black males had significantly different postsecondary
experiences than White males. Their graduation rates
were lower, unemployment rates higher, they were
more likely to earn a lower income than White males
with similar educational backgrounds, and they were
more likely to be incarcerated. (Lewis et al., 2010, p. 6)
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Of African American boys who enter special ed,
only 10% return to a regular classroom & stay
there, and only 27% graduate.
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Suspensions and Expulsions
▪ Black students were more likely to be suspended from school, and
more likely to be retained in grade. (Lewis et al., 2010, p. 6)
▪ Based on federal middle school data, 28.3% of black males, on
average, were suspended at least once during a school year,
nearly three times the 10 percent rate for white males. Black
female middle school students were suspended more than four
times as often as white females (19 percent vs. 4 percent). (Losen
& Skiba, 2007).
▪ In large urban areas, disproportionately more Black males are
suspended and expelled than White males, and more Black
males are assigned to special education using procedures open
to question. (Shott, 2008, p. 5)
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Professor Melissa Roderick of the U of Chicago
says that the lack of caring was the most
devastating factor for African American boys.
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The Schott 50 State Report Black Male Data
Portal
© Copyright 2008 The Schott Foundation for Public
Education.
678 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 301, Cambridge, MA
02139
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The number of out-of-school suspensions given to Black
male students in New York was equivalent to nine % of
New York's Black, non-Hispanic male student population.
The number of out-of-school suspensions given to White
male students in New York was equivalent to five % of the
state's White, non-Hispanic male enrollment in the 2004/5
school year, as reported to the Office of Civil Rights of the
U. S. Department of Education.
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In proportion to enrollment, nearly four times as many
Black male students were expelled as were White male
students, although there were more than two times as
many White as Black students in the state.
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Black male students were admitted to district
Gifted/Talented programs at approximately a fifth of the rate
of White male students, while nearly three times as many
were classified as Mentally Retarded.
If Black male children had been admitted to New York's
Gifted and/or Talented programs at the same rate as White
male children, at least 7,000 more would have been in those
programs.
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Discipline, Special Ed, & Advanced Placement Inequalities
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Poverty
• African American children are more likely to live in
poverty than other racial/ethnic groups except
American Indians.
• About 66% of African-American young children are
living in low income families and 41% are poor.
• Overall, 17.1 % of young men lived below the
federal poverty line in 2008. Blacks had the highest
poverty rate, at one in four (25.3 %), while roughly
one in five Latinos (19.7 %) and one in seven nonHispanic whites (14.1 %) lived in poverty.
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Crime and safety
Boys and young men of color are also at increased risk of
exposure to crime and threats to personal safety.
Nationally, African American and Latino children are
three and two times more likely, respectively, than
white children to have been exposed to shootings,
bombings, or riots (RAND 2009). Furthermore, both African
American and Latino children are more than seven
times more likely than white children to have had
someone close to them murdered (Finkelhor et al., cited in Rand
2009).
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When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.
Ralph Ellison
Sesa Wo Suban – I Change or
Transform My Life
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WHAT CAN WE DO?
MMERE DAME – Time Changes
Develop a New and Different Paradigm Based on
Current Realities!
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The MA’AT, MAAFA & SANKOFA
• African Centered Values System
• The Vestiges of the Atrocities of the Middle
Passage, Period of Enslavement, Jim Crow, etc
• The Way Back and the Road Ahead
The MA’AT – A Values Based Approach
• Truth
• Justice
• Order
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Harmony
Balance
Reciprocity
Propriety
Maafa
The word `Maafa` (also known as the `African
Holocaust` or `Holocaust of Enslavement`) is derived
from a Kiswahili word meaning disaster, terrible
occurrence or great tragedy. The term collectively
refers to the 500 years of suffering (including present
times) of people of African heritage through slavery,
imperialism, colonialism, invasions, oppression, and
exploitation.
Sankofa
• The concept of SANKOFA is derived from King Adinkera of
the Akan people of West Afrika.
• Literally translated it means "it is not taboo to go back and
fetch what you forgot".
• "Sankofa" teaches us that we must go back to our roots in
order to move forward. That is, we should reach back and
gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we
can achieve our full potential as we move forward.
Whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone or been stripped
of, can be reclaimed, revived, preserved and perpetuated.
• Visually and symbolically "Sankofa" is expressed as a mythic
bird that flies forward while looking backward with an egg
(symbolizing the future) in its mouth.
Acknowledge the Impact of Institutional & Structural
Racism
All social workers need to dedicate time to their personal
growth and professional development to become and
remain effective in addressing institutional racism.
Fundamental to addressing institutional racism is the need
for social workers and social work related organizations to
understand the effect of racism on their clients and
communities.
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Introduction to the Project on Structural Racism
and Community Building
By structural racism we mean the following:
Racism in twenty-first century America is harder to see than its previous
incarnations because the most overt and legally sanctioned forms of racial
discrimination have been eliminated. Nonetheless, subtler racialized patterns
permeate the political, economic, and socio-cultural structures of America in
ways that generate differences in well-being between people of color and
whites. Structural racism, then, refers to the system in which public policies,
institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms work in
various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial group inequity in every
key opportunity area, from health, to education, to employment, to income
and wealth.
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The Individual vs. the Ecology: Stop Trying to Fix
Johnny!
The human ecology theory argues that although the individual’s
behavior is important, behavior is not generated in isolation.
Rather, it is embedded in a social and economic environment. The
theory suggests that although it is important to pay attention to
families and individuals, we must also address the social contexts
in young people’s lives.
(Aspen Report 2005; Davis, Kolburn, and Schultz 2009; Northridge, Sclar, and Biswas 2003).
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A 2005 analysis published by the Aspen Institute, a progressive
think tank, reported: “While we treasure the notions of individual
accomplishment, meritocracy and equal opportunity, in fact,
individuals are members of families, communities, and social
groups, and their individual trajectories will be affected — though
not necessarily totally determined — by the overall status of their
group. Those born into disadvantaged communities cannot be
blamed for the . . . consequent challenges they face. . . . Where one
starts out in life affects where one ends up to a greater degree
than our national sense of economic mobility would have us
believe” (ibid.: 22).
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Community resources, environmental hazards, and social inequalities
create a combination of disparities that limit young people’s access to
opportunities and place them at risk of disconnection.
(Sampson 2009; Sampson, Sharkey, and Raudenbush 2008; Cohen and Northridge 2008; Geronimus 2000;
Massey and Denton 1993).
There is also evidence of differential treatment of, and persistent
discrimination against, youth of color in the educational sector, the
housing sector, the juvenile justice system and the labor market.
(Aspen Institute 2005).
Meanwhile, structural changes in the U.S. and world economies are
transforming youth pathways, which may make it more difficult for
youths — in particular African American and Latino young adults — to
transition into adulthood.
(Mortimer and Larson 2002).
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It’s a double whammy to be black and male. While there’s a lively debate
over whether boys or girls have it worse in school, there’s no argument
over where African-American boys stand in the schools’ pecking order.
Compared with black females, they are three times more likely to be
suspended, their high school graduation rate is 9 percent lower, and they
are just half as likely to receive a college degree.
(Tyre, Trouble with Boys; and Kleinfeld, “State of American Boyhood.”)
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According to Dr. Raymond Winbush…
“It is nearly unthinkable to exclude social factors in
explaining white adolescent behavior, yet explanations
of black adolescent behavior often focuses on the
internal pathologies of black life in America. What is
emerging is a picture of black adolescent boys that
ignores how racism influences their lives.
What we have here is the classic question of what came
first: the racist society or the dysfunctional Black male?”
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Shame and Worry: Considerations for Working with
Young Black Males
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Shame
• Shame & other emotions are seen as weak
• Shame can be a stimulant for anger as a more acceptable
response
• Shame derived from media, poverty, lack of resources,
diminished socioeconomic status
• Majors & Billson (1992) – “Cool Pose”. Youth attempt to mask
shame
• Community violence as a mechanism to escape powerless &
shame that comes w/ being part of a subordinate group.
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Worry
• Worry is the afterthought of shame
• Worry about others finding out about his shame & viewing him
as weak
• Worry can be seen as the link between shame and aggression
Shame
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Worry
Aggression
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The Challenge for Young Black Men in Communities of
Chaos
• Constant threats to physical, psychological, emotional &
spiritual development.
• Attempt to develop a healthy masculine identity while
avoiding potential threats to their personal safety.
• Loss of prestige of being an athlete
• Loss of prestige of being a good student
• Many perpetrators of violence become “strange icons of fear”.
(John Rich, 2009)
• Daily tests of will where the outcome can be life or death.
• Constant worry about becoming victims of violence in their
own neighborhoods
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• Adoption of “thug identity” as moniker of celebrity
and respect.
• Confusion of respect for respectability
• Access to other monikers of success often
unrepresented or far less accessible, making thug
identity the sole or primary moniker.
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Mental Health Considerations
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Heightened levels of stress
Mental illness
Undiagnosed depression
Perceive fewer opportunities, low
neighborhood capital, lack of kinship support,
and expanded violence.
(Daniel Bennett, 2010)
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“Violence in neighborhoods breeds fear, which
hinders community members from coming to the
aid of others in need”.
(Phaedra Corso, 2007)
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The Influence of Public Policy
• Transformation of Public Housing resulting in the demolition
of large public housing complexes;
• Forced relocation of former residents to remote locations;
• Absence of the array of public & private social welfare
services, including schools, health, & social service
organizations;
• Closing of schools previously populated by along
neighborhood boundaries.
• Reduction of high school options in light of changing
demographics & decreased public-school funding;
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• Physical construction & traffic patterns reflect the distal
location from neighboring businesses & social services
(except for those within the housing complex)
• Reconstruction & reconstitution of neighborhood &
school boundaries, resulting in young people having to
travel through unfamiliar, often hostile neighborhoods.
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Extreme Public Policies
• Access to assault weapons
• Incarceration of youthful offenders away from their
communities & the courts that sentenced them
• Juvenile Offenders charged as adults with
accompanying sentences including death.
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Additional Extreme Public Policies &
Practices
• Stop and Frisk
• Racial Profiling
• Mass Incarceration
Developing A Different Viewpoint
• See young Black males as both active agents & passive
reactors.
• Must negotiate a constant barrage of landmines including
gang recruitment, negative images from the media, and
suspicion from community, school and law enforcement .
• Ongoing exposure to chronically violent atmosphere invokes
individual stressors not the least of which is the persistent
worry that they may be targets of violence and shame.
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Dr. Joseph White - Helping the Black Boy Into Manhood
Challenges to Black Boys
• Identity
• Intimacy
• Residual Effects of Racism
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Objectives
• To Educate
• To Elevate
• To Encourage
• To Empower
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Strengths for helping Black males Rediscover their
Inner Strengths
• Improvisation
• Resilience
• Spirituality
• Emotional Vitality
• Connectedness to
Others
• Gallows Sense of
Humor
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A Radical -Healing Approach for Black Young Men
A Framework for Policy and Practice
Shawn Ginwright
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Radical healing involves building the capacity of young
people to act upon their environment to create the type of
communities in which they want to live. By integrating
issues of power, history, identity, and the possibility of
collective agency and struggle, radical healing rebuilds
communities that foster hope and political possibilities for
young people.
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This process acknowledges the ways in which joblessness,
poverty, violence, and poor education have been toxic to
black communities. At the same time this process fosters
new forms of political and community life. By rebuilding
collective identities (racial, gendered, youth), exposing
youth to critical thinking about social conditions, and
building activism, we can help black youth heal.
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Policymakers, educators, and youth workers must
consider not only the short-term strategies that focus on
preventing problems among black youth, but they also
must embrace a long-term emancipatory vision that
supports civic and political engagement among black
youth.
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An Emancipatory vision for black youth involves
three steps
(1) shifting policies from focusing on problems
to focusing on possibilities,
(2) investing in action strategies rather than
fixing strategies, and
(3) building cultural pathways to well-being for
young African American males
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Changing Places; How Communities Will Improve the Health
of Boys of Color
Edited by Christopher Edley Jr. and Jorge Ruiz de Velasco With a
foreword by Robert Phillips
The “root causes” of the unique combination of
disparities impacting young men and boys of color
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housing patterns
assets and wealth
access to care
representation in custodial systems
educational achievement
violence and trauma
family and community stability
employment/income
proposed by the California Endowment’s 2009 Boys and Men of Color Initiative
Recommendations from Dr. Joy Degruy,
Author
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome:
America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing
"Door of no return" (Elmina Slave Castle) Ghana, West Africa
Key Patterns of Behavior Reflective of P.T.S.S
Vacant Esteem
Insufficient development of what Dr. DeGruy
refers to as primary esteem, along with feelings
of hopelessness, depression and a general self
destructive outlook.
Marked Propensity for Anger and Violence
Extreme feelings of suspicion perceived negative
motivations of others. Violence against self,
property and others, including the members of
one's own group, i.e. friends, relatives, or
acquaintances.
Racist Socialization and Internalized Racism
Learned Helplessness, literacy deprivation, distorted
self-concept, antipathy or aversion for the following:
• The members of ones own identified cultural/ethnic
group,
• The mores and customs associated ones own
identified cultural/ethnic heritage,
• The physical characteristics of ones own identified
cultural/ethnic group.
Cape Coast Male Slave Dungeon
The Answer-Healing
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Positive Racial Socialization
Modeling
Knowing Ourselves
Healing from Injuries Past
Building Self Esteem
Taking Control of Our Inner World
Telling Our Story
Faith and Religion
Building Strong Communities
Establishing Strong Leadership
What Can We Do?
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Rites of Passage Initiatives
Mentoring
Cultural Competence
The Ma’at
The Warrior Method
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Rites of Passage Programs
“The fruit that is not yet ripe doesn’t fall to the ground.”
African proverb
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THE ETERNAL JOURNEY
SEPARATION
TRANSITION
INCORPORATION
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Goal
• To prepare youth for the transition from
adolescence to adulthood
• To celebrate an individual’s coming-of-age
with ritual
• Socializing and transforming youth
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Mentoring Works!
Nsoromma – Child of the
Heavens (Guardianship)
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Research has demonstrated that adolescents
with at least one high-quality supportive
relationship with an adult were twice as likely
as other youth to be economically self
sufficient, have healthy family and social
relationships, and be productively involved in
their communities
(Gambone, Connell, Klem, Sipe, & Bridges, 2002).
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A growing body of research indicates that when
mentoring programs are implemented well, mentoring is
an effective way to help youth who lack stable
relationships and/or positive role models in their lives
improve academic achievement, build a stronger sense of
self-worth, improve relationships with parents and other
adults, and decrease the likelihood of negative behaviors.
(Jucovy, 2003)
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A Brief Note on Cultural Competence
Culture Matters
When culture is ignored, families are at risk of
not getting the support they need, or worse
yet, receiving assistance that is more harmful
than helpful.
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What Is Cultural Competence?
“The ability of individuals and systems to respond
respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures,
races, ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, and faiths
or religions in a manner that recognizes, affirms, and
values the work of the individuals, families, tribes, and
communities and protects the dignity of each.”
CWLA, adopted 1991, revised 2001
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Cultural Competence Continuum (Cross, 1989)
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Culturally Destructive
Cultural Incapacity
Cultural Blindness
Pre-Competence
Basic Cultural Competence
Cultural Proficiency
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“Somewhere between
cultural incapacity and
basic cultural competence
lie the roots of disparity.”
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AYA – Endurance, Resourcefulness
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The Warrior Method
“A Program for Rearing Healthy Black Boys”
authored by Raymond A. Winbush, Ph. D.
Copyright 2007
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10 Commitments of the Warrior Method
• Maintain a strong
commitment to educating
Black boys
• Possess a deep & abiding
knowledge of global Black
history
• Read at least 30 minutes a
day on African/African
American culture & life
• Be comfortable in
predominantly Black
environments
• Attend African-centered
religious institutions
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• Volunteer at least 5 hours a
month on human service
activities that involves Black
boys
• Understand bureaucracies
that impact on Black boys
• Organize against
environments that oppress
Black boys
• Read specific books
• Teach at least one other
person a month about the
10 Commitments
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Recommendations from Phillip Jackson,
executive director of The Black Star Project
Short term
1) Teach all Black boys to read at grade level by the
third grade and to embrace education
2) Provide positive role models for Black boys
3) Create a stable home environment for Black boys
that includes contact with their fathers
4) Ensure that Black boys have a strong spiritual base
5) Control the negative media influences on Black
boys
6) Teach Black boys to respect all girls and women
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Long term
1) Invest as much money in educating Black boys as in
locking up Black men
2) Help connect Black boys to a positive vision of
themselves in the future
3) Create high expectations and help Black boys live into
those high expectations
4) Build a positive peer culture for Black boys
5) Teach Black boys self-discipline, culture and history
6) Teach Black boys and the communities in which they
live to embrace education and life-long learning.
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PTSD
• Failure to recognize that these boys are continuously under
tremendous stress
• Untreated PTSD results in mental health issues that are
unrecognized, untreated
• Traumatized people find it hard to connect to loved ones & to
feel (intimacy issue)
• Boys are left with hyper vigilance & disruption that comes from
trauma.
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“I shall no longer ask myself if this is expedient,
but only if it is right. I shall do this, not because
I am noble and unselfish, but because life slips
away, and because I need for the rest of my
journey a star that will not play false to me…a
compass that will not lie. I do it because I am no
longer able to aspire to the highest with one
part of myself, and deny it with another.”
Alan Paton in Cry The Beloved Country
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Contact Information
Gregory Owens, LMSW
3 Stover Place
Albany, New York 12205
518 469-9127 – mobile telephone number
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