BLACK SYMMETRY: CARVING OUT A BLACK SPACE IN AN ELEVENTH GRADE ENGLISH CLASS By Davena Jackson A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education-Doctor of Philosophy 2019 BLACK SYMMETRY: CARVING OUT A BLACK SPACE IN AN ELEVENTH GRADE ABSTRACT ENGLISH CLASS By Davena Jackson The historical and contemporary concerns about race, racism, anti-Blackness suggest the vital need for Blackness to be centered in the English Language Arts classroom, (ELA). This study reveals what can happen when a Black teacher-researcher and teacher collaborate to create a classroom environment where Blackness took precedence. In particular, I center students’ voices about their perceptions of and attitudes about the experience of being Black youth. This knowledge led me to construct a continuum that ranged from Racial hope to Racial suffering, which underscored the importance of a Black teacher who created a learning space that valued the students’ consciousness raising, knowledge, and sensibilities. Based on the acknowledgment of the students’ needs, a Black space (Paris, 2017) was carved out. Within that Black space, we, as two Black women teachers, sought to create a justice-oriented pedagogical mutuality (JOPM) dedicated to sustaining our students culturally, linguistically, and racially. Our commitments, joy, and love fueled their resistance against hegemonic anti-Black practices and determination to inspire their Black students to engage in justice-oriented learning mutuality (JOLM). In doing so, the students drew on their multiple languages and literacies in their speech and writing to represent their racial and ethnic identities and to engage in opportunities to engage in critical conversations and literacy learning about race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. Copyright by DAVENA JACKSON 2019 Dedicated to Big Bon and Big Dave and the students and teacher who made this work possible. Living a Full Black Life! iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I thank GOD for your continued love, faith, and strength. I encountered challenges and obstacles over the past five years. Because you helped and guided me, I was able to experience joy despite the hardships. You put on my heart to stay on the path to pursue a doctorate and I did. I pray that you continue to guide my steps towards my being open to your blessings. I would like to thank Ms. Thomas and her students. I appreciate Ms. Thomas for her partnership. Much love to all the students for all the work that came from our collective learning. Special thanks to my dialogic group: Casey, Shayla, MJJ, Simone, James, and Adanté. I would like to thank Dr. Django Paris and Dr. April Baker-Bell for their love, support, and guidance. You both encouraged me to pursue my doctorate and live my dream. I appreciate your being there for me in moments of crisis and helping me to continue discovering God’s plan. To the rest of my committee members, Dr. Dorinda Carter Andrews, Dr. Angela Calabrese Barton, and Dr. Lamar Johnson thank you for believing in my work and pushing me to think more critically and to work hard so that my work was solid. To my writing group, Ashley and Mandie, thank you for our shared time during writing group. I, especially, thank Ashley for the countless hours of Zooming together to write and see Maggie’s sunshine-smile, discussing family, and supporting each other along the way. To my father Big Dave, who began the program with me and who is with me in spirit now. Your many inspirational talks back and forth from MSU, watching the boys while I took evening courses, and taking them to the driving range on many a sunny day when I needed to study helped me immensely. You supported me financially and emotionally throughout my v journey. Because of your unconditional love, I was able to understand all the lessons that I faced along the way were part of God’s invitation to push me to grow even further. To Terry, Justin, and Jaiden thank you for your inspiration and strength. Because of Justin and Jaiden, I never gave up. I challenged myself to be the best mother I could be despite life’s inevitable challenges and losses. To William, thank you for creating an office space that sustained me over countless hours of writing, reading, and thinking. Thank you for sending many news stories—and even events that we could attend together—that would keep me abreast on current events about race, racism, anti-Blackness, and Blackness. Some of those stories made into the classroom work with Ms. Thomas and our students. To Aunt Jessie, thank you for praying with and over me. Your wisdom, light, strength, and truth comforted me and carried me forward when at moments I wanted to turn back. To the graduate students and professors, who encouraged and supported me in a myriad of ways, I appreciate all of you. Thank you, Darnell and Rita for telling me to get back at it when I wanted to quit. Both of you knew just what I needed! To my girls—for all the laughter, lunch and dinner dates, and cocktails that sustained me, I appreciate all of you. And to the rest of my family friends who encouraged and motivated me to stay strong thank you. I want to acknowledge Cultivating New Voices fellows and mentors for the encouragement, fellowship, and mentorship. I especially want to thank Dr. Carmen Kynard for helping me to think through some of the ideas with which I was grappling in my dissertation. This dissertation would not have been possible without everyone’s love and support. To this end, I was able to demonstrate my commitment to Black youth and the possibilities of working with and learning from a Black woman teacher and her Black students. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................................x LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... xi PROLOGUE ....................................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1: ...................................................................................................................................5 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................5 Background ..........................................................................................................................5 Problem Statement ...............................................................................................................6 Statement of Purpose ...........................................................................................................7 Research Questions ..............................................................................................................7 Data Sources ........................................................................................................................8 Organization of Dissertation ................................................................................................8 Definitions of Key Terminology and Ideas .........................................................................9 CHAPTER 2: .................................................................................................................................12 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMING ...............................................12 Introduction ........................................................................................................................12 Brief History of Black Students and Schooling .................................................................12 Race and Racism ................................................................................................................14 Anti-Blackness ...................................................................................................................15 Centering Blackness...........................................................................................................17 Racial Literacy .............................................................................................................18 Critical Literacy ...........................................................................................................20 Multiliteracies ..............................................................................................................22 Theoretical Framing ...........................................................................................................25 Broad Framing for Teaching and Learning (CSP) .......................................................25 Critical Race English Education (CREE) as Field-Specific ........................................26 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................29 CHAPTER 3: .................................................................................................................................30 METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN .........................................................................................30 Purpose ...............................................................................................................................30 Research Design.................................................................................................................31 Researcher’s Position .........................................................................................................31 Framing of Methodology: Autoethnography .....................................................................32 Methods..............................................................................................................................33 Research Site ................................................................................................................34 My Relationship with and Interest in Sutton Academy ...............................................34 Teacher .........................................................................................................................35 Dialogic Spiral .............................................................................................................36 vii Dialogic Group Selection .............................................................................................36 Dialogic Group Members ............................................................................................41 Participant/Observation................................................................................................44 Interviews .....................................................................................................................45 Pictures .........................................................................................................................48 Racial Digital Story......................................................................................................48 Other Assignments .......................................................................................................49 Curricular Texts ...........................................................................................................49 Data Analysis .....................................................................................................................49 Qualitative Coding .......................................................................................................49 Drawings/Racial Digital Story (Critical Discourse Analysis and Visual Analysis Evidence) .....................................................................................................................51 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................54 CHAPTER 4: .................................................................................................................................55 NAVIGATING THE RACIAL CONTINUUM IN THE CLASSROOM: TEACHING AND LEARNING A FULL BLACK LIFE ......................................................................................55 Centering Black Students’ Voices .....................................................................................55 In Defense of Racial Hope .................................................................................................57 Racial Optimism ..........................................................................................................58 Racial Comparativism ..................................................................................................61 Racial Pragmatism .......................................................................................................63 Construction of Difference: Moving Past Racial Suffering ...............................................64 Racial Shame ...............................................................................................................66 Racial Passivity ............................................................................................................70 Framing Blackness: The Classroom Context .....................................................................71 Discussion: Recognizing the Realities of Living a Full Black Literate Life .....................73 Implications........................................................................................................................75 CHAPTER 5: .................................................................................................................................77 A JUSTICE-ORIENTED PEDAGOGICAL MUTUALITY: TEACHING AND LEARNING TOGETHER IN THE DISRUPTING ANTI-BLACKNESS ..................................................77 Prelude: Let’s Get to It: Teaching as an Act of Love, Commitment and Justice-Oriented Pedagogical Mutuality .......................................................................................................77 Sunrise: Storying as a Way to Reflect ...............................................................................79 Arrival ................................................................................................................................81 JOPM Storying 1: Situating the Past and Partnership in Context ......................................86 JOPM Storying 2: Our Positioning and Connectedness ....................................................88 JOPM Storying 3: Relationship Building ..........................................................................91 JOPM Storying 4: We, Us, And Ours: An Alliance ..........................................................93 JOPM Storying 5: The Relational Commitments in the Dialogic Spiral ...........................96 JOPM Storying 6: Black Scholarship AND CREE .........................................................105 JOPM: Sunset...................................................................................................................108 Implications......................................................................................................................108 viii CHAPTER 6: ...............................................................................................................................111 STUDENTS’ WORK OUT OF A JUSTICE-ORIENTED PEDAGOGICAL MUTUALITY ........................................................................................................................111 Visual Blackness and Anti-Blackness (The Racial Drawings): Conceptions of Living a Full Black Life .................................................................................................................118 Visual Anti-Blackness and Blackness (The Digital Racial Narrative): Conceptions of Living a Full Black Life ...................................................................................................130 Discussion ........................................................................................................................138 Implications......................................................................................................................138 CHAPTER 7: ...............................................................................................................................140 BLACK SYMMETRY: SUSTAINING BLACKNESS WITHIN THE ELA CLASSROOM AND BEYOND .....................................................................................................................140 Introduction ......................................................................................................................140 Revisiting the Black Continuum ......................................................................................141 Justice-Oriented Pedagogical Mutuality (JOPM) ......................................................142 Justice-Oriented Learning Mutuality (JOLM) ...........................................................142 Recommendations and Implications ................................................................................143 Practitioners ...............................................................................................................143 Teacher Education .....................................................................................................145 Relationships in Research ..........................................................................................146 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................146 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................148 APPENDIX A: Teacher Participant Information and Consent Form ....................................149 APPENDIX B: Student Participant Information and Consent Form .....................................151 APPENDIX C: Permission Slip .............................................................................................152 APPENDIX D: Terminology .................................................................................................153 APPENDIX E: Literacy Texts to Center Blackness ..............................................................154 APPENDIX F: Racial Digital Narrative ................................................................................157 APPENDIX G: Racial Drawing Sheet ...................................................................................159 APPENDIX H: Racial Narrative ...........................................................................................160 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................161 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Memo: February 1, 2018 .................................................................................................38 Table 2. Student Demographics .....................................................................................................41 Table 3. Data chart .........................................................................................................................44 Table 4. Teacher Presupposition Questions ...................................................................................46 Table 5. Student Presupposition Questions ...................................................................................47 Table 6. Descriptors of Classroom Culture....................................................................................50 Table 7. Evidence of Coding for Racial Hope ...............................................................................51 Table 8. Evidence of Coding for Racial Suffering ........................................................................51 Table 9. Racial Hope......................................................................................................................57 Table 10. Racial Suffering .............................................................................................................64 Table 11. Terms and Definitions .................................................................................................153 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Theoretical framing chart ...............................................................................................25 Figure 2. Illustration from Collections book..................................................................................82 Figure 3. H&M advertisement .......................................................................................................84 Figure 4. Conception of JOPM ......................................................................................................98 Figure 5. Conception of JOLM ....................................................................................................113 Figure 6. Photo of CCT in action .................................................................................................115 Figure 7. Photo of CCT in action .................................................................................................117 Figure 8. Simone’s drawing .........................................................................................................120 Figure 9. Casey’s drawing ...........................................................................................................122 Figure 10. Adanté’s drawing........................................................................................................123 Figure 11. Drawing sheet .............................................................................................................159 xi PROLOGUE On March 28, 2019, I sat quietly and listened to Rae Paris talk about her conception of what it means to have a Black space (Paris, 2017). It was at this moment that my conclusion and the title of my dissertation took shape, and I thought about how I came to engage in work in which Blackness was centered with Ms. Thomas and our students. I am a Black woman, mother, teacher-researcher, and I have always felt adamant about the importance of sustaining the lives of Black students in the English classroom. My connection to the communities in which I taught was personal to me. It was during those years from grades, PreK-16 that I spoke and used Black Language rhetorically. Remembering on one occasion that I used Black Language in a college English paper, I was made to feel inferior by my White professor’s harsh words: “How did you get this far”? I felt angered and hurt over the years by this, and I internalized that shame. The professor exhibited no compassion and humanity for me as a student or human being. That devastating moment fueled my passion for moving beyond my feelings of shame, and I was determined to learn more. Later, I would learn that I had experienced literacy and language instruction from an in instructor whose compliance with the dominant culture’s ideology to “privilege narrow cultural standards, under the guise of representing universal values” (Collins and Blot, 2006, p. xiii) lessened opportunities for me to extend and construct knowledge in meaningful and liberating ways. Not always having opportunities to feel empowered, I knew more than anything, the kind of teacher that I did not want to be, and as I pursued my doctorate, the type of research in which I might engage. Based on my own personal experiences with linguistic shame, I worked hard in urban contexts and alongside some influential Black teachers to educate Black students in humanizing 1 ways. I have come to understand from my own past as a student and teacher that there is a need for relationships between teachers and students to be built on and fostered through the dignity and care of others. The absence of shaming and being more accepting of student’s ways of knowing and being are necessary to sustain their dignity. Thus, my understanding of what I believed it meant to teach in humanizing ways lead me to want to partner with Ms. Thomas. I first met Ms. Thomas when she was a graduate student in a class that I taught. Several years later, she would apply for a job in the English department, where I taught and chaired. I came to know Ms. Thomas as a teacher, who centered the lives of her Black students by having them participate in critical discussions to share their counter stories as they connected to the literature that she taught and news stories about Black people’s lives. Like me, Ms. Thomas was connected to her students through their Blackness and marginalization. Our shared commitment towards providing experiences for students to disrupt the status quo came from a place of love and care for our students so that they might make sense of and be better equipped to live in a world that would not always sustain their Black literacies. By opening up the possibilities for Black students to share their truths, as a community of learners, we believed that they could stomp out the silent and loud voices that do not always allow their Black consciousness to take form. In this dissertation, I offer specific ways in which my relationship with Ms. Thomas’ developed and formed into a justice-oriented pedagogical mutuality (JOPM). From our JOPM, I share how it operationalized into justice-oriented learning mutuality (JOLM) with our students. At the heart of my work were two inquiries, that I address either implicitly or explicitly throughout the dissertation, and to which I return to in the conclusion: What does it mean to honor the lives of Black students in an educational space that has historically dehumanized Black 2 lives rather than empowered them? How do we address their pain and trauma within the system while still engaging in praxis that is transformative, liberatory, and loving? In thinking about these questions, I situate my partnering with a Black woman teacher and her Black students to discover the possibilities of what it means to teach and learn in an educational space, where Blackness took precedence. As part of my interest in learning what it means to carve out a Black space (Paris, 2017), I spent time with our students: Simone, Shayla, Casey, MJJ, Adanté, and James. Specifically, I ate lunch with them and got to know them better during our dialogic group meetings. Each time we met, whether it was individually or as a group, we shared our counter stories. My interviewing them was just as much about their wanting to know what kind of work I was doing and how they were going to be represented as it was about me learning about them. We came to know each other through our storying, and our shared mutuality developed. I provide a brief description here of how I saw the students. However, in chapter three, the students open up about themselves more fully. Simone. Simone is a Black girl, and at the time of the study, was dating James, who was also a member of the dialogic group. She wore her naturally, and she always centered Black beauty during our discussions. Shayla. Shayla is a Black girl, who was vivacious and always came to the dialogic group ready to talk and share funny stories. Her most entertaining story, although not a laughing matter, was when she almost got placed on punishment for arguing with her mother about the legitimacy of Black language. Casey. Casey, who is a Black girl, had a quiet demeanor and always appeared to be reflecting on what was being shared. When she did speak, she spoke from the heart in compelling ways. 3 MJJ. MJJ, a Black boy, shared his perspectives about race, racism, Blackness, and anti- Blackness, but was sometimes reluctant because of not having been allowed the opportunity to do so in other classes as he was in Ms. Thomas’ English class. Adanté. Adanté, whom I called my young rapper, was a Black boy. He always kept it real. James: James was the only white student in the class and participant in the dialogic group. He usually sat back most of the time and only shared his thinking when he felt it was necessary. My interactions with the students were both complicated and engaging. They opened up a lot about Ms. Thomas’ teaching and learning in a Black space, where Blackness took precedence. Working with and learning from Ms. Thomas and her students allowed me to make meaning of the curriculum and the students and Ms. Thomas’ lived experiences, which helped me begin to make sense of the nuances of living a full Black life and the possibilities of justice- oriented pedagogical and learning mutuality. 4 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Unrelenting racism that permeates our daily lives in all its forms, from brutality and humiliation at the hands of the police, schools, and other institutions to the most subtle ways of making us disappear as human beings. Our history is stolen from us. We are stripped of our names. We are made into caricatures in a burlesque written by those who despise us or know nothing at all of us. —Levins Morales, Medicine Stories You have to act as if it were possible to radically change the world. And you have to do it all the time. —Angela Davis Background I begin this dissertation with a historical acknowledgment of how the racial history of Black people has affected my community and the continuing effects of White supremacy. For example, the effects of Jim Crow laws that were created to enforce a racial caste system linked to slavery continue to dehumanize Black people through the prison system (Alexander, 2012). Jim Crow laws were in place from 1877 to the mid-1960s, and they forced Black people into second- class citizenship, cementing White control of all spheres of social and political life (Alexander, 2012). Indeed, Jim Crow is one of many periods in U.S. history in which anti-Black racism fueled White supremacy. Even now that the Jim Crow laws have been abolished Black people still face struggles to live daily life while being Black, including verbal abuse and physical assaults that can result in death. The era of Jim Crow laws ended as a result of the many actions and eventual legislation resulting from the Civil Rights Movement, and Black people continued to seek greater freedoms. The protests that occurred across America were spaces where activists voiced the relationship between racism and inequality (Alexander, 2012). Davis (2016) noted the following: The movement we call the ‘civil rights movement,” and that was called by most of its participants the “freedom movement,” reveals an interesting slippage between freedom 5 and civil rights, as if civil rights has colonized the whole space of freedom, that the only way to be free is to acquire civil rights within the existing framework of society. (p. 115) Davis’ quote confirms that the policies resulting from what came to be known as the Civil Rights Movement did not remove anti-Black values and did not halt the abhorrent treatment of Black people. Davis (2016) argued, “It’s not easy to eradicate racism that is so deeply entrenched in the structures of our society, and this is why it is important to develop an analysis that goes beyond an understanding of individual acts of racism” (p. 17). Problem Statement The founders of the Black Lives Matter movement sought to raise awareness around anti- Blackness and racism. With the help of all those interested in equality, Black Lives Matter also sought to confront and dismantle all forms of Black oppression (Garza, 2014; Johnson, 2018). Since 2014, there have been nearly constant news reports of police violence against Black people and other people of color. The deaths of Aiyana Jones, Sandra Bland, Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, Walter Scott, Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher, Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown have had an effect on the Black community as a whole. Just as these deaths caused pain and trauma to the deceased’s loved ones and communities, they also inflict trauma on young people who hear these stories and bring that experience and knowledge into the classroom. The continued force of White supremacist power contributes to the dehumanization of Black people, particularly Black students. Many of them take that pain and trauma into the classroom. Although not always visible, this trauma must be heard and seen. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) urges English educators “to use classrooms to help as opposed to harm, to transform our world and raise awareness of the crisis of racial injustice” (NCTE statement affirming #BlackLivesMatter). Thus, Black students should have opportunities 6 to share the pain, suffering, and oppression of anti-Blackness as a means to naming, navigating, and disrupting that oppression in a setting where the teacher is committed to valuing and sustaining their lives (Baker-Bell, Butler, & Johnson, 2017; Johnson, 2018; Johnson, Jackson, Stovall, & Baszile, 2017; Kirkland, 2017; Shipp, 2017). Disrupting negative perceptions of Blackness can enrich the experiences of Black students in the ELA classroom and help them to manage the racial injustices happening around and to them. As someone who has experienced the pain of anti-Blackness firsthand, my desire to partner with a Black high school English teacher came from our mutual concern and commitment to sustaining our Black students’ lives, ultimately leading to our Black symmetry. Statement of Purpose With the historical and contemporary concerns about anti-Blackness in mind, I will give an example of what can happen when a Black teacher-researcher and teacher partner create a classroom environment where Blackness takes precedence. The work of scholars and activists give teachers tools to think about how they might help students to engage in transformative work in the classroom that may help students deal with the effects of White supremacy. Teachers must fight for freedom, meaning that they must allow students to examine and dismantle an unjust society that affects them in multiple ways (Freire, 2005). Research Questions Two research questions guided my inquiry: 1. How do the pedagogy and curriculum of a Black ELA teacher and her Black teacher- researcher partner create opportunities for their Black students to engage in critical talk and text about race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness? 7 2. How do such teacher and student engagements challenge pervasive anti-Blackness and sustain Blackness? Data Sources The data sources for this dissertation include observations, audio and video recordings, memos, teacher and student interviews, and students’ literacy engagements (Critically Conscious Talk, drawings, and a racial digital narrative). I analyzed the data using In Vivo coding, critical discourse analysis, and visual discourse analysis. Organization of Dissertation The following is a brief description of each of the remaining chapters of the dissertation: In Chapter 2: Theoretical Framing and Review of the Literature, I review literature that supports my method of sustaining literacy for Black students. This chapter also contains diverse approaches to literacy learning that help students to develop their critical consciousness. This chapter ends with a description of my theoretical framing. Chapter 3: Methodology and Design, outlines the methodology for this project. I begin by explaining my use of collaborative, participatory research methods in support of my partnership with a classroom teacher. I discuss my positionality as a researcher, and I also provide details about data collection and analysis. Chapter 4: Navigating the Racial Continuum in the Classroom: Teaching and Learning a Full Black Life, features Black students’ voices. In this chapter, I examine interviews in which they shared their perceptions of, experiences with, and knowledge about race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. The coding of the data led to the construction of the framework and analysis of a continuum ranging from Racial hope to Racial suffering. 8 In Chapter 5: A Justice-Oriented Pedagogical Mutuality (JOPM): Teaching and Learning Together in the Struggles of Disrupting Anti-Blackness, I show how the classroom teacher and I attained JOPM to support the lives of Black students. Overall, this chapter describes an example of what is possible when Blackness takes precedence in an ELA classroom through the collaboration of a teacher-researcher and teacher partner. In Chapter 6: Students’ Work out of a Justice-Oriented Pedagogical Mutuality Teaching (JOLM) and Learning, I highlight what is made possible from the JOPM between a teacher- researcher and teacher when Blackness takes precedence in an ELA classroom. Students had opportunities to participate in a variety of literacy engagements. For example, the students constructed drawings based on their perceptions of race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. They also engaged in what I termed as Critically Conscious Talk (CCT) and created digital stories. Chapter 7: Black Symmetry: Sustaining Blackness within the ELA Classroom and Beyond, concludes the dissertation by extending the conversation about my findings from chapters 4, 5, and 6. I end the chapter with a discussion of the recommendations and implications resulting from this study. Definitions of Key Terminology and Ideas • Anti-Blackness—describes the theorization of the Black condition as it relates to the disdain of and violence toward Black people (Dumas & Ross, 2016). When used as a weapon to physically harm Black people over time, they can experience dehumanization and oppression (Jeffries, 2014). • Anti-Black racism—describes the system of oppression which is based on institutional practices, policies and cultural messages—as well as the beliefs held by and actions of 9 individuals to advantage one group over another (Tatum, 2017) but is used to oppress Black people, specifically. • Blackness—describes the acceptance of the multiple identities of and is the centering of the lived experiences of Black people (Johnson, Jackson, Stovall, & Baszile, 2017). • Black Language—describes the language that is used by many, U.S. slave descendants or African-American people (Smitherman, 2000). Smitherman further defines Black or African American Vernacular English (BL or AAVE) as a way to speak using English words “with Black flava—with Africanized semantic, grammatical, pronunciation, and rhetorical patterns” (Smitherman, 2006, p. 3). Throughout the dissertation, I use Black Language. • Living a full Black life—recognizes the pride, love, Black achievement, histories, languages, and the humanity of Black people. Also, it is acknowledging that White supremacy with all of its ugliness exists and underpins anti-Blackness and contributes to the Racial suffering of Black people. Thus, the recognition and acknowledgment of the full Black experience can help Black students to understand the complexities of living a full Black life. • Race—describes the socially constructed system to classify people into groups based on categories of identification designated within our society (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012). • Racial hope—Central to understanding Black hope is recognizing the permanence of racism. However, Black hope, a term that I am forwarding, describes more of the possibility in imagining how our world could be better or different from what it is now. • Racial suffering—Dumas describes Black suffering as “the ontological position of the Black as having no Human place in the world” (Dumas, 2018, p. 33). I understand Dumas’ 10 definition to mean that it is the perception that Black people’s lives and ways of being do not matter. In this dissertation, I use Racial suffering to mean the same as Black suffering. • Racism—describes the system of oppression which is based on institutional practices, policies and cultural messages—as well as the beliefs held by and actions of individuals to advantage one group over another (Tatum, 2017). • White supremacy—describes every dimension of White privilege, dominance, and assumed superiority in society. All of the dimensions include the following: ideological, institutional, social, cultural, historical, political, and interpersonal (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012). 11 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMING Introduction This dissertation gives an example of what is possible when Black lives matter (Garza, 2014). Drawing from critical work about the importance of creating a justice-oriented classroom, I review the literature in critical literacy and multimodal literacies. Before delving into these areas, I situate my work in contrast to the traditions of literacy education that marginalize the experiences of Black students. I consider concepts of race, racism, anti-Blackness, Blackness as they have been taken up by scholars. I frame this dissertation with Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) and Critical Race English Education (CREE). Brief History of Black Students and Schooling Schools have been structured around the dominant view of White people in America, which has marginalized Black people since slavery (Rickford & Rickford, 2000). Even today, Black students “struggle to acquire the kind of literacy that leads to liberation” (Ladson-Billings, 2005, p. 135). During slavery, White slave masters denied enslaved Black people the right to obtain literacy. They knew that “being able to read and to write would have provided the slaves the opportunity to learn about what was happening around them, [which is why] Whites disallowed opportunities for the [slaves’] becoming literate” (Williams, 2005, p.12). Perhaps being able to read and write could have lessened the power of White people and could have contributed to Black people’s liberation from their masters. This dichotomy created the “containment and repression of a literate culture among its enslaved population as it did on the diffusion of literate culture among its free population” (Anderson, 1988, p.1). Hence learning environments that hindered the literacy of the marginalized group were encouraged. It is worth 12 noting what kinds of literacy one is given access to since critical literacy is often absent from schools serving Black students (Collins & Blott, 2006). The early schooling of Black people was organized under the assumption that they were subordinate to the dominant group and deserved adverse treatment (Anderson, 1988; Douglas, 2005; Massey & Denton, 1993). However, even as the dominant group attempted to structure schooling to promulgate their power, Black people fought for better treatment by breaking down the structure that had oppressed them since they were forced from their homeland (Anderson, 1988; Douglas, 2005; Massey & Denton, 1993). Anderson (1988) argued, “Schooling has been about democratic citizenship,” just as much as it has involved “schooling for second-class citizenship” (p. 1). Black people were to be part of this “schooling for second-class citizenship.” Resulting from long-standing dominant assumptions and white supremacist thinking, Black people’s lower rates of literacy have emerged from deep-rooted power structures that go both seen and unseen. Ladson-Billings (2005) argued, “Literacy is deeply embedded in our conceptions of humanity and citizenship; that is, one must be human to be literate and one must be literate to be a citizen” (p. 135). Humanizing literacy experiences for Blacks is vital (Kirkland, 2013; Kinloch, 2012; Wynn, 2013. White people’s positioning of Black people as subhuman contributed to Black people’s difficulty in acquiring the literacy skills that they needed to function as men and women in a supposedly democratic society. Literacy is so essential to societal functioning that its absence could “serve as a continual reinscribing of the nonhumanness of the Black, a legitimization of the very anti-Blackness that has motivated centuries of violence against black bodies” (Dumas & Ross, 2016, p. 13). 13 Race and Racism Drawing from Sensoy and DiAngelo, (2012), I conceptualize race in this project “as a socially constructed system of classifying humans based on phenotypical characteristics (skin color, hair texture, and bone structure)” (pp. 22-23). These shallow representations can play a pivotal role in the ways Black and Brown students are racialized, both in and out of school settings. Race is socially constructed, but some people may not recognize the ways that their understanding of race could reflect their political and cultural views (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012). The concept of race is fluid (Leonardo, 2013; Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012). Still, Sensoy and DiAngelo (2012) argued that people must recognize that the impact of their mis(understandings) on the racial divide in the United States. Racism fuels the division between races. Racial issues are “among the most charged issues in society,” and peoples’ “racial position will greatly affect their ability to see racism” (Sensoy & DiAngelo, p. 97). It is therefore not viable to deny the effects of race and racism on the schooling of Black and Brown students. Schools in the United States have been structured around White peoples’ perspectives, which have marginalized Black people since slavery (Rickford & Rickford, 2000). Race and racism continue to have a long- lasting effect on the lives and education of Black and Brown students (Ladson-Billings and Tate, 1995; Skerrett, 2011). It is necessary to understand how race and racism are inextricably linked and how they should be a part of literacy instruction. Literacy is a complex endeavor, especially when trying to teach in culturally diverse learning environments (McCarty, 2005). “Literacy can involve multiple social practices (reading, writing, drawing, speaking, etc.)” (Collins & Blot, 2006). Nonetheless, debating the term is not as important as which literacy practices teachers use with their Black students in my research. McCarty (2005), quoting Freire (1970), stated, “Teaching 14 literacy is, above all a social and political commitment” (McCarty, xv, 2005). If more teachers had a social and political commitment to social justice, then they might foster an environment that includes teaching and talking about race and racism. My study is significant because it could provide teachers the theory behind sustaining Blackness in English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms with Black students. Anti-Blackness Anti-Blackness is a critical component for understanding how race and racism are linked and how the three constructs are used in ways to limit the possibilities of Blacks’ educational opportunities in the classroom. Dumas and Ross (2016) contended through anti-Blackness theorization that, anti-Blackness marks an irreconcilability between the Black and any sense of social or cultural regard. The aim of theorizing anti-Blackness is not to offer solutions to racial inequality, but to come to a deeper understanding of the Black condition within a context of utter contempt for, and acceptance of violence against the Black (p. 13). I emphasize anti-Blackness because it can be used as a tool to “more accurately capture the dehumanization and constant physical danger that Black people face” (Jeffries, 2014, p. 3). There is a growing body of research around anti-Blackness in the wake of recently reported racial violence in classrooms and communities (; Baker-Bell, Butler, & Johnson, 2017; Coles, 2016; Dumas, 2014; Dumas & Ross, 2016; Kirkland, 2013; Love, 2014). Dumas and Ross (2016) maintained that racial isolation and exclusion have become part of Black peoples’ experiences and identity since they were captured and brought to America. Thus, the lives of Black people are subject to attack, whether the attacks are seen or unseen. 15 While most of the racial literacy research discusses race and racism (Sealy-Ruiz, 2013; Skerrett, 2011), I contend that adding anti-Blackness to the argument amplifies the need for racial literacy and curricular approaches that honor the languages, cultures, and experiences of Black peoples’ lives (Johnson, 2018). What transpires in Black students’ schooling is not just symptomatic of racism, but also “anti-Black ideologies, discourses, representations, (mal)distribution of material resources, and physical and psychic assaults on Black bodes in schools” (Dumas & Ross, 2016). These experiences can be abhorrent for Black students, which often makes ELA classrooms places of pain and racial violence (Baker-Bell, Butler, & Johnson, 2017; Dumas, 2014; Kirkland, 2017; Love, 2014; Martinez, 2017). Black boys in the U.S. attend schools in “racially hostile environments” (Love, 2014, p. 292). Love (2014) drew our attention to how power functions in schools and how racism, racial profiling, and gender stereotypes are all linked to the mistreatment of Black boys in schools. Love’s article emphasized the importance of teachers rejecting dominant narratives that malign Black students. Love conveyed that there must be an “alter[ing] of Black male experiences in and outside of public schools” (p. 294). More recently, Love (2017) focused on how English education, language and literacy scholars, and ELA teachers need to center Black females in their curriculum and pedagogical practices. She explained how at one point she was only teaching about the ghosts of Black men and how she realized she should center the deaths and violence against Black girls and women. Evans-Winters and Esposito (2010) examined how Black girls are adversely treated resulting from the intersections of racism, sexism, and class oppression. Evans-Winters and Esposito (2010, citing Fordham, 1993) called attention to how Black girls are stereotyped as “loud, aggressive, and masculine” (p. 12). They cited other research “with Black girls in mind” (p. 12). Evans-Winters and Esposito (2010) called for the framework of Critical Race Feminism 16 in Education (CRFE) to promote greater equality for Black girls. Although I do not use CRFE as a framework here, CRFE supports my argument both Black boys and girls experience race and gender oppression. Racial trauma and suffering are a collective experience when anti-Blackness underpins the marginalization (Dumas & Ross, 2016). Evans-Winters and Esposito (2010) stated that there is a need for scholarly endeavors that not only serve to empirically validate the experiences of girls of African descent, but also make use of such findings (e.g., that Black girls’ have multiple realities) to strengthen coalitions across academic genres and communities, transform pedagogical practices in classrooms; and, actively promote social and educational policies at the macro- and macro-level, with those in mind who exist at the intersections of race, class, and gender. (p. 15) Centering Blackness Kirkland (2013) asked, “How does one live in a world that denies your beauty, your history, and your humanity?” (p. 118). This question comes from Kirkland’s (2013) case study in which he focused on the literacy practices of Black boys. I begin with this question to center Blackness. In response to the question, I agree with Jackson, Stovall, and Baszile (2017) who argued we must, “[Love] blackness to death by (re)imaging ELA classrooms in a time of racial chaos” (p. 60). In doing so, they de-emphasize what Dumas (2014) defined as anti-Blackness in the ELA classroom; teachers would no longer engage in the following kinds of pedagogical practices: “reject the multiple identities our Black students bring to the classroom, silence their voices by centering the lived experiences and stories of Europeans, and disrespect them by lowering our expectations” (p. 61). 17 In thinking about how centering Blackness might lead to the connectedness between understanding how a curriculum should foreground in interrogation, resistance, and dismantling of anti-Blackness and White supremacy in the ELA classroom, a teacher must do more than make curricular changes (e.g., incorporating Black texts) and strengthen teaching techniques (Ladson-Billings, 2005; Lyiscott, 2017). Are teachers prepared to take on the challenge? If so, defying the status quo by challenging normalized views of what literacy learning in an ELA classroom should look like may be complicated. Jackson, Stovall, and Baszile (2017) held the view that classrooms should become a space in which students have opportunities to “disrupt racial injustice while striving to transform the world” and where classroom teachers “humanize the lives of the Black students” (p. 62). Racial Literacy Sealy-Ruiz (2013) stated, “Racial literacy is a skill and practice in which individuals are able to probe the existence of racism and examine the effects of race and institutionalized systems on their experiences and representation in US society” (p. 386). Sealy-Ruiz’s research study presented a strong argument on the importance of racial literacy. Her 3-month study was conducted in her first-year composition (FYC) course, where she sought to help FYC students use their writing to build their racial literacy skills. Sealy-Ruiz (2013) showed the need for students to interrogate each other and to read texts about race so that they could write about their attitudes and perceptions about race. She noted, however, that a limitation of the study was that students did not act. Therefore, Sealy-Ruiz suggested that examples of students’ taking may be an important issue for future researchers who undertake racial literacy research work. Sealy-Ruiz argued that when students have the skills to interrogate the implications of racism in the 18 classroom they will be better equipped to “adopt and antiracist stance and for persons of color to resist a victim stance” (p. 386). Two other studies also set out to determine how racial literacy could benefit students’ educational experiences. Dutro, Kazemi, Balf, and Lin (2008) drew on a mixture of qualitative tools to examine one teacher’s interpretation of culturally relevant pedagogy. They explored how the teacher used racial and cultural backgrounds to study students’ discourse and social practices. One interesting finding was that the teacher’s stance was important in how the students engaged in conversations about race and other social categories (Dutro, Kazemi, Balf, & Lin, 2008). Having a particular stance aligns with Alim and Paris’s (2014) conception of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP). The authors said, “If much is as at stake in following in children’s lead in allowing these conversations to occur, more is at stake in avoiding them” (Dutro, Kazemi, Balf, & Lin, p. 296, 2008). Similarly, Skerret (2011) argued, “There has been a general reluctance in literacy education research and in schools to talk and teach about race” (p. 313). Skerrett examined how secondary English teachers addressed racial diversity in two culturally diverse schools. A teacher’s racial literacy knowledge, pedagogy, and understanding of an antiracist education were taken into consideration (Skerrett, 2011). Researchers explored the factors that contributed to the teachers’ understanding of how they enacted certain practices surrounding race in the classroom. Skerrett stated, “A key instructional approach for teaching racial literacy is to center race in literature” (p. 314). She further argued, “A school environment that maintains an explicit anti- racist emphasis can help foster a culture, where teachers and students feel empowered to develop the knowledge and skills to talk, teach, and learn about race” (p. 328). 19 Although Sealy-Ruiz (2013) and Skerrett (2011) produced work that is needed in literacy studies, Johnson’s (2018) conception of Critical Race English Education (CREE) helped me to engage more fully with Black students about anti-Black racism, White supremacy, racial violence, and police brutality. Critical Literacy Critical literacy, connected to Freire (1970), when used as a tool can help students in “challenging the status quo in an effort to discover alternative paths for self and social development” (Shor, 1999). Critical literacy, then, can contribute to the students’ psychological health. (Freire & Macedo, 1987; hooks, 1984). Willis (2008) states, An individual’s consciousness is always evolving, changing, and refining itself. In this sense, there is not one state of consciousness, but multiple interlaced consciousness that form a matrix of understandings influenced by the contexts of our internal and external worlds. What makes a person critically conscious is challenging the underlying assumptions that work in the internal and external worlds to privilege some while disprivileging others. (pp. 4-5) I agree with Willis (2008) that people have multiple consciousness. Further, I believe that students’ multiple consciousness undergirds their multiple perspectives and contributes to their meaning making about various constructs (e.g. anti-Blackness, and Blackness) when they engage in talk with others and produce literary work. Patel, Stevens, and Bean (2007) argued, “Critical literacy is not just one type of practice with similar kinds of results and that it should look and sound different, based on different contexts, participants and practices” (p. 29). Thus, during critical engagements meant to sustain Black students, teachers should be able to challenge their (mis)understandings, beliefs, and knowledge about Blackness and anti-Blackness (Shor & Freire, 20 1987). Yet Skerrett (2011) found that schools have been reluctant “to talk and teach” about race and racism (p. 313). Although there has been significant research showing the value of such talk with Black students in and beyond school settings (Kinloch, 2010; Morrell, 2004; Winn; 2015), a reimagining of critical literacy that centers talk that is explicitly about race, racism, ant- Blackness, and Blackness needs to emerge. Providing students with varying avenues to engage in critical literacy with White supremacy is necessary since critical theory “concerned with critiquing relationships among language use, social practice, and power” (Patel Stevens & Bean, 2007, vii). Ghafouri, Jackson, and Knoll (2009) joined critical literacy pedagogy and multiliteracies. In their study, they worked with a diverse group of third-grade students. Their purpose was to have the students engage in inquiry of “how languages of movement, dramatic expression and visual representations can support students’ capacity to both make meaning and represent meaning” (p. 21). Specifically, one of their projects was to have students use visual art and poetry to represent the concepts of inclusion and exclusion. Throughout the project, “the literacy practice of analysis is evident in their probing questions and their negotiation of how to express their ideas was evidenced” (p. 24). Morrell and Duncan-Andrade (2002) worked with urban youth. In doing so, they showed the importance of critical educators “valuing and affirming the cultural practices of urban students and members of urban communities” (p. 88). They designed a classroom unit based on “the social, cultural, and academic relevance of hip hop music and culture” (p. 90). The students had the opportunity to critique social and political messages in hip hop music, which helped them to understand why “social critique” is important to their social development (p. 90). This project supports my argument that engagements that reinforce critical literacy are important in 21 raising the critical consciousness of students and the broader argument of highlighting voices of what historically been marginalized. In paraphrasing Freire (1970), Morrell and Duncan-Andrade stated, “Raising the critical consciousness in people who have been oppressed is a first step in helping them obtain critical literacy and, ultimately, liberation from oppressive ideologies” (p. 89). Multiliteracies To further disrupt literacy traditions that uphold “narrowly defined views of reading” (Patel and Stevens & Bean, 2007, p. 6) or reify a “mechanistic view of instruction” (Bartolome, 1994), research on multiliteracies champions the multiplicity of voices by offering students a multitude of ways to access literacy. The New London Group (1996) argued, “Multiliteracies overcome the limitations of traditional approaches” (p. 60). They further stated that literacy instruction should address the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse people (New London Group, 1996). Love (2014) developed a Hip-Hop Based Education (HHBE). The course attempted “to build an awareness of the social and political concerns of one’s community” by giving her urban students the opportunity to create digital stories” (p. 53). The digital story activity represented an approach to multiliteracies that “linked visual images to written text, thus allowing students to construct a view of reality” (p. 56). The students’ multimodal projects served as a platform to challenge dominant ideologies that do not sustain their lived realities. Love’s multiliteracies approach to teaching and learning required students “to create counter narratives that reflect the social and cultural identities and worldview of marginalized groups and individuals” (p. 56). Thibaut and Curwood (2018) examined the multimodal work that Year 6 students in Australia crafted. The purpose of the study was to show how meaning-making was displayed in a 22 classroom that centered multimodal production. For example, the students created a silent movie that reflected the history of the school. The project included a narrative, pictures, and transitions to help the movie flow smoothly. Thibaut and Curwood (2018) argued that the students demonstrated an understanding of multiliteracies by incorporating their perceptions of the processes in their narratives. Finally, this multiliteracies project highlighted how the students “can express their identity, exercise agency, and foster a sense of authoring through multimodal production” (p. 48). Another facet of “literacy as a multimodal practice,” is visual literacy (Pahl & Rowsell, 2005, p. 126). Seglem and Witte (2009) used Horton and Braden’s (1982) proposed definition: “Visual literacy is the ability to understand and use images, including to think, learn, and express oneself in terms of images” (p.38). Visual elements have long played an important role in literacy from children’s books, drawings, advertisements, to tattoos (Baker-Bell, 2013; Kirkland, 2009; Kress, 2003; Pahl & Roswell, 2005; Seglem & Witte, 2009;). Baker-Bell (2013) highlighted how African-American students in an Advanced Placement English Language Arts class created drawings to demonstrate their initial perceptions of people who use Black Language. Next, the students had to construct a written response to their illustration. The activity “led students to draw a direct link between language and culture” (p. 365). Creating images can play an important role in helping students to represent how meaning-making is done in real time. Seglem and Witte (2009) validated the use of visual literacy. In one example, they introduced a group of ninth graders to the Norman Rockwell painting and had the students pay close attention to an image with a tattoo. Students first interrogated Rockwell’s use of the tattoo and then went on to construct tattoos on paper that represented meaningful events in their lives. This visual engagement “challenged the students to think beyond the written text” (p. 219). 23 Kirkland (2009) argued, “A new English education is taking shape at the fluid axes of these changing times” (p. 375). Kirkland challenged English educators to think of new ways of expression as literacy. In doing so, he encouraged them to better understand that “literacy is not limited to technical, prescribed, or academic functions that privilege and serve only specific forms of texts and groups of people” (p. 376). In exploring the efficacy of literacy as act—the tattooing of one Black man, Kirkland demonstrated that “literacy must also be conceived as personal, a practice in which the individual engages to negotiate and articulate the human aspects of self” (p. 391). Throughout the study, Kirkland argued that tattoos are at the intersection of words and texts. In describing Derrick, the young man who was featured in the study, Kirkland stated that his tattoos “highlight the humanity not only of a young man, but also of a literacy act” (p. 376). The fact that students’ engagements with multiliteracies have a place in the classroom as demonstrated is a major element of my dissertation despite the dominant perception that certain kinds of engagement do not count as text (Alverman, 2005). The studies discussed here show that there are diverse ways to demonstrate meaning making and personal expression. Providing students with a myriad of ways to engage critically in literacy should be the norm rather than the exception. 24 Theoretical Framing Figure 1. Theoretical framing chart Broad Framing for Teaching and Learning (CSP) I approached my dissertation from an ethnographic, humanizing approach. In taking up Paris and Winn’s (2014) notion to focus on humanizing approaches, I partnered with a teacher in a classroom space where students were supported and encouraged to question the status quo. They “conceptualized humanizing approaches as those that involve the building of relationships of care and dignity and dialogic consciousness raising for researchers and participants” (Paris & Winn, 2014, p. xvi) The teacher with whom I partnered had an asset-based pedagogical stance to teaching and students’ critical consciousness raising, both of which are humanizing approaches. Paris and Alim (2014) argued for an asset-based pedagogical approach that “seeks to perpetuate and foster—to sustain—linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of schooling for positive social transformation,” which they framed as culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) (Alim & Paris, 2017). In partnering with Ms. Thomas, I focused on what sustained Blackness among Black students in an eleventh-grade English Language Arts classroom. Alim and Paris’ conception of CSP was especially relevant since Paris and Alim (2017) argued, “CSP explicitly 25 calls for schooling to be a site for sustaining the cultural ways of being of communities in color” (p. 5). Also, the key features of CSP include the following: • Critical centering on dynamic languages, valued practices and knowledges • Student and community agency and input, historicized content and instruction • A capacity to contend with internalized oppressions, and an ability to curricularize all of this in learning settings (Alim & Paris, 2017, p. 14). Broadly, in taking up CSP in the study, I looked for opportunities that allowed students to make meaning of the constructs of race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness, especially when they could draw on out-of-class experiences. Through collaborating with Ms. Thomas, I observed that she used an asset-based humanizing pedagogical approach to teaching and learning. More specifically, in using CSP as a framework, Ms. Thomas and I created a curriculum that centered Blackness through justice-oriented teaching and learning, where the students worked collectively to create images and racial digital narratives. They also examined visual depictions and other media, read texts, and completed classwork that addressed issues of racial violence, police brutality, White supremacy, race, anti-black racism in terms of their own lives (Johnson, 2018). Critical Race English Education (CREE) as Field-Specific I was interested in the approaches that teachers use to humanize the experiences of Black students in an ELA classroom. I was also committed to learning about the opportunities that a Black teacher created to foster a learning community built on Black students’ literacies, experiences, and language. Our partnership showed some possibilities that could occur when engaging in transformative practices. Our working together may also contribute to research about 26 “reimagining ELA classrooms as revolutionary sites that disrupt racial injustice” (Johnson, Jackson, Stovall, and Baszile, 2017, p. 62). In Paris and Alim’s (2014) conception of CSP, they argued that teachers should critique dominant power structures. In doing so, teachers would have to develop a pedagogical stance that is asset-based. In my partnership with Ms. Thomas, we took an asset-based approach to teaching and learning, which was necessary for engaging Black students in literacy practices that emphasize White supremacy, race, and anti-black racism (Johnson, 2018, p. 108). The outcome of this partnership was that students engaged in critical consciousness building and participated in justice-oriented learning to de-center anti-Black racism (Baker-Bell, Butler, & Johnson, 2017). Additionally, my understanding of CSP pushed me towards Johnson’s (2018) theory and pedagogy of Critical Race English Education, CREE, because it supported our efforts to show the possibilities of focusing “on the ways in which anti-blackness and violence, historically and currently, permeate ELA classrooms, are deeply embedded within curriculum, standards, and routine pedagogies” (p. 109). In conceptualizing my understanding of how Blackness could be sustained in an ELA classroom, I joined CREE and CSP. CREE is a field-specific conceptual framework, while CSP is more broadly situated. NCTE impels English educators to raise the awareness of students around racial injustice in the ELA classroom. Their statement on Black Lives Matter declares the following: In this light, we call upon English educators to use classrooms to help as opposed to harm, to transform our world and raise awareness of the crisis of racial injustice. We call upon English education researchers to commit time to studying and disrupting narratives of racism rendered complexly in the substance of our profession (NCTE statement affirming #BlackLivesMatter). 27 Johnson’s (2018) conception of CREE as a “theoretical and pedagogical construct tackles white supremacy, race, and anti-blackness within the field of Education, ELA classrooms and beyond” (p. 102). CREE as a theory and pedagogy address the following: ● Explicitly addresses issues of violence, race, whiteness, white supremacy, and anti-black racism within school and out-of-school spaces. ● Explores the intimate history and the current relationship between literacy, language, race, and education by expanding the concept of literacies to include activist contexts and social movements. ● Seeks to dismantle dominant texts (i.e., canonical texts, art, and media texts) while also highlighting how language and literacy can be used as tools to uplift and the lives of people who are often on the margins in society and PreK-20 spaces. ● Builds on the Black literacies that Black youth bring to classrooms. Black literacies affirm the lives, spirit, language, and knowledge of Black people and Black culture. In addition, Black literacies are grounded in Black liberatory thought, which supports and empowers the emotional, psychological, and spiritual conditions of Black people throughout the African Diaspora (Grant, Brown, & Brown, 2016). Further, Black literacies move beyond the traditional understanding of texts (Kirkland, 2013) and may include tattoos, poems, novellas, graphic novels, technology/social media sites, oral histories/storytelling, body movements/dance, music, and prose. This particular component of CREE counters anti-blackness by showcasing an unapologetic, unashamed, and 28 unconditional love for Blackness and for Black lives (Johnson, 2018, pp.108- 109). My understanding of what can happen in utilizing CREE was beyond what CSP offers from the standpoint of “explicitly naming and dismantling white supremacy and anti-Black and anti- Brown racism” in the ELA classroom (Baker-Bell, Butler, and Johnson, 2017, p. 123). In putting CREE in conversation with CSP, I was able to focus on how a Black teacher’s positioning and pedagogy prepared Black students to examine and confront issues of race, racism, anti-Blackness as a way to center Blackness. Thus, in joining the two, Ms. Thomas and I were able to sustain a justice-oriented learning environment in which the students’ literacy engagements affirmed their ways of knowing and being. Conclusion This review of the literature helps to support my claims throughout the dissertation of the importance of affirming Blackness in ELA classrooms. The conceptual framework developed for this study aided me in addressing this need. In Chapter 2, I demonstrate how I built on these frameworks to partner with Ms. Thomas to center Blackness. 29 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN I begin this chapter by stating the purpose of working with and learning from a teacher- partner who is sustaining the lives of Black students in a classroom environment where Blackness takes precedence. I explain my use of collaborative, participatory methodology to answer my research questions. Next, I describe my positionality as a researcher, the framing of my methodology, the research site and the participants and how the participants were chosen to be part of a small dialogic group in which they share their perspectives and attitudes about the classroom environment. I then move to data collection, which is separated into four sections: 1) Classroom Observations, 2) Collection of Data, 3) Black students’ dialogic group, 4) Teacher- Partner. Lastly, I discuss my data analysis. Purpose The purpose of this collaborative, participatory study is to show what can happen when two Black woman teachers co-construct the curriculum and pedagogy in which Blackness takes precedence in an English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. It was from our shared understanding that we set out to explicitly address issues of race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. In doing so, we aspired to provide opportunities for the students to interrogate and dismantle White racist positioning that negated Black students’ culture, literacies, and languages. I chose to use a collaborative participatory approach. Similar to Participatory Action Research (PAR), I was committed to the of sharing of power between the teacher and me (Irizarry & Brown, 2014) so that we could directly “address issues of violence, race, whiteness, White supremacy, and anti- black racism” in the context of literacy instruction (Johnson, 2018, p. 108). A collaborative participatory approach, like PAR, can “explicitly use the research to inform actions aimed at 30 challenging and dismantling oppressive conditions” when teachers have a mutual focus toward engaging in transformative and liberatory practices (Irizary & Brown, 2014, p. 78). Research Design I decided to ground this research project in collaborative, participatory methodology to understand the importance of sustaining Blackness in an English classroom. Also, this project was created to highlight the significance of relationship building between a teacher-researcher and teacher, and value the critical consciousness raising of students around issues concerning race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. Practitioner inquiry (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009) and participatory action research (PAR) served as an inspiration to work alongside a classroom teacher (Irizarry & Brown, 2014; Morrell, 2016; 2008). Cochran-Smith and Lytle (2009) defined practitioner inquiry as a systematic, intentional inquiry by teachers about their work. This type of exploration is based on teachers knowing their practice but also setting out to make discoveries so that they can inform their teaching and learning. Although similar to practitioner inquiry, PAR has an “explicit goal of action or intervention into the problems being studied” and the participants act as co-researchers (Irizarry & Brown, 2014). I situate this project in the tradition of practitioner action research, my research work is unique because of our shared commitments towards the sustaining of Black students and my operating as both a teacher and researcher throughout the study. In working alongside a Black teacher and using research to support our partnership and our students’ learning, we were able to create a racially just classroom. Researcher’s Position As a Black woman, I recognize that my subjective experiences may be different from many educators. I approached my research knowing that I have experienced scorn, contempt, and, at times, blatant anti-Black racism. I can recall being admonished by a White English 31 professor for using Black Language (Baker-Bell, Paris, & Jackson, 2017). That hurtful incident made me search for humanizing ways to inspire and support Black students within a classroom where they feel loved and treated with dignity and respect. Like Matias (2013), my research seeks to engage with the pain and trauma that many Black students face in schools today. My research study may contribute meaningfully to other work that centers Black students’ learning in order that English classrooms do not have to “merely a site of suffering” for Black students (Dumas, 2014, p. 2). Classrooms must be a place where Black students feel empowered and where they can deconstruct dominant ideas that contribute to anti-Black racism. Finally, although I acknowledge my past pain and trauma, my emotions and shame did not prevent me from doing work on behalf of Black students whose voices have been historically silenced. My past experience fueled my desire to champion Black students’ ways of knowing and being in order to support learning among “those individuals most oppressed by social cultural subordination” (Tyson, 2003, p. 23). Framing of Methodology: Autoethnography Glesne (2016) stated that autoethnography can be used “to describe narratives of a culture or ethnic group produced by members of that culture or ethnic group; to describe the ethnography of the ‘other,’” but one where the writer interjects personal experiences in the text. By using a methodology that requires reflexivity, I am, like Johnson (2018), able “to view my personal experience as a larger cultural experience” (p. 112). I have coupled autoethnography with Johnson’s (2018) conception of CREE. In this way, Ms. Thomas, the classroom teacher, and I provided a culture of teaching and learning where Blackness took precedence and where students “delved into their own lives to explore socio cultural milieus” (Glesne, 2016, p. 24). 32 I used critical autoethnography to look at myself and have my students search within themselves (Griffin, 2012; Baszile, 2006). When I taught a course on social justice issues in 2017, I was reminded of my pain when a Black student shared to the whole class that her White English teacher had shamed her speech in front of the class. I apologized on the teacher’s behalf and thought to myself, ain’t nothing changed as far as the acceptance of Black Language despite the research that supports it (Alim & Smitherman, 2012; Baker-Bell, Paris, & Jackson, 2017; Rickford & Rickford, 2002). Black people are experiencing pervasive discrimination, racial violence, and police brutality (Baker-Bell, Butler & Johnson, 2017; Butler, 2017; Johnson, 2019; Johnson, Jackson, Stovall & Baszile, 2017). Thus, I think it is important to encourage Black students to engage in literacy practices so that they can become producers of knowledge and sustain their humanity (Alim & Paris, 2017; Morrell, 2008). By weaving my experiences through “autobiographical and autoethnographic accounts” as methods (Johnson, 2017), I endeavor to show my commitment to raising the critical consciousness of Black students by sharing our stories. Methods The methods and procedures are described to be as transparent as possible about all the data that were used throughout my dissertation. The data collected represent a detailed description of in-class and out-of-class experiences, and the triangulation of the data s supports all of the findings (Miles, Huberman, & Saldanã, 1994). By triangulation, I mean that I used multiple data collection methods, data sources, and theoretical perspectives (Glesne, 2016) to inform and analyze the data. 33 Research Site Sutton Academy (pseudonym) is a public high school located in a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States, which served as the site of my study. Sutton serves students from grades 9-12, with a total student body population of 399. It is a magnet school in the district, where 97% are African-American, 2% White, and 1% are Asian. Sixty-four percent are female, and 36 % are male (greatschools.org). While these statistics offer a basic racial and gender profile of the school, they do not offer a nuanced portrait. As reported on March 4, 2019, the school ranked third in the state of Michigan for sending students to college (Mlive.com, March 4, 2019). My Relationship with and Interest in Sutton Academy After having worked for ten years at another school in the same school district as Sutton, the current principal recruited six other teachers and me to plan, open, and teach at Sutton Academy. I taught at Sutton for six years before leaving to pursue doctoral studies. As a former teacher and department chair at Sutton, I remembered the school as a learning environment that was supportive of its teachers. It was also a place where teachers worked collaboratively and had opportunities to share and present their work at district and national conferences. My students created digital stories, which centered their identities, and the social studies teacher required the students to craft advertisements that would support their community, which was predominantly comprised of Black residents. The students were able to make cross-curricular connections. The other teacher and I had a vested interest in providing a racially just learning experience. Because of our partnering and our shared interest, we presented our work at a national conference. Sutton was a school that valued collaboration and teaching and learning that sustained its students. 34 Because Sutton embodied a spirit of collaboration and the principal encouraged and supported a culturally sustaining environment (Alim & Paris, 2017), I was not at all surprised when I approached my principal about working collaboratively with a university professor for several weeks that she agreed. My first opportunity came about when I worked with a Black female scholar whom I met at a conference. Our collaborating led to my unit on race, language, culture, and identity being more robust because more attention was placed on issues of linguistic diversity, primarily focusing on Black Language (Baker-Bell, 2013). That collaboration led to my working with another university professor spanning over a semester. Both partnerships led to our writing about humanizing research as culturally sustaining pedagogy (Baker-Bell, Paris, & Jackson, 2017). Having had positive experiences working with and learning from university professors, I decided to engage in collaborative, participatory research again for my dissertation. I was excited about the possibility of partnering with a teacher whom I knew and with whom I had sustained a strong working relationship. Teacher My collaboration with Ms. Thomas, the teacher, was central to my inquiry. Nicole Thomas, (pseudonym), the classroom English teacher with whom I partnered, is a Black woman, who has taught for five years at Sutton Academy and who has been teaching for a total of nine years. She attended the same school system as a student herself for grades K-12. When I interviewed Ms. Thomas, she described herself as being interested in race and racism because of her classroom demographics. She expressed that the Black Lives Matter Movement pertains to them and that it was important for students to be informed so that they could be a part of the discussion. She also mentioned current events that focused on police brutality, racially driven marches, and the justice system. She stated that it was critical to connect literature with students’ 35 lived experiences. My prior relationship with Ms. Thomas as her colleague led me to believe that she had an asset-based pedagogical approach to teaching and learning. Dialogic Spiral I used Kinloch and San Pedro’s (2014) dialogic spiral to help me with making the partnership between Ms. Thomas and me visible. In writing about the dialogic spiral, they stated that “seeing more deeply, realizing the importance of others’ words (and names), utilizing speech and action, and collaborating for transformation are fundamental principles by which to deeply and deliberately listen to and with others” (p. 27). I extended this idea to the classroom space. Kinloch and San Pedro (2014) also posited the following: The language we utilize to talk, write, and listen to one another, even in moments of silence, shapes the ideological struggles we are already part of as we engage in educational projects. Thus, literacy and literacy’s engagement become expansive. Moreover, the utilization of language encourages us to move beyond traditional educational projects and into human (humanizing) projects. (p. 28) In taking up the notion of the dialogic spiral, I shared my knowledge with the teacher and her with me. Through our “storying” and mutuality within the dialogic spiral, our partnership fostered a learning community where students’ counter stories, literacies, languages, and culture were valued and affirmed. By “making visible our (i.e., Ms. Thomas and me) thinking processes (streams of consciousness), ways of listening and responding to one another (in dialogue)” and our storying (p. 22), I was deliberate in labeling four sections as “storying.” Dialogic Group Selection In trying to understand the dialogic culture (Paris, 2011) of the class and the students’ attitudes about critiquing and challenge White supremacy and anti-Blackness, I desired to work 36 with five Black students who were willing to commit to talking with me for an extended amount of time at least three times over the semester. I also wanted to learn from students who would be willing to share their counter narratives about dealing with anti-Blackness (hooks, 1994). Based on my own experiences with anti-Blackness, I felt it was likely that the Black students in Ms. Thomas’s classroom had experienced racism (Bell, 1992; Delgado & Stefancic, 2012; Leonardo, 2013;). I selected the student participants for my dialogic group throughout the following stages: Stage 1. During the first month of the second semester, for three days a week, I observed two of Ms. Thomas’s eleventh grade English classrooms. I observed, took field notes, and recorded classroom talk to get a sense of the dialogic culture of the class. During the first month, I built relationships with students by sitting in on group discussions and listening, occasionally talking when a student asked for my opinion. Basically, I hung out in Ms. Thomas’s classrooms to see what was happening. When I observed each class, I jotted down notes in my journal or typed them into a Word document (Table 1). In table 1, I organized a chart into three columns, which reflect observations, the teacher’s moves, and the students’ moves in response to the teacher’s moves. The observations are evidence of what I believe to represent a culturally sustaining classroom (Alim & Paris, 2017). I also recorded some classroom talk to get a sense of the dialogic culture of the class. Periodically, I walked around the classroom and engaged in small talk with the students to begin building relationships. 37 Table 1. Memo: February 1, 2018 Observations Teacher’s Moves Builds a classroom community – Listening, Caring, Trusting, Engaging in critical talk) Environment – Academic Success Vulnerability and openness to talk about socio/cultural/ political issues relative to Black people Builds on students’ cultural assets Allows students to bring in their lived experiences by making text-to-self and text-to- world connections; shares her own personal stories with students; shows care for her students (when students are not doing well, she expresses her concern and lets students know that she wants them to do well (Memo dated-2/1/18) I heard the teacher say that the students will write another essay before the students take the SAT, and she said, “You will do better” and “I am not going to lower my expectations.” (Memo dated- (1/26/2018) Teacher smiles and laughs with students Shares her position on race, racism, blackness, and anti-Blackness Moves seating from rows to pods (groups of 4) Shares personal stories to relate to students and does not appear to be concerned about becoming too personal when it comes to making students more socio-politically aware about issues of race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness; allows students to challenge hegemonic ideologies and practices that do not sustain their Black lives, literacies, and cultures Reading adolescent literature (texts for and about kids their age - The Hate You Give) Allows students to use Black Language Uses various mediums to engage students critically around topics relative to their culture, identities, language Infuses media clips which center Blackness (e.g., Blackish, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi, Jamila Lyiscott) 38 Student Moves Based on Teacher’s Moves Responds positively to Ms. Thomas’s instruction – raising of hands, questioning and interrogating each other back and forth (between students and teachers) Appears motivated – submission of work, raising of hands, smiling, laughter, sharing of personal stories, openness Shares personal information about family, background, cultural settings in which they live and from where they come Shares personal information about family, background, cultural settings in which they live and from where they come; acceptance and use of Black Language Table 1. (cont’d) Observations Teacher’s Moves Asset-based view of students’ cultures, identities, languages, backgrounds Critical Talk Teacher Stance Making- Positionality Provides opportunities for students to (question, interrogate, dismantle) issues centering race, racism, Blackness, anti-Blackness); allows students to challenge her and does not appear to be threatened—shift in power dynamics; allows students to use Black Language and doesn’t correct their speech; writing workshop model rather than stressing importance of product over process; values students’ opinions; centers Blackness and disrupts anti-Blackness Provides different mediums for students to engage in discussion around race, racism, Blackness, anti-Blackness which are the following: drawing representatives of the constructs; blogging about constructs, dialectical journals, Socratic seminars, think-pair-share, racial narrative, chalk talks, whole class discussion, small group discussion, poetry writing, final project (digital stories) Teacher takes a position around the importance of engaging students in critical talk about race, racism, Blackness and anti-Blackness Admits that she is user of Black Language and allows its use in the classroom Resists the status quo with regards to curriculum choices and normative ideologies around language Positions herself as “Teacher as Interrupter”— building on Sealy-Ruiz work (YouTube video) Student Moves Based on Teacher’s Moves Responds favorably to teacher’s approach to learning—participates during small and large group discussions, shares personal stories, etc. Enthusiasm, willingness to participate, listens, shares ideas, creates images that represents their sensibilities about race, racism, Blackness and anti-Blackness; writing is thoughtful Enthusiasm, willingness to participate, listens, shares ideas, students engage in conversations about issues of identity related to race, racism, blackness, and anti- Blackness (e.g., resisting White standard— discussion around Black people’s names) 39 Table 1. (cont’d) Observations Teacher’s Moves Classroom Environment Classroom organized into groups of 3-4, movement of desks to meet the needs of students Student Moves Based on Teacher’s Moves Need to talk to students more about the classroom set up. Originally, class was in rows. Ms. Thomas changed room around to groups. An anonymous student left note on board basically saying “change” and that the comment represented class’s feelings. lol Stage 2. Once I had chosen the class with whom Ms. Thomas and I would collaborate, I had informal conversations with students in the school cafeteria so that our conversations were in a non- threatening environment. I wanted the students to feel comfortable. It was important to me to meet with the students away from the classroom environment. Perhaps in doing so, I felt that I could lessen the power dynamic between the students and me since power gets enacted in certain settings (e.g., the classroom), where students may feel that that they have less agency (Morrell, 2008). I wanted to build trust with the students, especially since I knew that they would be talking about race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness, and perhaps sharing their experiences with anti-Black racism. In initial conversations, we talked about sports, music, happenings around school, and news events. After some time, I started asking more directed questions about their willingness to talk with me more about their classroom experiences, the curriculum, and Ms. Thomas’s teaching. Stage 3. After eating lunch with various groups, I chose five students with whom I wanted to have extended conversations for the dialogic group meetings. I chose them because they were Black students and were likely to share their perspectives so that they could have extended opportunities to voice their opinions on experiences that are often silenced (Glesne, 2016). I met with Ms. Thomas during one of our collaborative meetings to discuss my choices. I was surprised to learn that she 40 wanted James, her only White student, to join the dialogic group. I let her know that I wanted the group to consist of Black students since the focus of the group to learn about Black students’ perspectives of Blackness, and anti-Blackness. Ms. Thomas did not back down. She said that James could share his thoughts on attending a predominantly Black school and dating a Black student because Star’s boyfriend was White in The Hate You Give (T.H.U.G). Ultimately, I agreed. After the decision to add James to the group was made, I met informally with the dialogic group in the library during lunch-time and after school for semi-structured interviews (Glesne, 2016) four times over the course of the semester. During those meetings, we talked more directly and candidly about the class (e.g., the curriculum, their attitudes on race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness). Also, I scheduled individual meetings so that I could meet with students separately. The group consisted of Shayla, Simone, Casey, MJJ, and Adanté. All of the stages represent purposive sampling. I focused on a context that was unique because I wanted to learn from and work with Black students who would have opportunities to share their sentiments and experiences about learning in a classroom, where the Blackness takes precedence (Miles, Huberman, & Saldanã, 1994). Table 2. Student Demographics Name Simone Shayla Casey MJJ Adanté James Self-Identified Race Black African-American Black American African-American African-American White Grade Self-Identified Gender 11 11 11 11 11 11 Female Female Female Male Male Male Age 17 17 16 17 16 17 Note: Although some of the students self-identified as African-American, I use the racial category Black to identify the students in my research. Dialogic Group Members I present each of the dialogic croup members (Table 2) in the following chapters as they reflect on their attitudes and perspectives on learning and working in a classroom that sustains 41 Blackness. My dissertation writing was an iterative process, so I contacted the dialogic group members to ask them to describe themselves and feelings about the dialogic group and their learning in class. Since my study relied heavily upon the students’ voices, I wanted the descriptions to come from their perspectives rather than my ascribing identities to them (Fine, 2017; Kirkland, 2013). Simply put, I felt compelled to disrupt imperial colonial logic that narrowly ascribes labeling in the norms of academic scholarship by highlighting Black students’ voices own self-determination to name and describe themselves. Simone: Shayla: I am a Black female. When I was approached to be in the dialogic group to talk about race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness, I was excited yet nervous. The excited part to my feelings stemmed from the fact that I get to express my opinions on these topics in a non-traditional format. I would get to sit with people (specifically a small group) and discuss how I felt towards the topics without feeling I have to in order to get a grade. I really enjoyed reading T.H.U.G., and it changed my perspective on topics that I knew I was uncomfortable with. In addition to this excitement, I would have the opportunity to express myself in class liked haven’t before…Before the unit, I would sort of become uncomfortable and not talk as often during discussion. I would raise my hand occasionally, but I would mostly let other people express their opinions because I did not think than mine was very important. After the unit, I would describe myself as slightly less “ignorant” and open to issues going on around me. I dig deeper into stories pertaining to subjects I am not as familiar with and try to think of how I feel about them. Being an African Woman, I realized pretty soon in life that I was a double minority. It wasn’t until my junior year, at the age of 17 that I realized what that actually meant. I was willing to participate in the discussions because it’s not something many people are even willing to talk about, even Black people. I also really don’t like labels but that could be because I don’t understand why they are the way they are. All the discussions really benefited me because I was able to not only understand the differences in Blackness and anti-Blackness, but I was able to identify in my own life. There is so much tensions surrounding the conversation of what makes you Black, or if you are considered Black enough. These conversations gave me the understanding that there are so many ways to be Black. Before the unit I was hesitant, “Black in the right situations” type of person. Now I’m an empowered, confidently Black at all times type of person. That doesn’t mean that I’m standoffish or I am anti other races because that doesn’t produce progress. But I know what I am, I 42 Casey: MJJ: Adanté: know how I identify, and this experience allowed for enlightenment. I only wish that other races found it just as important to learn about the many different types of people around them, and longed to have discussions and conversations as much as I do. That’s the only way we can break these century old barriers that keep us apart. When I met Ms. DJ and participated in her dialogic group, I was 16 years old and in my junior year of high school. I identify as a Black American female. The topics covered in the dialogic group (blackness, anti-blackness, race and racism) all intrigued me heavily due to my background. At some point I’ve dealt with each term in a different manner and I wanted to contribute to a study analyzing and discussing the effects of each term on a student like myself. Through this study I felt as though the experiences I’ve had finally mattered, and I had a space to share the impact they had on me. The discussions held in the dialogic group also helped me to realize that my peers also shared many of the experiences I had. Prior to this unit, I would say I was ignorant to the vast meanings of the terms, blackness, anti-blackness, race, and racism. Also, my knowledge was limited on the many historical works that cover terms like these. For example, before the unit, I had no exposure to Richard Wright and his work, but in Black Boy I was able to read and comprehend the underlying points about Blackness and race. After the unit, I felt more accepting of my race and just more aware. I’m an African-American male who worked with Ms. DJ when I was 17 years old. I was willing to participate in the dialog group to discuss the topics of race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness because I wanted to give my own perspective of the topics, while also hearing other people’s views in a close-knit environment. The discussion helped me because I learned how parental views or an experience ended up shaping how we act. For example, Simone told the story of when she went camping and her mom wanted her to wear specific clothing and be on her best behavior so that she could leave a good representation of Black people. In addition, Simone told the story of how she might have received certain looks from people because she was in an interracial relationship, but she wasn’t really affected. Before the unit, I would describe myself as misinformed since I had limited knowledge of the terms and didn’t have many experiences with the topics outside of school. I am an African-American male. I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Ms. Jackson at the age of 16 years old throughout my Junior year at University High School. I was more than willing to participate in the 43 discussion about race, racism, Blackness, anti-Blackness because I have had a deep interest in these things since a young child. I've always been one who's wondered why things such as racism and anti-Blackness exist. This discussion truly benefited me because I was not fully aware of the term “Blackness.” I always thought that when African-American people embraced their culture that it was just us accepting ourselves and our culture, but I never knew that there was a true term for this. I always never knew why I would hear people say that Black people cannot be racist, but one discussion opened my eyes to the fact that as an oppressed race we cannot be racist. All of the students expressed their sentiments about the topics race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness in dialogic group meetings, during classroom discussions, and in interviews. I was able to document their feelings through field notes, audio recordings, and video recordings which are evidenced throughout the chapters. Table 3. Data chart Data Sources Field notes from Participant Observation Interviews Dialogic Group Observations Classwork Examples Jottings and memos Notes and video and audio recordings Notes and video and audio recordings Jottings, memos, and video and audio recordings Blogs, chalk talk, dialectical journals, drawings, racial digital stories, racial narratives, and think-pair-shares Correspondences from teacher and Students Emails, taped phone conversations, and text messages Participant/Observation Paris (2011a) argued, “Participant observation has long been deemed the hallmark method of ethnographic and linguistic anthropological fieldwork” (p. 179). I used participant observation as way to “describe and explain the relationship” (Paris, 2011a, p. 179) of how the students engaged in conversations and of how they made connections to their literacy work and explicated their attitudes and perceptions about race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness (Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw, 2011; Morrell, 2008). Throughout the study, I went back and forth 44 between participant and observer because I worked alongside Ms. Thomas teaching, and I examined how her positioning and pedagogical practices operationalized to sustain a classroom environment, where Blackness took precedence. Before actual observations began in December, I met with Ms. Thomas three times during her prep hour to begin planning a Critical Race English Education (CREE) curriculum (Johnson, 2018). We discussed what she wanted to cover and where we could implement a unit that focused on Blackness. I took notes and collected the textbook and other materials. To see what an asset-based approach to teaching and learning looked like, I made classroom visits two- three times a week for 50 minutes each visit over a span of 6 months. Each visit was either video or audio recorded. I transcribed parts of the audio and video recordings. I wrote detailed memos about my observations and the memos were organized under to the following headings: dialogic culture (i.e., what is happening in action), cultural norms (i.e., what is the typical or unexpected social behavior), cultural dynamics (i.e., how the students interacted with each other and the teacher), the implications (i.e., significance to research goals), and moving forward (i.e., what did Ms. Thomas and I need to do as far as future planning to affect instruction) (Emerson, Fretz, & Shaw, 2011). In doing so, I was able to organize my thinking about the classroom environment. Interviews Interviewing participants can be a compelling way for them to describe their “life world” (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2014, p. 37), and to engage in counter storying as a means to critique and disrupt anti-Blackness (Baszile, 2014; Kinloch, 2012, Kinloch, Burkhard, & Penn, 2017;). Throughout the study, I engaged in semistructured interviews. In doing so, I usually began with presupposition questions (see Tables 2 and 3) to shape the discussion; however, I did 45 not always need them since I was willing to “modify or abandon them, replace them with others, or add to them depending on the flow and time constraints of the interview (Glesne, 2016, p. 97). I interviewed the dialogic group four times spanning over the semester (Krueger & Casey, 2000). Outside of the dialogic group, I met with each student to interview them at least three times, at the beginning, the mid-way through and at the end of the study. I also interviewed the teacher at least four times throughout the study. Table 4. Teacher Presupposition Questions Initial Questions 1. Discuss how the kinds of approaches that you use to engage students in talk about race and racism? 2. Discuss how you foster an environment in which students will share their out-of-class experiences concerning race and racism? 3. What are your perspectives on students’ cultures, identities, and literacies being honored? 4. How do you imagine the role of English teachers, curriculum and pedagogy in improving the educational lives of diverse learners? Assignment Questions 5. Considering course assignments, readings, and/or class discussions, discuss what tools have been most helpful for you in your teaching and learning for your students about anti-Blackness and Blackness? Why? 6. Considering assignments, readings, and/or class discussions, discuss what tools have been least helpful for you in your teaching and learning for your students about anti-Blackness and Blackness? Why? 46 Table 4. (cont’d) Student Learning 7. Discuss in what ways you have impacted student learning on the topics of race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. 8. Across course assignments, readings, and/or class discussions, and thinking about your teaching and learning as a classroom teacher, discuss what has been most helpful for you in thinking of the ways you could help with learning around race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. 9. Based on your experiences as an English teacher, how would you describe the impact of educational policy, such as Common Core State Standards, district curriculum, etc. to engage students in those topics? Table 5. Student Presupposition Questions Initial Questions 1. Would you like to have opportunities to engage in conversations about race and racism? 2. Do you feel like as a student you have a voice in class? 3. Do you feel like you are able to make connections to your out-of-class experiences? If so, how so? Explain 4. Have you ever experienced racism? How so? Ever in the classroom setting? Assignment Questions 5. Considering course assignments, readings, and/or class discussions, discuss what tools did the teacher use that have been most helpful for you in your learning about race and racism? Why? 6. Considering assignments, readings, and/or class discussions, discuss what tools have been least helpful for you in your learning about race and racism? Why? 47 Table 5. (cont’d) Student Learning 7. How did you feel as a student about your learning opportunities to take up issues around race, racism, anti- blackness, Blackness? 8. Based on your experiences as a student this semester, how would you describe the need for more opportunities in the English classroom to address issues of race, racism, anti- blackness, Blackness? 9. How do you feel about yourself as a student about these issues? Pictures The students drew their conceptions of race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. When the students were provided the opportunity to create their drawings, engage in talk, and later write about the connection between the images the constructs, the students’ knowledge of how they engaged in meaning-making was enhanced. Racial Digital Story The racial digital story was a multi-faceted and multi-voiced project (Patel, Steven & Bean, 2007). To find more opportunities for the students to show what they had learned about race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness, Ms. Thomas and I created a project to support the students as writers and thinkers who are capable of reading and writing the world as they know and experience it (Freire, 1970; Morrell, 2008). Students worked collectively to create a racial digital story about race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. The students were required to write a narrative and visually show how the constructs of race, racism, Blackness, and anti- Blackness have influenced their experiences, their sense of self, and how they think about the world around them. The racial digital story had to include pictures and music to reflect and align with stories that they had written. The final requirement was that they should to try and make 48 connections to The Hate You Give and Black Boy around the topics (e.g., race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness) as best that they could. Other Assignments Curricular work, racial narrative, think-pair-shares, poetry writing, gallery walks, chalk talks, dialectical journals, presentations, group work, and blogs were used as assignments for the students to make meaning from a variety of curricular texts and experiences with anti-Black racism. Curricular Texts A major component of the class was to expose students to a variety of texts (e.g., novels, short stories, music, videos, TED Talks, media clips). In doing, Ms. Thomas and I provided opportunities for the students to “speak back to and against” topics concerning racial violence, police brutality, race, racism, anti-Black racism, White supremacy (Johnson, 2018). Even though students had to read mandated texts (e.g., the textbook), we organized instruction in a manner that they would be able “dismantle dominant texts (i.e., canonical texts, art, and media texts)” for the purpose ensuring that Blackness would take precedence. We used every opportunity to lift out aspects of the text for students to use to reflect on their lives and understand how power operates as a means to marginalize certain groups (Boutte, 2015). See Appendix E for a truncated list of texts. Qualitative Coding Data Analysis My central approach to analyzing the data was by using qualitative coding, critical discourse analysis, and visual analysis. Before coding, I read through the data multiple times to determine what supported the idea that Blackness should take precedence in an ELA classroom 49 among Black students. I thought very carefully about how a teacher’s pedagogical approach contributes to sustaining a classroom where Blackness is the focus and how that focus affects the learning of Black students. From there, I began coding. I used multiple codes to help me work through the data sets. I took the following steps: Step 1. I attached descriptors to the teacher’s transcribed interviews, memos, and jottings based on what I understood as an asset-based humanizing approach to teaching and learning (See Table 6). Table 6. Descriptors of Classroom Culture Descriptors of Classroom Culture Builds a classroom community – Listening, Caring, Trusting, Engaging in critical talk Environment – Academic Success Provides opportunities for students to engage in vulnerability and openness to talk about socio/cultural/political issues relative to Black people Builds on students’ cultural assets Takes Asset-based view of students’ cultures, identities, languages, backgrounds Shows Stance Making-Positionality Step 2. I used In Vivo coding to highlight “words or short phrases from the participants own language” to help me to determine if the students’ attitudes or perspectives supported what I noticed from Step 1 Also, I simultaneously added Values codes to “reflect a participant’s values, attitudes, and beliefs” to represent the student’s perspectives about the descriptors. The data from Steps 1 and 2 helped me to understand what was happening in the class. Based on the descriptors and results from In Vivo coding, I was able to determine that the teacher engaged in an asset-based pedagogical approached to teaching multiple times. Both the teacher and students expressed their sentiments about the classroom culture. 50 Step 3. In order to create the data that I needed for the racial continuum in Chapter 4, I coded the student’s interviews, their attitudes about their drawings, and their narrative from the racial digital narrative. Then, I coded for the nuances of racial optimism and racial suffering. I focused on the question: How do the students engage race and racism in their classroom talk and text and how do such engagements challenge pervasive anti-Black racism. Table 7. Evidence of Coding for Racial Hope Students Racial Optimism Casey Shayla Simone James MJJ XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXX XX XXXXX Racial Comparative Racial Validity X X XX X XXX X Table 8. Evidence of Coding for Racial Suffering Students Racial Shame (Internalized shame) Racial Passivity Casey Shayla Simone James MJJ XX XX X Drawings/Racial Digital Story (Critical Discourse Analysis and Visual Analysis Evidence) To uncover the teacher’s and students’ discourse moves for a semester, I used critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2015). Rogers (2014) defined critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a set of theories and methods that have been widely used in literacy research to show the relationships between discourse processes and social structures. I used CDA as an analytic tool to interpret my data. The evidence helped to confirm my claims that Black students should in a classroom, where a Black teacher used an asset-based pedagogical approach to teacher and learning and where Blackness takes precedence. 51 First, I decided to focus on three of the student drawings (Simone, Casey, and Adanté). Next, I earmarked the sections from their face-to-face interviews to determine when they talked about race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. I did this so that I could compare the student’s transcribed talk from their interviews to what they had written about their drawings. I checked for similarities and dissimilarities. The only dissimilarities that arose was the number of details in the written text. The student’s positioning did not change. Perhaps having the time to write more and home, and not having the constraints (e.g., time) that can from interviewing, afforded them more time to express themselves more fully. Afterward, I downloaded what the students wrote about their drawings in our classroom blog’s page. Finally, in looking at how students used language to construct utterances, I used Gee (2014) to create stanzas. By doing so, I examined the speech more closely to cluster the ideas around more significant pieces of information so that the talk may be more easily analyzed later. I chunked the talk around the distinct categories: race, racism, anti-Blackness, Blackness. The initial chunking of the data led me to make some assumptions about the student’s critical consciousness raising. The themes that was evidenced based on my analysis were: Making historical connections, Disrupting Notions of the White standard of beauty, and Interrogating power dynamics between Black power and White supremacy. This type of transcription method was appropriate in helping me to understand better the drawings that the students made in building their critical consciousness around the concepts. Also, I was distinctly interested in understanding how the words and phrased contributed to their understandings and how the grammar aided in creating their compelling narratives. Gee (2014) argued that by placing speech in stanzas, the listener may be able to organize ideas that might make sense or have meaning to the listener. I used the same organizational process as far as arranging the students’ poem from the racial digital narrative into 52 stanzas. As far as clustering, I organized the texts into the themes of Blackness, which centered Black pride, Black Language and racial violence. In doing so, I was able to understand how the student’s poem illuminated their overall understanding of Blackness and anti-Blackness. Lastly, I used Rose’s (2016) semiological approach combined with Albert’s (2014) approach to visual discourse analysis (VDA) to understand students’ drawings. I used steps 1-4 of Rose’s (2016) approach to a semiological analysis: 1. Decide what the signs are. 2. Decide what they signify in themselves. 3. Think about how they related to other signs in themselves. 4. Then explore their connection (and the connection of the connections) to wider systems of meaning, from codes to ideologies). Rose pointed out that semiological study builds on Ferdinand Saussure’s, Course in General Linguistics. The sign as argued by Saussure consists of two parts: the signified and signifier. The signified is a concept or an object (e.g., passion/love). The signifier is a sound or an image that represents the signifier (e.g., roses). Rose (2016) posited, “All knowledge depends on signs (p. 108). The students with whom I worked and from whom I learned created various signs (i.e., drawings) to represent the constructs race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. Also, Albers (2014) argued, “Semiotics offers a way of thinking about meaning in which language and visual texts work in concert, and in which language is not the primary source through which meaning is mediated and represented” (p. 87). In using visual discourse analysis and semiology as an approach, I sought to address my research questions by trying to discern what their drawings tell me about their sensibilities concerning the four constructs and what these drawings may tell me about the broader conceptions of Blackness and anti-Blackness. Figuring out the students’ 53 meanings behind their drawings was helpful to me in understanding how they conceptualize and write about the concepts. At this point, it is important to mention that I looked to understand how students conceptualize race, racism, language, and identity in connection to the texts that they created in class and their lived experiences. Conclusion In this chapter, I provided detailed descriptions of my methods and analysis. I employed critical discourse analysis, visual discourse analysis, and semiology as methods to understand my data. From here, I made connections across the data and drew final conclusions. Evidence of my methodology can be found throughout the remaining chapters of the dissertation. 54 CHAPTER 4: NAVIGATING THE RACIAL CONTINUUM IN THE CLASSROOM: TEACHING AND LEARNING A FULL BLACK LIFE In this chapter, I will center Black students’ voices about their experiences with how White supremacy has affected their lives and their ways of knowing and being. In doing so, I discuss how White supremacy underpins the dehumanization and oppression of Black people and how it affected the students with whom Ms. Thomas and I worked. I begin by examining the students’ sensibilities in interviews about Blackness and anti-Blackness. In the following sections, I present themes and patterns that emerged from the interview data. Throughout the chapter, I emphasize the importance of a teacher who creates a space that values students’ consciousness raising, knowledge, and sensibilities. Ms. Thomas, the teacher, provides humanizing classroom experiences in multiple ways. These experiences of engagement help students to understand how White supremacy contributes to anti-Blackness. Following the practices of humanizing ethnographic research, I integrate the results and discussion, which lead to an analysis of the continuum of racial understanding that ranges from Racial hope and Racial suffering. The patterns that emerge show the importance of centering Blackness in ELA classrooms. Centering Black Students’ Voices Black liberation as a movement should not only take place within our communities but also in classrooms where students learn. Like Dumas (2018), I struggle with what it means to help students deal with Black suffering both in and out of the classroom. Dumas (2018) explains Black suffering as “the ontological position of the Black as having no Human place in the world” (p. 33). I understand Dumas’ definition to mean that it is the perception that Black people’s lives and ways of being do not matter. 55 In taking up Dumas’ conception of Black suffering, I attempted to understand it through the student’s voices. By analyzing their dialogue from our interviews, I conceptualized how the various dimensions of White supremacy affected them both in and out of school and how they made meaning of the dehumanization and oppression of Black people, which is tied to anti- Blackness. Based on my understanding of how the student’s internalized and experienced White supremacy, I trace the students’ positioning on a continuum from Racial optimism to Racial passivity. How might we view Racial hope or Racial suffering?1 In what ways do students talk about their experiences, and how might our conversations contribute to centering Blackness in the ELA classroom? My point is to share the symbolic importance of such conversations when reasoning why an ELA classroom should decenter White supremacist positioning and practices. In examining the students’ perspectives, it is important to point out that the students’ consciousness at any given moment lay somewhere on the continuum between Racial hope to Racial suffering. The following tables represent the nuances of Racial hope and Racial suffering. In sharing their stories, the students sometimes opened up and let themselves become emotionally vulnerable by discussing issues and experiences that contributed to their meaning-making and consciousness building. According to Solórzano and Yosso (2002), such counter-stories are helpful because they give members of marginalized groups the opportunity to expose, analyze and challenge master stories. Solózano and Yosso (2002) described how, “Storytelling and counter-storytelling these experiences can help strengthen the traditions of social, political, and cultural survival and resistance” (p. 32). Just as the counter-stories helped me to better 1 There is no difference between racial suffering and Black suffering. I use the terms interchangeably to describe the students’ experiences with and attitudes towards anti-Blackness. 56 understand students’ understanding of Blackness and White supremacy during the interviews, they may have been a cathartic experience for the students when they expressed how they see and experience the world around them. To discuss the students’ positioning and counter-stories, I first highlight Racial hope and its presence in the stories that Casey, Shayla, and MJJ shared. Table 9. Racial Hope Characteristic Racial optimism Racial comparativism Racial pragmatism Definition Expression of Racial hope is expressed with positive sentiments Expression of Racial hope is compared to that of White youth Expression of Racial hope is expressed realistically Many studies have shown that ELA teachers can provide a humanizing space where they In Defense of Racial Hope and their students can confront White supremacy (Alim & Paris, 2017; Bartolome, 1994; Camanigan, 2015). In doing so, teachers’ practices may appear to be radical. They help students “to explore the depths of their unresolved historical grief while helping to cultivate a deeper knowledge of and compassion for self, mobilizing efforts to develop a deep sense of control over their collective lives” (Camanigan, 2015, pp. 426-427). In this way, the White gaze can be banished (Morrison, 1992). I draw on this line of work on humanizing pedagogy to conceptualize what I am calling Racial hope. By Racial hope, I mean that students and teachers are able to express themselves freely in a classroom space to question, interrogate, and dismantle the effects of White supremacy and anti-Black racism. In my conception of having Racial hope, it does not mean that a person is an idealist and believes that one day we will live in a society, where racism no longer exists. Simply put, Racial hope does not discount the permanence of racism (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012), but it is more of the possibility in imagining how our world could be better or different from what it is now. 57 Based on my conversations with some of the students from the dialogic group, there should be opportunities for them and other students to acknowledge each other’s pain and traumas resulting from White supremacy (Tatum, 2017). In doing so, they might not have to bear the burden alone from the effects of White supremacy. The struggles against anti-Black sensibilities will not happen swift enough. Thus, what are some of the possibilities that ELA teachers can begin with presently to help students deal with the effects of White supremacy and resulting Black suffering? In this chapter, I lay the groundwork for a justice-oriented English classroom by highlighting the student’s voices to show the need for enacting curricular choices, which contribute to students’ having positive perceptions of Blackness. Racial Optimism Here is a brief conversation between Casey and me about Ms. Thomas using literacy as a tool to help her confront the effects of White supremacy. In this passage, Casey expresses what I came to understand as Racial optimism (May 18, 2018). DJ: Casey: DJ: Casey: DJ: Casey: DJ: What about, the unit, and you kinda spoke to this a little bit, so I kinda want you to elaborate a little bit, when you said that it was empowering for you. It’s just like after reading [The Hate You Give] and doing the lessons and going through the unit and talking about how amazing it is to be Black, and how there are so many strengths that come with it. Mm-humm. It really helped to build my confidence in that— Mm-humm. --because [tremulous voice] I don’t think it’s fair that Black people have to go through all that they do. I don’t think it’s fair. Yes. 58 Casey: And reading literature such as The Hate You Give and watching the TED talk about the single story and, being bilingual with Black Language and Dominant American English just helped me to feel more comfortable and prepared to be the Black woman that I will be one day. Revealing her excitement about the novel The Hate You Give (THUG) and the unit, Casey also shows that her feelings of self-worth are tied to her feelings about being a Black girl. She demonstrates an awareness that Black people are not always portrayed fairly. Some of the novel’s messages about societal and systemic racism, police brutality, the cycle of poverty, and racial identity contribute to White perceptions of Black youth and the opinions that Black youth hold of themselves. Implicit in Casey’s talk is the awareness that being exposed to a curriculum that reveals the truth about White supremacy can be powerful and affirming. In a different interview, Shayla expressed Racial optimism about Black Language (BL) when she talked about a conversation that she had with her mom after a classroom discussion concerning linguistic hegemony, the power of one language over another (May 18, 2018). So, if we were to accept Black Language as like a real thing and – and use it um, in things like standardized testing, like have the student fill out which one they feel more comfortable using– Mm-hmm. –then I think that would better measure someone's capability and their intelligence, opposed to like putting them in this setting and these boundaries that they aren't too comfortable with, you know. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So, it – at any point in your conversation with your mom, were you able to share how we talked about shaming, how that um, it affects a student in terms of how students are shamed about their language use? Uh, was there any conversation around the whole point of our engaging in this dialogue was that language is a part of our – our Blackness, right? Mm-hmm. Shayla: DJ: Shayla: DJ: DJ: 59 Shayla: And so, the more we begin to accept diversity in terms of language use among our – among black people, our people, that the more acceptance we – you know, we – the more people will feel accepted um, rather than feeling as though that they're not accepted. Earlier in a conversation with Shayla, she revealed that her mom felt that BL should not be accepted as a language because she felt that it was not something that could not be used in the real world. Her mother’s attitude about BL shows the effects of White supremacy and internalized shame. Language is connected to our identity and to denounce our language leads to dehumanization (Smitherman, 2000). Also, this is linguistic violence against herself which stems from the effects of White supremacy and the privileging of White mainstream English. Also, the conversation shows that the work in the class has helped Shayla express how and why BL should be accepted. Rather than limit BL’s use through dialoguing with others, she conveys that students should be able to choose which language they feel most comfortable when taking the district, state or national tests. Instead of debating the legitimacy of BL’s use on standardized tests, what is more important is how white supremacist thinking can affect the perception of some Black people’s acceptance of one language over another. In this case, her mother’s attitude is influenced by hegemonic Whiteness. Alim and Smitherman (2012) argued, “Some Black folks suffer a linguistic shame that hypercriticizes any speech that sounds ‘too Black’” (p.22). Shayla’s perspective of BL acceptance shows the connection between Blackness and linguistic approval. Both Shayla and Casey share similar sentiments around embracing Blackness through Racial optimism. 60 Like Casey and Shayla, MJJ, expressed similar sentiments towards Racial hope. When talking about discussions which center the Black experience, the novel THUG and sharing how important it is to not adopt a single narrative of people, in general, he said the following (May 9, 2018): MJJ: DJ: MJJ: DJ: MJJ: Hmm. So, I would say that I've had, um, other opportunities to think about the Black experience, maybe in terms of, more like a history class. History class, right. Um, and I would say that I do agree with you about the whole, um, not adopting a single story, just because it is more complex than that. Mm-hmm. Um, in terms of, like, what I've learned from THUG, I would say that being an advocate for yourself, and standing up for what you think is right, is always more important. MJJ made reference to not adopting a single story. After having viewed and engaged in CCT about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi’s The Danger of the Single Story, MJJ offered his honest judgment about acceptance being a complex issue. In doing so, he juxtaposes Adichi’s TED Talk with THUG. I understand MJJ as implicitly recognizing the importance of Blackness and the dangers of not accepting one’s culture and racial identity for self-esteem. Being exposed to texts that center Blackness appear to have helped MJJ to promulgate critical perspectives that affirm the importance of accepting difference and championing one’s beliefs. Racial Comparativism Even though all students expressed Racial optimism across the interviews, one student conveyed elements of what I came to understand as Racial comparativism. This type of stance toward Racial hope is to compare oneself to White people rather than focusing exclusively on Black people’s racial progress and identity formation. For example, MJJ acknowledges that there 61 have been times when he has compared himself to White youth because he had not seen counter stories that showcase the successes of Black people. (May 9, 2018) DJ: MJJ: Wow. Okay. So, hold on, because I've got a, uh, so you're saying, basically, let me just make sure I'm, I’m characterizing, you know, what I'm writing down as you're saying, so, you don't see a lot of black representation, right? Well, I've noticed, um, in conversations with some of my friends, like, I've noticed how I've said, like, I’ve kind of compared myself, since I'm a teenager, to, like, a teenager, a White teenage movie star…I watch a lot of YouTube videos, so I tend to see more White YouTubers, and they’re not necessarily flaunting their success, but you do see what they have, and you kind of, you want to be successful. So, that's sort of what I kind of figured out about myself, is that since there aren't really a whole lot of, like, black people, there are in history, but since there aren't a lot now that I can look up to, I sort of look up to, um, a lot of Caucasian people, would kind of makes me feel slightly anti-black, in a way. His understanding of Racial hope was expressed as Racial comparativism. Because of the media’s over-representation of White male faces (which can contribute to the pervasiveness of anti-Blackness), MJJ’s racial hope is tied to his identification with White boys and men rather than Black boys and men. From MJJ’s perspective, the stories and images that affect him have contributed to his racial identity. The fact that MJJ identifies with images that center White people appears to be the result of a culture that centers Whiteness. Delgado and Stefancic (2012) maintained, “Whiteness is also normative; it sets the standards in dozens of situations” (p. 84). Deglago and Stefancic argued that the dominance of Whiteness has affected American culture (especially media, film, and literature). Thus, the influence of multiple digital literacies and visual images that de-center Blackness have affected how MJJ perceives himself (Banks, 2011; Kress, 2010 Rose, 2016). In fact, Lee (1991) argued, “Young Black males in contemporary American society face major challenges to their development and well-being” (qtd. in Kirkland, 2009, p. 377). As a result of 62 MJJ’s overexposure to White images, he has not been able to examine and come to know himself independent of the White Gaze (DuBois, 2007; Morrison, 1993). Not only does MJJ not have a strong self-conception, but he also does not explore the possibility of how the intersections of race and racism could affect his future success. He sees White youth achievements and feels that he can, too, which is not entirely untrue. However, his reality is more complex than he knows because he does not take into consideration how being Black could hinder his success. For MJJ and other Black students with similar dispositions about themselves, an understanding of how structural forms of racism and inequity can create barriers to their success is crucial. MJJ’s comments speak to the need for teachers to help Black students sense of their lived existence and have the opportunity to examine the harsh realities that Black people face. That is why Ms. Thomas worked to create a space her for Black students to understand how their perceptions of how race and racism in society can affect their progress and identity development (Carter, 2008; Kinloch, Burkhead, & Penn, 2017). Racial Pragmatism As MJJ and I continued our conversation, his perception of Racial hope shifted toward Racial pragmatism. Racial pragmatism is when one’s Racial hope is evidenced and some acknowledgment of Racial suffering. Without overtly saying that painful experiences are inherently part of Black life, MJJ’s failure to acknowledge the dehumanizing experiences of Black people as a result of White people’s behavior needed more thoughtful interrogation. He opened up and said, “Um, and there’s a lot of things that are, like, just different about our races that, I guess, kind of, have shaped us, if you like, the way we are, towards each other….” In offering his consideration of Black oppression during our interview, MJJ does not reveal the depth of his understanding of the unjust, lived realities of Black people. He recognizes 63 and understands that Black peoples’ experiences are different from White people and that White people’s behavior has affected Black peoples’ history. However, MJJ’s pragmatism suggests that he may not take racial violence, oppression and anti-Blackness, the inherent features of White supremacy, seriously enough. Thus, he does not acknowledge a relationship between the suffering of Black people and the ways that White people relate to Black people. Although MJJ does not address the connection between racial treatment and racial suffering during his interview, other students in class addressed the connection during Accountable Talk. Accountable Talk was used as a strategy in class to promote learning of key concepts and students being able to make connections to their lived experiences. Some of the students expressed their honest sentiments when answering the question: Have you witnessed or experienced trauma because of your race? One student conveyed that “Not traumatizing, but I have been racially profiled and looked at funny because of my race. While another student expressed that “Personally, I have not. However, historic events and news still affect me as a Black individual.” Construction of Difference: Moving Past Racial Suffering Table 9 represents the nuances of Racial suffering as represented in the student voices of Casey, Simone, Shayla, MJJ, and Adante´. Table 10. Racial Suffering Characteristic Racial shame Racial passivity Definition Expression of internalized shame of oneself (operationalized as internalized shame) Expression of Black suffering with indifference (i.e. to situate oneself as neither racially optimistic nor pessimistic) On the opposite end of the spectrum of Racial hope is Racial suffering. During our interviews, students shared that the class allowed them to explore the ways that White supremacy 64 materialized in their lives through Racial shame or Racial passivity. We explored how anti-Black racism continues to uphold and perpetuate White supremacy. At times, our conversations became intense. As the students’ acknowledged the effects of White supremacy, some students became tearful while others expressed indifference. By continuing to center the student’s perspectives, I recognized the need for students to offer detailed examples of their experiences with White supremacy. In doing so, there were opportunities for them to construct meaning from their experiences with White supremacy. It is important to point out that although students shared stories, those experiences did not prevent them from having a full Black life. Simply put, my understanding of their experiences illuminated how living a full Black life for the students ranged from Racial hope to Racial suffering. Living a full Black life is recognizing the pride, love, Black achievement, histories, languages, and the humanity of Black people. Also, it is acknowledging that White supremacy with all of its ugliness exists and underpins anti-Blackness and contributes to the Racial suffering of Black people. Thus, the recognition and acknowledgment of the full Black experience can help Black students to understand the complexities of living a full Black life. As I later explain, although the students’ experiences were perceptibly different, they were interrelated in how White supremacy was evidenced throughout their storying. In the Black consciousness, there is no binary between Racial hope and Racial suffering. To understand the students’ multiple states, I realized that categorizing their racial feelings into two categories was limiting. Thus, to conceptualize the role of a Blackness-centered curriculum in improving the literacy of Black students, I needed to have a nuanced understanding and create a continuum that was reflective of my understanding of living a full Black life. 65 Racial Shame The following conversation with Casey depicts Racial shame which was expressed as internalized shame. Tatum (2017) stated that internalized shame is when the positioning of the dominant group (White people) affect show the subordinate group (Black people) sees themselves. Here is a portion of our conversation (May 18, 2018). Casey: DJ: Casey: DJ: Casey: DJ: Casey: DJ: Casey: DJ: Casey: DJ: Casey: --and I didn’t feel secure in the idea that I was Black. Mm-hmm. --because I know how difficult it is— Mm-hmm. --and how there’s like so many issues and things that come along with it. Oh, no, you’re about to cry? Yeah, because it’s kind of emotional— Yeah. --talking about it. Mm-hmm. Um, just the way that I felt that way. Yeah. But I didn’t wanna be black. Um, [tremulous voice] I wanted to be white, actually. This exchange with Casey became emotional. Her tears resulted from sharing her feelings. In communicating with Casey through text messaging after our interview, I asked for further clarification to learn if her response was caused by a class discussion, a reading or an assignment. She shared that her feelings originated from her personal experiences but that reading T.H.U.G. triggered those memories of not wanting to be Black. She also expressed that 66 hearing other people share their experiences of being Black brought up these emotions. Our conversation shows how vital it is for students who struggle with White supremacy to share with others their feelings on how internalized shame resulting from the effects of White supremacy is necessary. The internalization of White supremacy has historically affected how Black people view themselves (Fanon, 1963; 1952). The struggle to help Black students to envision themselves more positively is daunting when the world around them is a constant reminder of the how they are excluded and how their lives are not validated in texts and images more pervasively. From the time Black children come to understand their Blackness, which makes them different from dominant America, “the struggle for a strong positive racial identity for Black Afro-American children is clearly made more difficult by the realities” of racism (Tatum, 2017, p. 123). Casey’s feelings about being Black were strongly tied to the mistreatment of Black people, especially being a Black girl. Another time during our interview, Casey conveyed that our society defines race based on the texture of one’s hair and skin color. She recognized that the purpose of defining people based on visual and simplistic characteristics is to divide and malign further marginalized groups, which contributes to Black peoples’ Racial suffering. Having similar sentiments to Casey, Simone said, “Race has to do with the White standard. It’s very Eurocentric that [White people] prefer the White hair over—straight hair over curly hair.” For both girls, Casey and Simone recognize how race, the color of one’s skin, and hair texture are examples of how White supremacist beauty standards continue to affect them negatively. Muhammad and McArthur (2015) argued, “The double jeopardy of being both Black and female in society has continued to create and reinforce a U.S. culture satiated with derogatory representations of Black women and girls” (p. 136). Widespread negative depictions of Black women and girls affected them. Having the space in class to question, interrogate, and 67 dismantle the effects of White supremacy over the semester afforded Casey and Simone the chance to gain a deeper appreciation for their Blackness as teenage Black girls, love themselves, and to consider ways that they might take action. Like Casey, Shayla internalized Racial shame, which had a deleterious effect on the way she envisioned herself becoming a Black woman. In our conversation, she moves back and forth between Racial optimism and Racial shame (April 9, 2018). Shayla: DJ: Shayla: DJ: Shayla: DJ: Shayla: DJ: Shayla: DJ: Shayla: DJ: Shayla: DJ: And, uh, because I had kinda like resented being African-American for a while, learning about these different things helped me to like be more understanding – Mm-hmm. – of my culture, and not just kinda like hate them, but like to understand them, you know. And I think that also kinda helped me understand myself because, you know, I just – I just was one-sided, like I had this – Yeah. You see African American people – women, particularly on the news, and oftentimes they're not portrayed in a way that I would wanna be portrayed. Yeah. So, that's why I felt like I didn't wanna be Black. Mm-hmm. But when you see things like that, it really does change your perspective and change what you think you can be because – Mm-hmm. – now I see that there are other people being these women that I want to be, you know? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So, it really did, it opened up a lot of doors – Okay. 68 Shayla: DJ: Shayla: DJ: Shayla: DJ: And especially in me, I kinda like had to sit down one night and like ask myself, like why did you hate, you know, African-Americans? Yeah. Like why did you just label all this one way and just automatically feel like you could separate yourself – Yeah. – because you can't change the fact that you're black, you know? That's right. That's right. Shayla shared she “resented being African-American” based on the ways that Black people, and specifically, Black women are portrayed in the media. Negative portrayals affected her psyche, which influenced the way she saw herself. As she became painfully aware of the negative portrayals of Black women, Shayla’s internalization of White supremacist perceptions of Black beauty and Black peoples’ behaviors triggered her not wanting to be Black. Muhammad and McArthur (2015) asserted that Identity formation is a critical process shaping the lives of adolescents and can present distinct challenges for Black adolescent girls who are positioned in society to negotiate ideals of self when presented with false and incomplete images representing Black girlhood (p. 133). Thus, Shayla’s sentiments resulting from the effects of White supremacy is connected to a long tradition of Black women’s oppression, exploitation, and ghettoization (Collins, 2000). Collins argued that the invisibility of Black women’s ideas and sensibilities and negative depictions of Black women have contributed to their subjugation and the maintaining of social inequalities. The exclusion of Black women’s’ representation in the media and texts and negative depictions affected Shayla’s worldview (Muhammed & McArthur, 2015; Collins, 2000; Fordham, 1993). 69 Just as Dumas (2018) argued that Black suffering could be represented as aesthetic assault, “in which the Black body is constructed as wrong, inappropriate, not enough,” (p. 39), I contend, that Shayla experienced aesthetic assault as she struggled with her own Blackness. Shayla acknowledged, however, by centering Blackness in the class, the classroom engagements opened up possibilities in helping her to reshape her thinking about Black women and Black people overall. Seeing Black women and reading texts about Black youth, Shayla learned about social issues that affect her and the communities in which Black people live. Even though she is conscious of not being able to compromise her Blackness even if she wanted to, Shayla’s implied critical understanding that she should resist how the effects of White supremacy can contribute to Racial shame is apparent. Indeed, challenging the status quo about stereotypes and biases that can lead to the dehumanization of Black people and their Racial suffering is vital. Shayla and other Black students are better able to confront and resist the negative influence of oppressive messages that reify White supremacy when they have opportunities to develop their critical consciousness in ways that center Blackness. Ms. Thomas and I understood that centering Blackness in the curriculum and helping students to develop their critical consciousness towards their acceptability of themselves could serve as a catalyst in promoting a change in Black students’ beliefs and practices (Souto-Manning & Smagorinsky, 2010; Freire, 1970). Simply put, Ms. Thomas provided a space that did not contribute to Black erasure. Racial Passivity Although Racial passivity another aspect of Racial suffering is not as unsettling as Racial shame, it is still problematic. Racial passivity is when Black people situate themselves as neither Racially optimistic nor pessimistic. MJJ, whose sensibilities in the interviews represent Racial 70 comparativism, also shows racial passivity. MJJ offered his understanding of Blackness with a matter-of-fact attitude. “I feel like, since I’ve seen so much, um, of White people’s success, it’s kinda just something that, like, you associate yourself…” (May 9, 2018). While Shayla engaged in Racial shame because she did not see enough of Black women representation, MJJ, who has seen a greater degree of “White people’s success,” seemed to associate himself with White people. Although his response lacks explicit aspects of Racial shame, he downplays the importance of Black people’s accomplishments. MJJ would arguably benefit from seeing more Black men who are successful. In doing so, that is not to minimize the importance of critiquing patriarchy and toxic masculinity, which are constructs that men across different racial and ethnic backgrounds play into. Thus, seeing Black men who are critical of patriarchy and who have a Black feminist consciousness or gender consciousness are necessary. Also, I should emphasize the importance of MJJ being exposed to Black women’s voices from reading and learning about Black women’s epistemonologies and ontologies. Framing Blackness: The Classroom Context How might teachers assist Black students in transforming their perceptions of themselves so that they might not feel disempowered? Creating learning environments, where students are critically challenged and where their learning takes place in humanizing classroom spaces (Carter-Andrews, Brown, Castillo, Jackson, & Vellanki, 2019; Camanigan, 2015; Bartoleme, 1994; Duncan-Andrade, 2011; Freire, 2005) is critical. That is why the broader cultural, political, and ideological aspects of Blackness should take precedence in an English Language Arts classroom. Kirkland (2008) argued that the New English education signified an effort to center the literacy learning around the lives and lived experiences of today’s Black youth. It has been ten 71 years, and yet some teachers still limit their approaches because they do not take into consideration the experiences, the realities, and the literacies of the students whom they teach, (Coffey & Wu, 2016; Kirkland, 2008; Milner, 2007; Tatum, 2017). The painful realities of anti- Black sentiments influence classroom dynamics, and students are not able to experience schooling in just and equitable ways (Coles, 2016; Dumas, 2016; Kirkland, 2013; Ladson- Billings, 2005; Leonardo, 2013; Love, 2014). Based on my interviews with Casey, Shayla, MJJ, Simone, Adanté, and Ms. Thomas, I build on Kirkland’s argument by identifying the need for a concerted effort to reshape classroom pedagogy to focus on Black students’ lives. In doing so, Bartolome (1994) reminded us that the teacher’s positioning needs to be taken into account: “The present-methods restricted discussion must be broadened to reveal deeply entrenched deficit orientation toward ‘difference’ (i.e., non- Western European race-ethnicity, non-English language use, working-class status, Femaleness) that prevails in the schools in a deeply ‘cultural’ ideology of White supremacy" (p.179). Haddix (2009) observed, “Dominant stereotyping and racial typecasting in her work with African American youth in community writing projects” (p. 341). Teachers’ perceptions of student writing directly affected how the students understood their own writing abilities. Thus, the positioning of teachers is central to the racial and literacy development of students Adanté, feeling racially optimistic. He expressed what he felt about what was happening in Ms. Thomas’ classroom: I feel like this by far is the most enjoyable English class out of my whole school career span. Probably because of just we talk about real world problem and things that are relevant in today’s society and not just Shakespeare in a collections book or literature…I feel like reading The Hate U Give has been very beneficial to not only me, but like 72 everybody as a whole because it’s an eye-opener or for some people, a reminder of what really goes on people’s lives, lives within the inner city. (March 6, 2018) And Casey’s racial optimism expressed comparable sentiments, “Reading this book has kind of helped me to identify some things that I’ve witnessed in my lifetime so like microaggressions that I might have been faced with and not really even have known that they were microaggressions” (March 6, 2018). All the students interviewed expressed racial optimism. Yet those students who shared their sentiments of internalized shame, the negative role that the media has placed in their lives, or expressions of indifference should not overshadow their exuberance of being in a classroom space that is culturally sustaining (Alim & Paris, 2017; Paris & Alim, 2014). What if the primary role of the ELA teacher was to provide learning opportunities for Black students to explore, and question the social, historical, and political aspects of scholarship without the dominance of Eurocentric standards? Denying the students’ right to see themselves in texts and to explore societal issues that affect their lives prohibits them from having a worldview that encompasses love, hope, and the possibility of their taking responsibility of changes that might occur in their lives. Discussion: Recognizing the Realities of Living a Full Black Literate Life By centering the broader cultural, political, and ideological aspects of Blackness in English Language Arts classrooms, teachers can show Black students that they have a commitment to and respect for their lives. Without paying close attention to the voices of the Black students we teach, we may continue to promulgate dominant narratives that reinforce inequity and subjugation. In thinking about Ms. Thomas’s pedagogical stance and presence with 73 her students, I felt that her attitude and beliefs about the power in students’ meaning-making and voice was similar to hooks (1994): As a teacher I recognize that students from marginalized groups enter classrooms within institutions where voices have been neither heard nor welcomed, whether these students discuss facts—those which any of us might know—or personal[ly] experience, my pedagogy has been shaped to respond to this reality. (p.85). Ms. Thomas, like hooks, provided opportunities for her students to become vulnerable and share their experiences collectively without judgment because we all bring to the classroom “experiential knowledge, that this knowledge can indeed enhance the learning experience” (hooks, 1994, p. 84). Ms. Thomas let her students reveal how they felt about anti-Black discourse and experiences through in-class literacy practices. Having the opportunity to explore the nuances of Racial hope and Racial suffering through class discussions, blogs, and writing assignments, the students came into the interviews having already done work to explore their feelings. Thus, in an ELA classroom setting where students can openly make connections between their lived experiences and the texts that they are reading, they can disrupt anti-Blackness and highlight Blackness. In doing so, students may develop more positive racial identities and a greater sense of Racial hope. I support the nuances of the continuum of Racial hope and Racial suffering using the students’ perspectives of Blackness and anti-Blackness. I show how some Black students experience being Black in America, especially the ways their experiences can come to the surface within the ELA classroom. Their voiced expressions show similarities and dissimilarities. Indeed, they do experience a full Black life. Perhaps living a full Black life 74 constitutes having enjoyed aspects of Racial hope and endured Racial suffering but still having experienced everyday victories despite “promises of equal opportunity, grotesque forms of racism, racial discrimination, and racial inequality” (Allen, 2013, p. 177). Implications As explored through interviews and literacy events in Ms. Thomas’s class, having a classroom environment that fosters opportunities for Black students to confront anti-Blackness may help to stop the erasure of Black students’ ways of knowing and being. Thoughtful literacy planning that includes texts written by Black authors about Black youth, media that centers Blackness, and discussions that disrupt dominant notions and is harmful to Black students is necessary. For Black students to experience racial optimism more pervasively, the ELA curriculum should include racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse voices and writings. When teachers refuse to allow Black students to become more racially aware of themselves and reimagine themselves, students will be unable to empower themselves. The struggle toward Black freedom in Ms. Thomas’s ELA class may come with some tears, but to deny Black students the opportunity to reclaim their Blackness represents teachers’ acceptance of Black suffering. The students’ counter-stories (their interviews, discussions, racial narratives, blogs, and digital stories) support how important it is for ELA classrooms to offer students the chance to gain a critical consciousness of what it means to experience anti-Blackness and to move beyond the indignities of racism. hooks (2013) argued, “The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy” (p. 12). I argue that this premise is the same for PreK-12 teaching and learning. The constructs Racial hope and Racial suffering are part of the reality for most Black people. For the students I highlight in this section, Shayla, MJJ, Casey, Simone, and 75 Adanté, and other Black students whose voices often go unheard, their Black lives are dependent on teachers taking a humanizing approach to their learning. The heart of taking on a humanizing approach, which centers Blackness, is about “designing and enacting projects that heal wounds and foster love through the process of critical inquiry and praxis (Baker-Bell, Paris, and Jackson, 2017). 76 CHAPTER 5: A JUSTICE-ORIENTED PEDAGOGICAL MUTUALITY: TEACHING AND LEARNING TOGETHER IN THE DISRUPTING ANTI-BLACKNESS Prelude: Let’s Get to It: Teaching as an Act of Love, Commitment and Justice-Oriented Pedagogical Mutuality The fact that larger American society has historically framed Black lives as less valued than White people’s lives is a reality and does affect the learning of Black students (Coles, 2018; Dumas, 2016; 2014; Johnson, 2018; Shujaa, 1994; Tatum, 2017). By recognizing the continuing crisis around educating Black students, which is part of the larger framing around racial violence in the classroom (Baker-Bell, Butler & Johnson, 2017; Butler, 2017Johnson, 2019; Johnson, Jackson, Stovall & Baszile, 2017; Martinez, 2017; Cherry-McDaniel, 2017; Dumas & Ross, 2016), this chapter addresses how a Black high school English teacher and I, a Black teacher- researcher, developed a relationship that required a commitment to our Black students and a negotiation of classroom practices. By working together, we sought to create a justice-oriented pedagogical mutuality (JOPM) that supported the students whom we endeavored to sustain culturally, linguistically, and racially. I define JOPM as an approach that encourages the sharing, acceptance, and dialogic practice of another person’s ideas, sentiments, and feelings about various aspects of teaching and learning that center justice-oriented transformative practices. Like hooks’ (1994) engaged pedagogy2, JOPM is a pedagogical approach “respect[s] and care[s] for the souls of our students” (p. 13). In the case of Ms. Thomas and me, we engaged in JPOM because we sought to “relate to the students as whole beings” (Berry, 2010, p. 20), which meant that we considered how anti- 2 hooks’ (1994) Engaged Pedagogy is a holistic approach to learning and the belief that “to educate is a practice of freedom (p. 13). It emphasizes “well-being, mutual vulnerability” between the teachers and students (as quoted in Berry, 2010) and dialogue. Finally, it is concerned with “enacting pedagogical practices” that help with “interrogating bias in curricula that reinscribe systems of domination (such as racism and sexism) while simultaneously providing new ways to teach diverse groups” (p. 10). 77 Blackness could affect students’ growth and learning. Thus, we focused on using JOPM to sustain a culture of justice-oriented learning, where the broader cultural, political, and ideological aspects of Blackness took precedence in our English Language Arts classroom. Through using analytical autoethnography, I juxtaposed the personal stories of Ms. Thomas and me to describe what occurred throughout our dialogic consciousness raising and relationship building (Johnson, 2018; Kinloch & San Pedro, 2014; Ladson-Billings, 2017; Willis et al, 2008; Baszile, 2006). Further, I incorporated counter-storytelling as a methodological tool to show the importance “to counter and dismantle traditional ideologies and narrow claims that educational institutions, educators, and society-writ-large hold about people who are often on the margins (Johnson, 2018, p. 113). In doing so, I centered my relationship with a Black teacher to show how I engaged in counter-storytelling to describe how we challenged White supremacy in support of the teaching and learning of Black students by foregrounding a Black teacher- researcher and Black teacher’s voices. I examine the following questions in this chapter: (1) What understandings emerge from a Black teacher-researcher and teacher that encourage reflection and collaboration to build and sustain a dialogic classroom culture, which centers Blackness? (2) How do we build a community in the ELA classroom to create an environment, where students can feel intellectually and emotionally sustained around Blackness? (3) How do our curricular choices and JOPM support the literacy learning of Black students? In looking across these questions, ultimately, I seek to answer the following question: In what ways does the engagement of these three questions help me to understand the nuanced understandings of JOPM? Moreover, I attempt to describe the themes, which emerged: (a) taking a stance that embraces linguistic and cultural equity to support an anti-racist classroom experience (b) willingness to become 78 vulnerable and open to talk about personal experiences in the context of the socio/cultural/political issues relative to Black lives (c) building on and connecting students’ lives through texts (e.g., literature, textbook, media, songs, and discussion). This chapter shows what is possible when Blackness takes precedence in an ELA classroom through the collaboration of a teacher-researcher and teacher partner. Furthermore, the chapter demonstrates the need for Black teachers who have ways of knowing, being, and doing that are effective with Black students. I present my own reflective experience in teaching with and learning from a Black woman English teacher to show what can happen when two teachers unite in a quest to raise the critical consciousness of Black students. After spending 5 ½ months with Ms. Thomas, I reflected on how I might best tell our stories. Throughout our working together, we relied on each other for critical feedback, support, and innovation. In doing so, we always centered the students’ needs. Out of my struggle to capture our collaboration, I show how we came to a nuanced and evolving understanding of how we might engage the students through critical talk and work around interrogating the dominant cultures’ rationality of anti-Blackness. Also, I strive to show how our working together was inspired by our desire to support the learning of Black students. Discursive threads between Ms. Thomas and I are woven together throughout my story so that I might examine critically and identify what we shared in common to attain our JOPM. My storying begins here. Sunrise: Storying as a Way to Reflect It was early fall 2017, and the morning sun had just peered through my window blinds. I awakened with a smile on my face. I was excited about partnering with Ms. Thomas and discovering what happens in an English classroom when a Black teacher supports the learning of 79 Black students through talking and writing about how they have experienced anti-Blackness or witnessed racist acts. I pondered over all of the possibilities that we would have to make a difference. Having experienced pain and trauma during my own schooling, I knew first-hand the effects of racist deficit thinking from my undergraduate professor (Baker-Bell, Paris, & Jackson, 2017). As a young Black student, I often felt demeaned and humiliated by the ways my teachers and the curriculum silenced, erased, or misrepresented my Black life. Still, when I became an English educator, I did not always educate to build the critical consciousness of my Black students. It was not until I began reading texts that helped me to understand my own anti-Black experiences and working with and learning from teachers and professors that I began to view my work as a chance to examine my positioning and practices more critically. While teaching in a K-12 setting, I had to adhere to strict curricular mandates such as teaching prescribed canonical texts at the expense of adolescent literature written for and about students and the ubiquitous kill and drill grammar lessons with no connection to the reality that most Black students were not using Dominant American English (Paris, 2011) was not an antidote to Black students experiencing racism. Even with those constraints and realities, I felt most burdened by the fact that my teaching did not explicitly try to disrupt the system on which White supremacy is built. In order to be less troubled by that shame and to work toward a world I want for my children and all Black children, I knew that I had to do better. Just as in hooks’ (1994) conception of engaged pedagogy, in partnering with Ms. Thomas, I desired that we would take up practices that would result in our “expanding beyond boundaries” and “to imagine and enact pedagogical practices that engage directly both the concern for interrogating biases in 80 curricula that reinscribe systems of domination (such as racism)” while at the same time sustaining the diverse Black lives, cultures, and literacies of our students (p. 10). I wondered if there were places where Black students’ lives were being supported fully in English classrooms today? If not, how might English teachers who are committed to loving and not denying Black students their “full humanity” teach in ways that sustain them (Matias, 2015)? Working with Ms. Thomas, I thought would give me the chance to make visible the importance of understanding how hegemonic rhetoric and actions can influence Black students’ learning and living. I envisioned the students becoming engaged in their learning by having opportunities to talk about damaging and unsettling experiences that play a role in their dehumanization as a means to empower them. I wanted them to examine critically and disrupt sentiments of anti- Blackness. I, however, had feelings of ambivalence, too. I knew that Ms. Thomas would have to create a learning space, where the students could feel safe and comfortable. The students would have to know that we cared about them, not just through our words but actions. We would be committed to their growth and progress. We would need to teach in a manner in which we would inspire and enrich their lives. We would have to achieve the goal by exposing the students to a multiplicity of voices, which center the experiences and ways of knowing of the Black people. At times, we would be vulnerable, too. Students would need to have opportunities to take risks with sharing of themselves as would we. We would explore, confront, and reject anti-Black rhetoric that affects them both in and out of the classroom to deconstruct anti-Black racism. Arrival It is early January 2018 when I arrive into Ms. Thomas’s class for the first time. I notice immediately that the students’ eyes are looking attentively at her. I pull out the seating charting that Ms. Thomas had given to me about a week before my first visit. I take out my laptop and 81 begin observing, mostly. However, I decide to take notes, paraphrasing, and at times, writing verbatim what the students say, after fifteen minutes or so passed. Only a few students nod their heads at me, but they turn away quickly. Ms. Thomas tells the students that they will be reading, The Hate U Give (T.H.U.G.) by Angela Thomas. Ms. Thomas shows the students the cover of the book. Then she invites me to introduce myself to the class. I share with the students my background, experience, and research work. More specifically, I share why I want to learn from them and how they will have the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to research work that will center Black students’ lives. Immediately following my introduction, Ms. Thomas advises the students that they will be reading from Collection 4 (A New Birth of Freedom). Before having the students take a look at the new section, Ms. Thomas has the students to reiterate their learning from prior sections. I notice that several students raise their hands to respond. I observe them flipping through their books to the new section, and they appear eager to share their responses. I record a few responses in my field notes from that I have lightly edited for clarity throughout the discourse thread. What follows is an excerpt from my field notes of my visit on January 9, 2018. Figure 2. Illustration from Collections book 82 Ms. Thomas asks the students to look at the quote on the first page from their Collections textbook. Jordan is the first student to raise his hand. He makes a personal connection based on the White House in the picture to his trip to Washington, D.C. Then MJJ points out that the picture reminds him of the legacy of slavery. Davonté makes a connection, however, to the 13th amendment and freedom. Ms. Thomas quickly chimes in. “How so? “It makes me think about how African-Americans have contributed and trying to still gain respect about their contributions,” Shayla bursts out excitedly. Then Nyx makes the connection to liberation and strong feelings of being American by referencing the American flag. Casey makes a connection to freedoms, too, and of how they are going to be freed. She emphasizes how they are not REALLY freed yet. Ms. Thomas interjects and contextualizes for the students “a new birth— new freedoms. Tony, another student, makes a connection to Jim Crow laws. Simone extends Jackson’s argument. She talks about freedoms made with boundaries. Another student adds on that we are Black and not held back physically, but systematically we are. To add to this student’s ideas, the student took up even further the ideas of systematic oppression. Shayla, however, shares that the two phrasings that stood out for her were “limited freedoms” and “secondary freedom.” It appears that Sierra tries to make meaning of what she hears by saying, “It’s symbolism at play.” She goes on to make a connection to the picture about how a lot of things are not being done yet. Loudly, she retorts back to the class, “unfinished.” Angrily, Alfred makes the connection to African-Americans holding this country up. Ms. Thomas is quiet throughout the students’ exchange. Then she interjects again. “How do you feel about the world now around Black freedom. MJJ, who had been quiet for some time, loudly shares his thoughts, “We are more aware of the lack of freedoms because of the internet and systematically, we have a long way to go. Ms. Thomas uses MJJ’s response as an opportunity to show on the Smart 83 Board an H & M advertisement of a Black child wearing a sweatshirt adorned with a picture with the words “coolest monkey in the jungle.” No one makes a sound at first. Then everyone begins to speak at one. Ms. Thomas quiets the students. She then shares a personal story that took place between a friend about the ad. After the students quiet down, Ms. Thomas asks the students, “What are your feelings.” The students begin to talk all at once. Smiling and laughing at the students’ eagerness to share their opinions, Ms. Thomas stops them all at once. She provides the intellectual space for the students to share their feelings. She asks the students if the H&M ad is racially insensitive or just flat out racist. Some students ask if there is a difference. I listen to a number of the students express their feelings, and most, if not all of them, share that the company has gone too far, and that the ad is in fact racist (Field Note, 01/09/2018). Figure 3. H&M advertisement That first day I noticed that the students had repeated opportunities to express themselves about the effects of race and racism despite the textbooks lack of acknowledgment of how the terms contributed to Black people’s lack of freedoms. Ms. Thomas strategically juxtaposed the H&M advertisement with a picture from the textbook. In doing so, the conversation was robust. I noticed that the teacher was comfortable with making connections to real-world issues. I 84 observed the students expressing their opinions and interrogating others’ opinions. It was a fluid interaction. Some students raised their hands while others chimed in when talk appeared to slow down. Perhaps their discursive interactions were an everyday occurrence. I had a few questions. Is making connections to real-world issues that get to the heart of anti-Blackness the social norm in Ms. Thomas’s class? Does Ms. Thomas establish cultural norms early on with the students or do the norms naturally come to exist? I wrote these questions in my notebook. I observed Ms. Thomas often smiling and laughing with her students as the discussion took place. I witnessed a community of learners, where Ms. Thomas created situations in which she and her students could share their personal stories. I left the class feeling joyful of the learning that took place. I was excited to learn about what the next day would bring not only based on what I had seen in class that day but also because of Ms. Thomas’s feelings about our collaborating. As I reflected on that initial visit when writing my dissertation, I reached out to Ms. Thomas through text messaging to have her offer her thoughts about my first observation with her and the students. In a reflective journal she wrote that evening, Ms. Thomas shared her thoughts that day by writing that I was excited to see what DJ was going to bring to my classroom. In the days prior to her visit, I wondered what she would add to my lesson plans, what were her ultimate goals, and most importantly, what the students would gain from this partnership. I have always included literature and current events that my [predominantly black] students could relate to. However, it was not always incorporated into a lesson plan. It may have come up with discussion. I was excited to do more intentional planning regarding race, racism, etc. Seeing as how I’ve used the word excited more than once, I’d say the feeling that I 85 experienced upon DJ’s arrival was excitement. Anytime I can bring something new/beneficial to my students, I am excited and hopeful. (01/27/2019) JOPM Storying 1: Situating the Past and Partnership in Context Our JOPM began five years before the study—actually it began many years before that because we were born during different generations who experienced pervasive anti-Blackness in the midwestern region. I was born in Detroit, a city that at the time of my birth had recently experienced race riots motivated by ongoing racial discrimination and the marginality of Black people (Sugrue, 2005). Ms. Thomas, however, was born twenty years after me in a nearby suburban community that was racially mixed but was undergoing the effects of Black people migrating in droves into a suburban community for what they thought would be better schools and housing, but anti-Blackness was still prevalent (Sugrue, 2005). Ms. Thomas and I would eventually return to teach in the communities in which we were born and raised. Because of our strong communal ties and vested interest in the betterment of Black students’ lives, it seemed likely that our paths might cross, and we would eventually partner. My sentiments were affirmed during our first interview when Ms. Thomas expressed: It’s important for me to not have an anti-Black classroom because I do try to try to put the kids first. And I think about them as a whole person…And in this day and age, I think it’s so important for them to accept who they are—whoever that is. Know certain things about history or society and understand who they are and maybe how they’re viewed. (February 15, 2018) My teaching relationship began with Ms. Thomas when I was an adjunct instructor at a large university in the Midwest over fifteen years ago. At the time, I was teaching students who were pursuing a Master of Arts in Teaching degree in English Education. Ms. Thomas, a student 86 in my Adolescent Literature course, appeared eager to learn about critical pedagogies with which she could engage her students. For example, one of my assignments required students to create digital stories, which centered the constructs identity and culture. The assignment pushed students to think about their positioning of these constructs and how they operate in their own lives before requiring students to do a similar project in their respective classrooms. I can recall her espousing in her analytical write-up of the digital story that a student’s identity and culture were important and that creating opportunities for them to showcase aspects of themselves was vital. Ms. Thomas left an indelible mark upon me, so when she applied for an English position at the school where I taught and was the department chair, I was excited about the opportunity of her joining the English department. Over the years, Ms. Thomas discussed the learning experiences that she offered her students. I was impressed with the myriad of opportunities that she created for her students, which comprised of their reading literature about Black peoples’ lives and the students taking up critical discussions about what they had learned. After I left to pursue a doctoral degree in education at a university in the Midwest, I sought assistance from Ms. Thomas to participate in a pilot study for a graduate course on Black Language that I was taking. I felt Ms. Thomas was a likely candidate because I felt that we shared similar commitments about education as far as the teaching and learning of Black students. Our mutually supported beliefs constituted in building on students’ cultural assets (e.g., linguistic assets), incorporating multi-literacies, and a willingness in being vulnerable and open to talk about the sociocultural and political issues relative to Black peoples’ lives, which included her own. The pilot study focused on the teaching of Black teachers and the kinds of opportunities that they afford Black students to participate around race, identity, culture, and racism. I did not work with Ms. Thomas for the pilot study because I ended up collaborating with 87 another Black woman English teacher who was a co-worker of Ms. Thomas’. However, Ms. Thomas’ positive responses made her an ideal candidate for my dissertation study, which would give me the opportunity to deepen my learning and understanding from my practicum work. Thus, I could conceptualize, further, the positioning and pedagogical choices a Black teacher makes to support a classroom that centers Blackness. JOPM Storying 2: Our Positioning and Connectedness In partnering with Ms. Thomas, I believed our research and praxis could contribute meaningfully to the existing work that shows how “schooling is not merely a site of suffering” (Dumas, 2014, p. 2). In the context of pervasive anti-Blackness in schools, the partnering of two Black teachers with similar mindsets of nurturing and caring for Black students’ lives contributed to our JOPM of Black students’ humanization. Just as hooks’ (1994) maintained in Engaged pedagogy, we agreed that To educate as the practice of freedom is a way of teaching that anyone can learn. That learning process comes easiest to those of us who teach who also believe that there is an aspect our vocation that is sacred: who believe that our work is not merely to share information but to share in the intellectual and spiritual growth of our students. To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary condition where learning can most deeply and intimately begin. (p. 13) An engaged pedagogy reminds not only teachers and researchers who desire to collaborate but also stakeholders whose work situates Black students’ learning that they must “reinscribe systems of domination (such as racism and sexism) while simultaneously providing new ways to 88 teach diverse groups of students” (p. 10). In an interview in the first month of our work together, Ms. Thomas shared: As a Black woman, I am personally attached to the Black students. We share a culture, language, history—the same discrimination. I am obligated to ensure that they are reading Black literature, aware of current events (e.g., issues that affect Black and Brown lives on racial discrimination, police brutality, and immigration); most importantly, pushing them to reach their full potential. They need to know that despite inequalities exist for us that they are capable. (February 15, 2018) Ms. Thomas and I had kindred pedagogical stances, which was grounded in our prior relationship and also our lives as Black women born and raised within an anti-Black society. We believed that our work could contribute meaningfully to English Education research and teachers who aspired to do similar work that centered Blackness so that “those individuals most oppressed by social cultural subordination” (Tyson, 2003, p. 23) may navigate learning spaces in more just and equitable ways. During our initial talks, I shared with Ms. Thomas my positioning. I knew from working with Ms. Thomas and the survey in which she had responded that we shared similar beliefs about the teaching and learning of Black students. The survey was from an initial piloted project that I created in November 2015 as part of a research project for my Black Language course. At the time, I was looking at how teachers used Black Language-speaking characters from African American literature as a starting point to engage their students critically around topics about race, racism, identity, and power. Some of the questions from the survey asked participants to respond with either a yes or no and provide an explanation; When you teach text(s) that include Black Language-speaking characters, how do you engage in critical conversations about the language 89 features used by the characters? If you do critically discuss these features with your students, please explain how you discuss the features and/or the types of activities you use to engage your students? Or if you do not critically discuss the language features used by these characters, briefly explain why you do not. Ms. Thomas responded favorably to having students engage students in critical discussions about Black Language and its connections to race, racism, identity, power. Thus, she was likely a candidate for my dissertation project. Her willingness to sustain Black students contributed in my being transparent about my feelings on race and racism and of how my experiences with White supremacy played a vital role in my desire to partner with her and her students. We both believed in and desired to support learning, where they would have opportunities to make meaningful connections to their own lives. It was not about the project or activity on its own, but about our positioning and deep commitment to be a part of and teach in a setting that could humanize the learning experiences of Black students. Bartoleme (1994) on humanizing teaching practices said that It is important to point that it is not the particular teaching lesson or set of activities that prepares the student; rather, it is the teacher’s politically clear educational philosophy that underlies the varied methods and lessons/activities she or he employs that make the difference. (p. 179) Thus, we both recognized that Black students should have agentic experiences in which they could openly share about their struggles with White supremacy and anti-Blackness. During our last interview on June 20, 2018, Ms. Thomas said, “I want them to be well-rounded. And I want them to be not only confident in what they learned in, you know school terminology and curriculum—but in themselves as people—in our demographics as young, black people.” 90 Later, she added that, I would allow them to speak about police brutality—and—not just speak about, but know that certain terms like microaggression, or systemic racism—or White supremacy—and perhaps they can make meaning about how those terms actually affect them. (June 20, 2018) I believe that our collaborative effort and commitment to disrupting the status quo united and helped us challenge systems of domination and foster a learning environment that was built on the love and care of our students. When Ms. Thomas shared, “It’s important to me to not only teach curriculum lessons but also life lessons,” I recognized that her expression of love for and commitment to her students was more visceral than anything else. JOPM Storying 3: Relationship Building When I met with Ms. Thomas for our initial meeting in the early fall of 2017, we discussed her schedule and the demographics of her eleventh grade English class. Also, I shared with her my research focus and defined key frameworks, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) and Critical Race English Education (CREE), which I would be centering in my dissertation study. In explaining my research focus, I told Ms. Thomas that we would be co-constructing the curriculum and pedagogy so that we could come to understand what would happen when Blackness takes precedence in an ELA classroom. In doing so, I advised that I would be more than an observer because at times I would teach alongside her. This model is situated in collaborative, participatory methodology, which I discussed more in my methods chapter (Winn & Ubiles, 2014; Duncan-Andrade, 2006; Kinloch, 2007; Morrell, 2008). Further, we talked about planning our unit, creating dialogic groups and my collaborating with her from January – June 2018, for at least 2-3 days a week. We assigned each other work. 91 My task was to familiarize myself with the district curriculum, read over her unit plan which mapped out curricular dates, and think about racial work (e.g., specific assignments that would center Blackness) that we might assign. One of the non-fiction texts that she wanted me to read was Charlamagne Tha God’s, Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It. 3I recall Ms. Thomas having said that she thought the students might have an interest in this book because it was written by someone with whom the students would be familiar and that the text centers issues on race and racism. On the other hand, I suggested that she read Thomas’s The Hate You Give, a fictional text written by a Black woman author about the lives of Black youth and their dealings with anti-Blackness and racial violence and several articles written about CSP, CREE, and excerpts from Smitherman’s Word from the Mother: Language and African Americans. Also, she was excited about teaching Baldwin’s Black Boy and selected texts from the eleventh-grade Collections textbook. Based on our initial conversations, we recognized that our curricular choices should provide opportunities for the students to build on and make connections to their lives. On one occasion during our first interview, Ms. Thomas expressed her sentiments of why she agreed that it would be vital for us to talk about issues race-related issues fueled by White supremacy. She said, “Talking about issues on race, racism, and anti-Blackness would make them excited because they would have the opportunity to come to class and talk about things that they’re not used to talking about in a classroom setting” (February 15, 2018). In the weeks prior to our co-teaching, we negotiated back and forth about the readings and classroom activities. We discussed, further, the importance of incorporating multiliteracies, so I suggested that students create blogs, and visual representations, and digital stories that help 3 In hearing about Ms. Thomas’s desire to have the students read Charlamagne Tha God’s Black Privilege: Opportuntity Comes to Those Who Create It,” I immediately recognized that there could be some issues surrounding the celebrity of the artist due to some controversial topics that he takes up on his show, The Breakfast Club. Thus, I suggested other texts that might be more appropriate for our students. 92 them to conceptualize their understanding of race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. She desired to incorporate other media platforms (e.g., YouTube, music, commercials, videos, and other media sources that we could access through the internet). I left the meeting feeling excited about uniting with Ms. Thomas and looked forward to subsequent meetings, where we would discuss what, how, and when we would plan together to discuss the possibilities to center Black students’ lives. Later on, I reflected on what I thought was the most compelling aspects of our relationship building, which was our positioning about the sustainment of Black students’ language, culture, and literacies. JOPM Storying 4: We, Us, and Ours: An alliance What does it mean to collaborate and work closely with a Black woman teacher who frames her teaching and learning through a broader sociopolitical context around racial violence and injustices and is committed to challenging the status quo to sustain Black students’ lives? From the onset of our communications, I did not feel as though I had to worry about how learning with and teaching Black students about the constructs race, anti-Blackness, and Blackness would be. Although we both knew, and still know, we had much to learn and grow in our own practice, we both were committed to the students’ racial development, not only as individuals but collectively. Ms. Thomas expressed in an interview that talking about race and racism, I think is enlightening for everybody in the class, including myself and from what I’ve heard—overheard, I should say [the students] seem to want to talk about [it] because they do it on their own. (May 3, 2018) When Ms. Thomas shared her thoughts, we had completed T.H.U.G. At the time, we were reading Black Boy and discussing the affordances and the urgency in having the students read two texts that could help them to question, interrogate and dismantle racial inequality and anti- 93 Blackness (Johnson, 2019, Butler, 2017; Baker-Bell, Butler & Johnson, 2017; Johnson, Jackson, Stovall & Baszile, 2017; Martinez, 2017; Cherry-McDaniel, 2017, 2017 Dumas & Ross, 2016). Also, she recognized that talking about anti-Black dispositions could affect positively both she and her students, especially since they talked about these topics without their teachers. We were both in agreement that we should provide them the same opportunity in an ELA classroom, where the teacher was willing to use JOPM by “connecting students to on-the-ground social movements, incorporating activist literacies and texts, building curricula off students’ own testimonials, creating a classroom culture of collect care and action” (Johnson, 2018). In reviewing the discursive threads between Ms. Thomas and me, I noticed that she and I both used the pronouns we, us, and ours throughout our conversations. We never characterized the students as outsiders—we always saw our work as a relational commitment. Our sentiments are similar to those reported by Kohli and Pizarro (2016). Their study from 218 teachers of Color, who identified themselves as being advocates of racial justice and racial literacy, from across the nation shared in their narratives “a deep relational commitment to teach along with, and as part of communities of Color” (p. 73). Ms. Thomas’s relational commitment was evidenced when she conveyed during an interview that I felt it was my duty—and this might be because I am a Black woman—I felt the need to nurture them and let them know that they were important and that they could excel. And you can really do whatever you want to do. (May 3, 2018) On this occasion, Ms. Thomas made it clear that in teaching Black students, no matter where she taught that she had a strong commitment to her Black students, especially as a Black woman. Thus, she acknowledged their shared Blackness. Ms. Thomas’s positioning reminds me of Walker’s (2014) story in which she focused on the dedication and commitment of Black teachers 94 and community stakeholders to Black students in a school in rural North Carolina, the Caswell County Training School that existed from 1934 to 1969. She argued that with teachers of Caswell County Training School that “teaching was more than the imparting of subject matter; it was the task of molding children to be successful. Theirs was a job of collective racial uplift” (p. 149). By racial uplift, I understand the phrase to mean the social, political, economic empowerment of Black people. As with Caswell County Training School and Ms. Thomas, they equally recognized the mutuality of their Blackness and the uplift of their Black students. Also, Ms. Thomas’ and I JOPM supported the students’ racial uplift and overall Blackness. I did not believe that Ms. Thomas’ and I positioning was any different from the committed Black teachers who centered Blackness (Anderson, 1988; Walker, 2014; hooks, 1994). We endeavored, however, to continue the legacy. Ms. Thomas and I saw all of our racial stories as being connected because of our shared Blackness and the ever-presence effects of anti-Blackness within our schools and communities. Resulting from having attended the district from grades K-12, Ms. Thomas, who had deep ties within the community, expressed that she desired to return to the community in which she attended school in order to teach. Ms. Thomas said, “She couldn’t remember having the opportunity to talk about social justice-oriented issues.” Thus, based on her own experiences, I was led to believe that coming back to teach in a community in which she had roots, she felt comfortable to do just that. Her connectedness reminds me of Kohli and Pizarro’s (2016) study in which they argued further that the teachers in their study were what they termed as community-oriented. As a community-oriented teacher of Color, they expressed that the teachers not only had “deep ties and connections to their communities” but they also desired to return to 95 the community in which they were taught “to provide opportunities for intellectual engagement that they felt was lacking in their schooling” (Kohli and Pizzaro, 2016, p. 75). Ms. Thomas, a community-oriented teacher, recognized the need to instruct her Black students about racial justice issues about which she cared and would benefit her students. Again, in the same interview in which Ms. Thomas shared how to best meet the needs of her students, she passionately stated that And I know—I guess being Black, I know what the future can hold for these young kids and how society can make a mark on them. I guess what I want to say, like it can be something positive or it can be something very negative. So, I felt it was my duty to help them, succeed at whatever it what they wanted to do. It was up to me to make sure that they know they that they could do whatever they wanted to be. (May 3, 2018) Vital to the development of our JOPM and to provide a supportive environment that called for students to talk about racial injustice and violence was our dedication to the students. In building and sustaining a community of learners, we found it essential to be open and honest of our needs. I was collecting data for my dissertation. Ms. Thomas desired help being more intentional in her lesson planning. She expected that I would provide the research behind what I wanted to accomplish and offer suggestions with her lessons. Every curriculum choice and justice-oriented pedagogical moves that we made always centered the students’ needs. Ultimately, we were committed to our growth as teachers as well as transforming their lives in ways to deal with racial injustices and oppression both and out of the classroom through our JOPM. JOPM Storying 5: The Relational Commitments in the Dialogic Spiral In taking up Kinloch and San Pedro’s (2014) the dialogic spiral within a JOPM framing, we shared our ideas and beliefs, and at times, we negotiated back and forth about various 96 pedagogical moves and commitments towards how we could best create a learning space, where Black students could deconstruct racist ideologies to center their Black lives. We were best able to accomplish the goal of empowering the students by encouraging a classroom space that could indeed be “a site of resistance” (hooks, 1994, p. 21) that is democratic. In fostering a site for resistance, we engaged in what I have I termed Critically Conscious Talk (CCT) in which the students had opportunities to question, interrogate, and dismantle dominant narratives contribute Black peoples’ Racial suffering. It is important to point out that CCT, when used as a tool, is unlike most basic conversational tools. hooks (2010) sited Radar’s (2011) book on the power of conversation by quoting him when he said, “Conversation contains dialogue, the exchange of understanding and meanings in the endeavor to construct new information. Conversation is always inclusive; it encourages and nourishes individual voice as it strives to develop a community of vision” (p. 44). In building on Radar’s conception of conversation, during CCT, Ms. Thomas and I were willing to become vulnerable and share our stories with the students, and in turn, the students with us. Our willingness to expose our truths of Racial suffering and sentiments about anti-Blackness and to raise the critical consciousness of each other and our students in the context of the socio/cultural/political issues relative to Black lives resulted in CCT. In fostering a community of learners which encourages CCT, our commitment to our Black students served as the catalysis in creating opportunities to challenge pervasive anti- Blackness [See chapter 6 for further exploration of CCT in Ms. Thomas’s classroom]. Figure 5 is a model for JOPM. 97 Figure 4. Conception of JOPM The first commitment of JOPM at play towards sustaining the dialogic spiral while in engaging in CCT was the sharing of our confessional narratives (hooks, 1994) to disrupt, what I am terming as white supremacist narratives in the context of CCT. Keep in mind that in order for the first commitment to take form, our shared positioning of building the critical consciousness of students meant that we had to be open to sharing our truths while at the same time privileging the student’s voices. hooks’ notion of confessional narratives is a way for teachers to become vulnerable by sharing their personal stories with students, which could help students to process any experiences with or knowledge of racial violence, and deficit positioning towards their Black lives that can affect them emotionally, physically, and spiritually. 98 In sharing confessional narratives, teachers can model for students how they can begin to disrupt White supremacist narratives, which are built on White supremacy and uphold oppressive structures and ideologies that they have experienced in their schooling (e.g., in textbooks) and in the media. hooks (1994) argued that Any classroom that employs a holistic model of learning will also be a place where teachers can grow and are empowered by the process. That empowerment cannot happen if we refuse to be vulnerable while encouraging students to take risks. Professors who expect students to share confessional narratives but who are themselves unwilling to share are exercising power in a manner that could be coercive. (p. 21) During our last interview about her feelings of our partnership, Ms. Thomas shared that Power is shared, and I’m not trying to dominate. I opened up about my own personal experiences and that has really shaped my teaching over the last ten years. I am pretty open with my students as well because it’s not just I’m having them speak, but I speak and share, too. (June 20, 2018) In having a conversation with Ms. Thomas about shared power in her classroom, I can recall, specifically, during CCT our having an Accountable Talk, (see Appendix) a pedagogical move which was to get students to discuss their reactions to the racial violence and microaggressions in The Hate You Give. Ms. Thomas shared with the students how she experienced anti-Blackness while attending a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) in the Midwest. She opened up about how she was traveling on the campus bus and how she felt the other Black girl on the bus was acting “ghetto.” Ms. Thomas elaborated, further, about being upset that she felt the White students on the bus were glaring at the other Black girl and how they were turning up their noses. In doing so, she felt that they were judging the Black girl based on 99 their preconceived notions of what it means to look and act while being Black. Admittedly, on reflecting on that bus ride, Ms. Thomas expressed to her students that she was disappointed with herself because she had internalized, perhaps, White supremacist narratives about the Black girl. She shared her complicity in engaging in anti-Blackness because she had called the girl “ghetto” in her mind. In having this conversation with the students, Ms. Thomas opened the door for the students to share similar confessional narratives. Many of them pointed out how they had misjudged a Black person because of their taking on anti-Black sentiments. We engaged in CCT about how their positioning could have resulted from their overexposure to White supremacist narratives, which could have contributed in their having a myopic view of Blackness. Sensoy and Diangelo (2012) argued, “We have been socialized into a limited view, focusing on single situations, exceptions, and anecdotal, rather than on broader, interlocking patterns” (p. 47). The pervasiveness of negative images and messages about Black people continues to contribute to the harmful perceptions that many Black students retain about themselves (Johnson, 2018; Matias, 2013; Tatum, 2017; Shujaa, 1994). Ms. Thomas and I agreed that we needed to take up further with the students why we as Black people might use pejorative terms to describe ourselves. We accomplished this goal by centering how White supremacy affects Black and White people. (Leonardo, 2013; Delgado & Stefancic, 2012). Another time, I shared with the students how I was shamed by a White professor about my use of Black Language (Baker-Bell, Paris, & Jackson, 2017). That conversation triggered a lot of critical talk from the students about their understandings of Black Language or lack thereof. Throughout our talks, Ms. Thomas opened up about her willingness to share and be vulnerable right alongside her students. She was the same with me. On another occasion, I remembered how Ms. Thomas and I had a conversation about my creating a group of students to 100 interview for my project. During our work together, I repeatedly told Ms. Thomas that I valued her opinion and choices. Initially, I had chosen all Black students. However, Ms. Thomas advocated for James, a White student to be part of the dialogic group. I had not considered that James would participate because he was the one student in the class who was not Black, and I was most interested in how Black students have opportunities to take-up Blackness. I was not sure if I should concede, but I was willing to listen to her opinion and to reconsider my positioning. Since my data checking was an iterative process, I checked with her once I started writing this chapter to make sure that I represented her stance correctly. She emphatically expressed through email that, I decided to add James to the dialogic group because I wanted the perspective of a White student, who is the minority in our high school. This was especially important to me after deciding to read The Hate U Give. I felt like James would be able to relate to a character in the novel who was also White and because [James] also had a Black girlfriend and could also offer his personal insight. (January 25, 2019) At first, I was resistant when Ms. Thomas suggested James be added. Immediately, I thought that Ms. Thomas’ decision to add James to the dialogic group was because of the influence of the White gaze (Morrison, 1992). I remembered from my own 6-12 teaching experiences how difficult it can be to feel as though every teacher move that a teacher makes must be in align with and connected to a district, state, and national mandate or the feelings of having not being able to disrupt the status quo. However, in having more conversations with Ms. Thomas, I learned she could disrupt the status quo. While in one of our curriculum meetings, Ms. Thomas shared about her current teaching position and curricular choices that, 101 So, here I would say that, my principal is receptive, and I still make time to teach the anchor texts that they want me to teach, and then I add to them. I’m still going to talk about the same things and let [the students know] about the Black experience whenever I can because I think that’s important. (May 3, 2018) Ms. Thomas felt it was important for James to tell his story about dating a Black girl in the class just like Chris, Starr’s boyfriend from The Hate You Give. I pointed out to Ms. Thomas that the story is told by Starr, the novel’s protagonist, who must exist in two worlds—one that is Black and the other White. She, however, did not want James to feel left out. Of course, I did not either. Indeed, we knew that James would have ample opportunities during CCT to share his thinking about The Hate You Give and other supplemental texts. Because our partnership was built on our contributing to each other’s critical consciousness, I decided to agree by considering her opinion and not to judge her, especially having no evidence to support my feelings. James was not aware of the tension between Ms. Thomas and me. The situation with James is an example of how radical praxis towards centering Blackness is difficult, complicated, and messy. James did give compelling insights. For example, during one of our interviews James said, “I wanted to hear the other students’ opinions. I don’t want to say something that really is not dealing with my race and like come off as wrong, and so I like to wait and see what they say so I know where to center my thoughts then say something” (March 29, 2018). Based on James’ whole interview, I understood James as saying that he did not feel left out of our conversations. However, he often preferred to not say something because he wanted to show that he was sensitive of his classmates’ feelings towards anti-Black racism and White supremacy. In taking a supportive role as an ally, James was learning throughout his listening, and whether or not he completely agreed with the Black students’ sentiments, he tried to understand from where they 102 were coming without judgment (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012). What does it mean to be immersed in a Black classroom and part of a dialogic group that is focused on Black consciousness? Although this question is not the purview of this project and our mutuality, it is important. Our teaching and learning together show that we took risks because we were fully committed to the process of raising the critical consciousness of our students and ourselves. By our engaging in CCT, we supported the goal of critical consciousness building. hooks (2010) asserted, “By choosing and fostering dialogue, we engage mutually in a learning partnership” (p. 43). Each opportunity that we engaged in learning from each other and with the students, we were able to utilize and sustain the students learning through JOPM. The second commitment of JOPM was to create a space, where the students felt comfortable, loved, and cared for and where Blackness is centered. In doing so, we were able to build relationships with students that contributed positively to their well-being. About her commitment to and relationship with the students over the semester, Ms. Thomas conveyed emotionally during our last interview that, I have a desire for [the students] to learn and understand. Like just feeling comfortable and feeling confident, so we can prepare our students to go out into the world. And be able to speak about terms and know terms like microaggression or systemic racism, or White supremacy. I can’t force anything on anybody, but I do share a lot. It’s just more of being open—and letting them know it’s to feel this way or it’s okay to talk about something that you may feel uncomfortable about. Or maybe you haven’t ever thought about it. So, let’s just talk about it. So, let’s just think about it. And then maybe if you don’t even come to a decision on how you feel about something today. But that seed has 103 been planted and then at least they can grow, and you know, from there. But it’s important to me because you know, the Black youth—they’re our future. (June 20, 2018) In recognizing that the Black students whom Ms. Thomas taught as our future, I understand her positioning as that she sought to foster a loving and caring environment that used JOPM to sustain her students. Through our partnership, Ms. Thomas came to help our students to understand more fully how “racism is etched within ELA classrooms and explicitly and implicitly influences the academic and social experiences of Black children and youth” (Johnson, 2018, p. 109). Ms. Thomas’ attitude about her students reminds me of what Camangian (2015) argued in his article, “Teach Like Lives Depend on It: Agitate, Arouse, and Inspire.” In his piece, he argues that teachers must go “beyond cultivating ‘safe’ spaces for dialogue, we must foster classroom cultures that critically nurture the ability for teachers and students to confront the painful parts of our lives and the struggles facing oppressed people (p. 436). I witnessed on more than one occasion how Ms. Thomas took a humanizing, asset-based approach to teaching and learning (Bartolome, 1994; Alim & Paris, 2017; Paris & Winn, 2014; Paris & Alim, 2014; Carter Andrews, Brown, Castillo, Jackson, & Vellanki, 2019;). Thus, I argue based on Ms. Thomas’ positioning and asset-based approach to teaching and learning that she went beyond creating a safe space. She showed love for our students and a willingness to engage in vulnerability alongside them. In providing a safe and nurturing environment built on love, Ms. Thomas created an environment, where the students could feel confident with talking about and dealing with the effects of White supremacy. Moreover, our JOPM and using CCT as a tool may have helped us to do so. 104 JOPM Storying 6: Black Scholarship and CREE The third commitment of JOPM was centering Black scholarship (Baszile, 2006). For us, the curriculum served a passageway to lead the students in a manner in which they could reflect on deficit ideologies, which promote racist hegemony around race and Blackness and could prevent them from reaching their full potential. Having worked in a school, where the demographics were primarily African-American and students of color, Baszile argued many of the students were being educated outside of their “cultural context,” which meant that one teacher took the stance that “Black children didn’t need to know of their Blackness” (p. 93). Ms. Thomas and I saw, however, the opportunity to provide curriculum that would center the students’ Black history, which would include present realities in which Black people experience racial violence and brutality (Johnson, 2019; Butler, 2017; Baker-Bell, Butler, & Johnson, 2017; Johnson, Jackson, Stovall, & Baszile, 2017; Martinez, 2017; Cherry-McDaniel, 2017; Dumas & Ross, 2016). In doing so, we aspired to help them to re(envision) their future selves in ways that counter dominant narratives that harm them by “incorporating a critical race curriculum that dismantled the conventional curriculum standards, objectives and instructional practices that permeate ELA classrooms (Johnson, 2018, p. 118). We had many planning meetings about our curriculum choices. For example, we discussed what terminology (See Appendix.) the students would need to know to understand fully some of the endearing points that the author of The Hate You Give conveyed. In helping the students to make meaning of these terms, we needed to help them to navigate the unit more fully. We discussed the terms and came to an understanding as far as which definitions that we would share with the students. During a mini-lesson that co-taught with Ms. Thomas, we wrote the following terms on the whiteboard: race, racism, anti-Blackness, Blackness, microaggressions, 105 White supremacy, oppression, and Black Language. Before disclosing the definitions, we first asked the students what they thought were the word’s meanings. Moreover, we were able to ascertain with which terms the students grappled. For the most part, the students had difficulty understanding the nuances of racism as many of them believed that Black people could be prejudice. Thus, we had to explain in greater detail by juxtaposing the terms racism and prejudice and explaining how power plays a role in racism. Not only did we consider the terminology that would be most useful but also there were moments during our curriculum planning that we pushed each other to think about what texts (See Appendix) would best suit our needs to disrupt dominant narratives that center White supremacy. Johnson (2018) argued, “Traditional ELA curriculum mirrors westernized perspectives” and “does not provide us with the resources to discuss race and racial disparities in manners that are beneficial and liberating to those who are oppressed by racism” (p. 118). Ms. Thomas and I worked collaboratively to create opportunities for the students to engage in CCT, construct racial narratives, post blogs of their creative artwork, create digital stories, and many other activities that would have them critique anti-Blackness, racism, and White supremacy. Shujuaa (1994) argued, “Many of our Black children are in European-centered public, private, and religious schools, where students do not have access “to culture affirming curricula” (p. 17). To encourage an environment that was affirming and sustaining of our students’ lives. Ms. Thomas and I endeavored to educate our students in ways that we would not continue to promulgate ideas and beliefs that maintain society’s racial disparities and structures that marginalize Black students. We chose to teach in ways that would not support the cycle of racial pain and trauma. 106 One of our first lessons before beginning Thomas,’ The Hate You Give required that the students construct drawings around the constructs race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. Before providing the students with definitions or context for the new vocabulary words. We desired to have students to explore their attitudes and beliefs about these words so that we could help them to understand how race and other categories which focus on difference (e.g., language and culture) may affect their schooling and their lived experiences (Lee, 2007). (See chapter 6 for further exploration of student’s blog work). Ms. Thomas expressed, “It’s important for students to have agentic opportunities so that you allow them to become learners, who feel that sense of confidence to share their thinking because that’s, a lot of times not the norm.” Here Ms. Thomas recognized the need to allow students to conceptualize, explore and make meaning of the terms as they might relate to their lives and Black people. Before we began reading T.H.U.G and Black Boy for the unit on race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness, we introduced the students to a multiplicity of voices, which included poetry, songs, videos, and media (See Appendix.). On one occasion, we discussed Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s, The Danger of the Single Story and made connections to portions of Thomas’ text, where Starr is angered by pictures of her neighborhood that have only shown the “worst parts” (p. 245) rather than highlighting people and parts of where she lives that are positive. We pointed out how the dominant narrative of Black people is that they live in poverty, are riotous, and are uneducated and in jail. In juxtaposing Adiche’s story and a part in the Thomas’ work, we were able to make visible how stereotypes are problematic and how they can be used to support racism. By engaging in CCT with the students, having them to construct drawings and create digital stories (See chapter 6 for further exploration of these assignments), we were able to address explicit issues relative to anti-Blackness and Blackness by having them to write and 107 visually show and make sense of the concepts as they are relative to their lives and the world around of them. Ms. Thomas emphasized that “the curriculum that we have laid out for our students lends itself to talk about [these issues]. Our planning and culminating work together underscored our love for Blackness and our love and care for Black students’ lives through our JOPM. JOPM: Sunset Ms. Thomas and I partnered to show how having a JOPM approach to learning allowed us to center Blackness and de-center anti-Blackness in an ELA classroom. Through our co- constructing the curriculum and pedagogy, we were able to conceptualize and think of the possibilities when Blackness takes precedence in the classroom. Like Winn and Ubiles (2011), I build on the research work of Duncan-Andrade, Kinloch, Morrell, Buras (Winn & Ubiles, 2011). Our JOPM comes out of a tradition of critical scholars, who “approach their work with reverence for the youth they encounter” (Winn & Ubiles, 2011) Specifically, in building on and in thinking about Buras’ (2009) work with her students in relation to mine, I offer that our conception of JOPM is at the intersection of storytelling, critical consciousness raising, and the dialogic spiral, which helped JOPM “to take form and become a transformative” (p. 428) approach in sustaining the lives of Black students. Moreover, out of our JOPM, I show what can happen when a Black woman teacher and a Black woman teacher-researcher unite to sustain the literacies, languages, and cultures of the Black students with whom they work and from whom they learn. Implications This chapter has implications for teachers who are committed to caring for their Black students by creating a culture of learning that sustains the lives of Black students. I would urge future researchers, teacher educators in teacher education programs that are committed to 108 centering justice, equity, inclusion to consider the following four themes that emerged from our JOPM: 1. Taking a stance that embraces linguistic and cultural equity to support an anti-racist classroom experience: In order to sustain a classroom, where Blackness takes precedence educators must take a stance that is asset-based and be committed to the conscious building of their Black students to disrupt racist hegemonic pedagogical practices. Researchers must be willing to take a methodological approach that affirms Black lives. 2. Willingness to become vulnerable and open to talk about personal experiences in the context of the socio/cultural/political issues relative to Black lives: To build relationships with students, educators should be transparent about their experiences with and knowledge of anti-Black rhetoric and behavior so that students may have the understanding and tools to navigate anti-Black classrooms and the world in which we live that is built on White supremacy. 3. Connecting to students’ lives through texts (e.g., literature, textbook, media, songs, and CCT): It is important to disrupt the hidden dominant notions about anti-Blackness that could limit how students have meaningful literacy experiences in the classroom, especially in ways that explicitly address racial violence, race, whiteness, White supremacy, and anti-Black racism in and out-of-the classroom (Johnson, 2018). Johnson (2018) argues that educators should “build on the Black literacies that Black youth bring to the classroom” because Black literacies affirm the lives, spirit, language, and knowledge of Black people and culture (p. 108). 4. Partnering with researchers: Our partnership could serve as a model for a teacher- researcher and researcher collaborating. Because of our commitment to sustaining Black 109 students’ lives and raising their Black consciousness, we were able to carve out a Black space (Paris, 2017), where Blackness took precedence. In chapter 7 of the conclusion, I elaborate more on our partnership and its affordances. JOPM is a transformative approach to learning and is a way for researchers to affect the learning environment alongside the teachers with whom they endeavor to collaborate. Just as Duncan-Andrade (2006) argued in his research about empowering people by building caring relationships, JOPM is a “commitment to people rather than ideas and implies a stick-to-itiveness that is necessary for addressing the more complex problems of a school” (p. 456) to make sure that Blackness takes precedence in the English classroom. 110 CHAPTER 6: STUDENTS’ WORK OUT OF A JUSTICE-ORIENTED PEDAGOGICAL MUTUALITY As teachers we can make a classroom a place where we help our students come out of shame. We can allow them to experience their vulnerability among a community of learners who date to hold them up should they falter or fail when triggered by past scenarios of shame—a community that will constantly give recognition and respect. —bell hooks, Teaching Community When I was creating the race picture, I just considered the face of race is fluid. It’s constantly in motion and forever changing, and there are barriers or blockages. Although the hooks (1984) quote that leads this chapter takes us forward the pedagogies —Simone we need, Shayla’s own quote about her work moves even further as it centers Blackness and decenters anti-Blackness. Simone’s drawing demonstrates what it could look like to participate in work that humanizes, supports, and affirms Black lives and decenters anti-Blackness (Alim & Paris; 2017; Stevens & Bean, 2007; hooks, 1994). The above response (Figure 1) is excerpted from Simone’s blog post, where she uploaded her picture of her understanding of the terms race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. Early on in the semester, before we did any teaching about these terms, Ms. Thomas and I asked the students to create pictures of their initial understandings. Then, we required them to upload their pictures into Tumbler and write responses based on their drawings. Throughout the semester, the students had the chance to question, interrogate, and dismantle racist White supremacist attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors in the context of a classroom, where Blackness takes precedence. According to Johnson (2018), Black students should have the opportunity “to speak back to and against the debasement of Black humanity, an artistic component that illustrates not only the ongoing struggle of being Black but also the beauty of Blackness” (p. 119). In taking up Johnson’s positioning, Ms. Thomas and I united to ensure that we did not teach in ways that would contribute to the erasure of our Black students’ culture, language, and 111 identities. Despite their being an on-going problem in schooling, we recognized the legitimacy in sustaining a classroom culture that did not reify anti-Black paradigms (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995, p. 62). Schools can be an essential location to disrupt anti-Blackness and do the kind of work that Ms. Thomas and I sought to take up in spite of a national fervor to require teachers to be test driven and teach to the test (Morrell, 2009) Thus, we were deliberate in our justice- oriented pedagogical mutuality (JOPM) (See chapter 5) towards providing students the opportunity to engage in meaning-making, whether it was through CCT, their creating drawings, or collaborating on their digital narratives. For us, our commitments (See chapter 5) came from our desire to out students’ knowledge of the effects of anti-Blackness and present-day Racial suffering and violence by not upholding to anti-Black pedagogical practices that would hinder their learning and success. The previous two finding’s chapters demonstrate the student’s attitudes and perceptions of anti-Blackness and Blackness and the affordances of when two Black woman teachers collaborate, respectively. The purpose of this chapter, however, is to demonstrate what is made possible out of JOPM when Blackness takes precedence in an ELA classroom. As our JOPM evolved so did, what I am calling justice-oriented learning mutuality (JOLM), which centered the students’ critical consciousness raising and how learning was evidenced. 112 Figure 5. Conception of JOLM The commitments of Ms. Thomas and I during our JOPM led to our students’ JOLM. There were many examples of how Ms. Thomas and I worked to curricularize 4our JOPM, which ultimately developed into JOLM. I believe, however, what allowed the two of us to sustain ongoing JOLM around the concepts race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness was the students’ engagement in Critically Conscious Talk (CCT). We endeavored to create a space that would honor and privilege students’ voices through every aspect of JOLM. Based on Kinloch’s (2012) work with White pre-service teachers around working with racially, linguistically diverse students, she argues that there is an “ongoing need to center the voices and perspectives of high 4 Although P. David Pearson coined the term curricularize in reference to reading comprehension, which means “transforming research-based practices into daily life in classrooms” (quoted in Nell K. Duke’s presentation “Oh, the Places Comprehension Instruction Can Go,” power-point presentation in an NECC Webinar, March, 2007). I , however, build from Pearson’s meaning of the term to help me think about what Baszile (2006) argues in her article that “while some defend theorizing as a liberatory practice in and of itself, others lament its “apparent” disconnect from the desperate need for actual change in our schools” in Black education (p. 89). Thus, I use the term curricularize to describe how Ms. Thomas and I combined research, theory, and praxis to create liberatory opportunities in which students could use counter narratives to sustain their Blackness. 113 school students” (pp. 14-15). In addressing the need to enable our students’ voices to be highlighted, as mentioned in Chapter 5, CCT allowed them to question, interrogate, and dismantle White supremacist narratives that contribute to Black suffering. By having our students to participate in CCT, they constructed knowledge and shared their thinking without having to experience shame and judgment about their language use (e.g., if and when they used African American Vernacular English5) or (mis)understanding about the underlying messages being conveyed about anti-Blackness or Blackness based on the texts that we read or viewed in class (Baker-Bell, 2013). In late February after carefully planning our curriculum, Ms. Thomas and I created an opportunity for the students to participate in a chalk talk 6, a discussion tool that we used to support CCT. We were deliberate in creating our questions for this activity, which reflected several chapters from The Hate You Give, T.H.U.G. since we wanted to guarantee a greater likeliness that the student’s responses would be in connection with their having to think critically about issues surrounding Blackness and anti-Blackness. For these two CCT examples, I zoom in to the day after our students used chalk talk to respond to some questions about T.H.U.G. The students’ worked in groups to engage in CCT. Their CCT focused on previously recorded responses from the day before. The students had been told to choose only a few of the responses 5 "BL or African American Vernacular English, African American Vernacular English (BL or AAVE) is a style of speaking English words with Africanized semantic, grammatical, pronunciation, and rhetorical patterns. Black Language comes out of the experience of U.S. slave descendants. This shared experience has resulted in common speaking styles, systematic patterns of grammar and common language practices in the Black community and gives a sense of personal identity. Black Language served to bind the enslaved together, melding diverse African ethnic groups into one community" (Smitherman, 2006, p. 32,). 6 A chalk talk is a discussion-based activity in which the students have the opportunity share their thinking and build on the thinking of others in a non-threatening manner because their engagement with the text (e.g., words, phrases, quotes, or pictures) is done silently as the students move about room. Despite the title of the activity, chalk usually is not used as the tool to record the students’ thinking, but markers, pens, pencils are used. 114 on the paper after coming to a consensus about which of the responses that they would share to the entire class. Ms. Thomas and I had prepared the following questions for them to respond: 1. Author’s purpose: Why add the character Fo’ty Ounce? 2. Author’s purpose: Why do you think Thomas decided to make Uncle Carlos a police officer and Chris (Starr’s boyfriend) white? 3. How can we become more community minded so that we can engage in community action to disrupt anti-Blackness? 4. “Way too many people are watching. I cannot go angry black girl on her.” 5. “Khalil and I have been on trial since he died.” 6. Seven says, “What makes his name or our names any less normal than yours? Who or what defines ‘normal’ to you? If my pops were here, he’d say you’ve fallen in the trap of the White standard” (pp. 401). What is the White standard? Figure 6. Photo of CCT in action I video recorded, took pictures and wrote field notes of the students in action in the (Classroom Observation and Field Notes, February 27, 2018). As I walked around the classroom, I observed the students talking back and forth, trying to build on or interrogating each other’s positioning based on their own knowledge. I heard bits and pieces of the students talk as I 115 maneuvered quietly with my video recorder in hand around the classroom. Upon walking upon one group, who had entered into a discussion about their groups’ question, I stopped to listen to their enactment of CCT. I heard Shayla read the question aloud to her group members: Seven says, “What makes his name or our names any less normal than yours? Who or what defines ‘normal’ to you? If my pops were here, he’d say you’ve fallen in the trap of the White standard” (Thomas, 2017, p. 401). Ms. Thomas and I added to seven’s question by posing: What is the White standard? To her group members, Shayla shared, “By saying that the White culture is the standard is telling people to change from their own culture and to assimilate to White culture basically like anti-Blackness” (Video recording, February 26, 2018) I observed the entire group nod their heads in agreement with Shayla’s analysis. Shayla’s remark revealed her acknowledgment and understanding of Black people being expected to “blend into the dominant culture as much as possible, distancing oneself from one’s ethnic group” (Tatum, 2017, pp. 244- 245). Also, Thomas’s (2017) conception of the White standard is related to Morrison’s (1992) incarnation of the White gaze. By providing the opportunity for our students to address the complexities associated with their understanding of the White gaze, they could disrupt anti-Black positioning and behavior that counter Blackness. Adanté remarked later on how “the White standard did not just kinda happen because since the beginning of time…even the framers of the Constitution were White so you kinda set up a White standard from the beginning of time” (Video recording, March 15, 2018). Shayla followed- up with another response by unapologetically saying, “America is known as the melting pot, where all kinds of people with different cultures, races, and religions backgrounds can come together and co-exist but like still be different but by having this White standard you’re basically saying that everyone has to be the same way or act a certain way…” (March, 15, 2018). 116 Throughout the students’ engagement in CCT, our students’ understanding of how Black people are marginalized because of Black people’s non-acceptance, resulting from their conception of the White standard, contributed in their ongoing JOLM. Figure 7. Photo of CCT in action. Another group interacted collaboratively (Figure 8) while participating in CCT about the question: How can we become more community-minded so that we can engage in community action to disrupt anti-Blackness. This question appeared to be more challenging for the students to respond. One group member called attention to a students’ response which said, “I think that in addition to coming together and building each up, we need to address what’s wrong in our communities. Start building our youth up and exposing them to possible opportunities for their future. Lead, guide, and nurture them” (February 26, 2018). After everyone said, “Yeah,” I garnered that they were in agreement of the student’s sentiments. For the next moment or so, they looked at the other responses and nodded occasionally that they either agreed or disagreed with a particular response. Although the group grappled with determining which proposed solution that they should share, they were able to come to a consensus. 117 Reflecting on the student’s written response to “lead, guide, and nurture them.” I felt we were doing just that by supporting their JOLM in our classroom. We sought to provide positive experiences, where Blackness took precedence. We recognized that before our students could go out into the world to embark upon becoming change agents that they first needed us to take an asset-based approach to learning so that could talk about and disrupt anti-Black issues that was relative to their lives. In doing so, they would have a better chance to experience Racial optimism rather than Racial suffering in our ELA classroom. This groups’ critical “Democratic Engagement” was evidenced through their CCT. Kinloch (2012) argued that Democratic Engagements is “situated in practices” that support “learning as collaborative and learning as democratic” (p. 60). Embedded in JOLM is learning that is democratic collaborative learning. Their CCT opened up opportunities for them to discuss issues and propose solutions that were relative to their lives (Kinloch, 2012). JOLM evolved from our students having the opportunity to center Blackness in a space that was supported by encouragement and care from us. Visual Blackness and Anti-Blackness (The Racial Drawings): Conceptions of Living a Full Black Life Our first opportunity to create visual anti-Blackness and Blackness came about when the students created drawings that reflected their attitudes and perceptions of anti-Blackness and Blackness. Even though the students’ participation in CCT was constant, we decided to build on their learning about concepts relative to anti-Blackness and Blackness by having our students progress slowly in their JOLM. Thus, Ms. Thomas and I decided to begin with the visual anti- Blackness and Blackness drawing activity so that we could determine what initial concepts and key terms needed to be taught before we began our unit on race, racism, Blackness, and anti- Blackness. The assignment had two parts. Part one of the assignment required our students to 118 create their drawings. For part two, Ms. Thomas and I instructed them to upload their drawings into Tumblr7. We asked our students to provide details about their choices, by focusing on what they were thinking and why they created the drawings to depict their understandings of the concepts. Later on, I interviewed our students about their drawings, so that I could build on my understanding of how they represented their conceptualizations and how their understandings of race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness affected them. In making-meaning of the students’ pictures and texts, I relied on visual discourse analysis (Albers, 2014) and critical discourse analysis (Rogers, 2014). In doing so, I examined critically three of the students from our dialogic group’ pictures, written texts about their drawings, and portions from their individual interviews (Baker-Bell, 2013). In looking across the students’ pictures and analyzing their images, written and oral texts, I focused on two themes that emerged from our students having opportunities to illustrate their understanding of race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. The themes were the following: making historical connections, disrupting Notions of the White standard of beauty, and interrogating power dynamics between Black power and White supremacy. I located the themes based on (1) How our students represented the sign (2) How, and in what ways did the students engage in meaning-making based on the signs to question, interrogate, and dismantle anti-Blackness. 7 Tumblr is blog posting website, is a social media website, where uses can post multimedia content such as quotes, pictures, music, videos, etc. to a blog. 119 I begin with Simone’s drawing (Figure 8) and explanation of racism. In lines 11-15 of her description of her pictures, she said she made a historical connection to the Civil Rights Movement by drawing two water fountains, where she labeled one “White” and the other “Colored.” She wrote, (Lines 11-15) 11. These are not ordinary water fountains, but rather water fountains that actually 12. existed in the early-mid 20th century. 13. The water fountain on the left says “whites,” while the one on the right says “colored.” 14. To me, this represents racism because the colored people were forced to use raggedy, old, and mistreated water fountains just because of the color of their skin. 15. The whites, however, were allowed to drink from a pristine water fountain that was larger. Figure 8. Simone's drawing 120 Her picture conveyed that she understood how racism has affected and connected to Black and White people historically. She showed how Black people have struggled to gain acceptance and equality. Although she does not write the words Civil Right Movement, she recognized that Black people experienced inequality during the “early-mid 20th century (line, 12). White racism took a toll on Black people. White people did not have a problem with exerting their power over Black people (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012). During our interview (May 8, 2018), Simone expressed, “I thought about Jim Crow laws.” Again, Simone made a historical connection to laws that were passed to support Racial suffering by dehumanizing Black people. Like Simone, Casey made symbols (Figure 10) that demonstrated her acknowledgment of the historical implications of anti-Black racism. She drew a hooded person with the words KKK and blood dripping from her thought bubble. In writing (lines 4-9) about the racial violence and strife that Black people experienced, which was fueled by anti-Blackness, Casey wrote, (Lines 4-9) 4. I chose to draw a Klans member because the Klu Klux Klan is a well-known domestic 5. terrorism organization that supports White supremacy, white nationalism, and the oppression 6. of other races. The KKK reminds me of racism because of all their acts of terrorism, 7. by lynching, assassinating, burning churches, and making dangerous threats to non- white 8. people. I also chose to add blood around the thought bubble to represent all the people 9. who died at the hands of the KKK. 121 Figure 9. Casey’s drawing Without Ms. Thomas and I having given formal instruction about the historical background of anti-Black racism and White supremacy, Casey still brought a deep understanding to the drawing about racial intolerance and anti-Blackness. For example, she highlighted the words, “White supremacy,” “white nationalism,” “oppression,” “lynching,” etc. In our interview (May 18, 2018), Casey referenced her drawing of the KKK and the blood dripping by saying, “I show the types of systemic racism we see here in America and all the blood that’s been shed because of it.” Her conception of Klan terrorism supported the reality that the Klan’s focus was to keep Black people in their place and deny them mobility and the freedom—sometimes through a bloody death—to live a full Black life (Kendi, 2016). In juxtaposing Casey and Simone’s drawings, their counter narratives vividly show how historical racist policies and racial violence “reinforce the system of racism and serve White interests (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012). Similar to Casey and Simone’s drawing, Adanté’s drawing (Figure 10) evidenced connections to how Black people’s history is entrenched in anti-Blackness with the drawing of the small KKK stick figure and the rope tied around a brown stick figure’s neck. In lines 18-20, 122 he wrote of how the practicing of racial hatred occurred between Black and White people in the United States. (Lines 18-20) 18. Lastly, lynching is a vivid image that comes to mind 19. because it was practiced often in the United States 20. particularly between blacks and whites. Figure 10. Adante’s drawing Not only did Simone, Casey, and Adanté make references to an anti-Black history, but they also showed compelling evidence in how they disrupted dominant notions of the White standard of beauty. For example, in Simone’s image, she drew an image of two Black women representing two versions of hairstyles, one with straight hair and the other one with curly hair to depict two opposing standards of beauty, one White and the other Black. She wrote in line 25 that “in society, Afros are seen as “unprofessional”, and the “European” way is better. Further, she communicated in lines (26-28) that “this stigma is enough to make someone believe that their natural hair is disgusting and embarrassing; therefore, creating a sense of disgust for their “blackness, or anti-blackness.” 123 (Lines 25-28) 25. However, in society, Afros are seen as “unprofessional,” and the “European” way is better. 26. Moreover, this stigma is enough to make someone believe that their natural hair is disgusting 27. and embarrassing; therefore, creating a sense of disgust for their “blackness,” 28. or “anti blackness.” Simone’s sentiments reflect the struggles that Black women have faced historically concerning beauty. In hooks’ (2015) essay on beauty, she gave a thorough examination concerning the feminist struggle about the American ideal of what Black feminine beauty and sexuality represent, and she recognizes the ambivalence and feelings of shame that Black women experience due to the influence of the media and the pervasiveness of the anti-Black beauty industry. Further, Simone’s disposition supports my argument in Chapter 4 about Racial shame in how some of the students, like Casey and Shayla, shared that at points in their lives they experienced shame towards their Blackness, especially Casey, who expressed that she wanted to be White and not Black. Conversely, in disrupting the anti-Black mis(standard) of beauty, Simone wrote in lines (39 – 40) “…I have curly hair I decided to make that person look like me because these thought bubbles belong to me,” and she shared in our interview that “I just like to personalize [the picture], but she, like, accepts it.” Here, Simone in her counter narrative appears to reclaim her self-worth and defy the notion that as a young Black girl that she must succumb to the White standard of beauty and that she accepts her hair as part of her Blackness—Black beauty. Her acceptance is evidenced through her drawing, oral, and written text. Her feelings of 124 self-love towards her hair and beauty help to reinforce my argument in Racial optimism as expressed in chapter four about how some students have positive sentiments towards Blackness. Although Adanté did not represent a counter stance towards the White standard of beauty in his drawing, he did evidence a shared positioning with Simone and Casey (Figure 8) of his interrogation of the power dynamics between Black power and White power in his picture. I focus on some words that Adanté wrote to represent his questioning of the divergence of Black and White and power. He wrote words like “white power,” “white elites,” “Aryan Brotherhood Hate Group.” Conversely, he wrote the words “Black King and Black Queen,” “Black Panthers.” Finally, he drew a fist to represent Black power. In lines 21-30, to represent anti-Blackness, Adanté expressed his sentiments. (Lines 21-31) 21. For the Anti-Blackness bubble I used the words white power, white elites, 22. and systematic discrimination. 23. White power is Anti-Blackness 24. because it specifically goes for the empowerment of whites. 25. I put white elites 26. because I feel like the white elites in society are Antiblack 27. and it’s shown in their actions. 28. Lastly, I put systematic discrimination 29. because I feel like the system does certain things 30. to hinder blacks from prevailing in society 31. and I see it as an Antiblack act 125 To capture his understanding of his anti-Blackness, he connected White power to the systematic discrimination of Black people. Not explicitly stated is his understanding of how some “white elites” abuse their power to sustain dominant ideologies that underpin policies and practices that contribute to the oppression of Black people and perpetuate White hatred of Black people. For example, in writing the words “Aryan Brotherhood Hate Group,” it appears that he may know that the group is a White supremacist organization that openly uses hate to ignite violence towards Black people within the prison system. Once members are released, they continue their brutality and hostility back into society at large once they are released (Lee, 2011). Without explicitly naming what the “certain things” are that contribute to systemic discrimination, Adanté implicitly recognizes how it “hinders” Black people and contributes to the erasure of Black lives and anti-Black violence. On the other hand, Adanté’s choice of words to delineate the strong presence of Blackness comes into to play when he wrote the words, “Black Kings and Queens,” “MLK,” and “Black Panthers,” and “Nat Turner.” All of these words connect because they represent power, strength, legacy—and peaceful yet forceful resistance—against White dominance. Adanté showed his understanding of Blackness in lines 32-34 and lines 37-42. (Lines 32-34 & 37-42) 32. For blackness I used words like black kings and queens, 33. the Black Panthers, well known leaders 34. like Harriet Tubman, and the Al Moroccan flag. 37. who used to dominate the world with their empires. 38. I used the Black Panther party because they were group 39. who empowered blacks 126 40. and made blackness seem positive. 41. I used well known leaders like Harriet Tubman and Malcom X 42. because these leaders empowered black people through their actions. By showing how the opposing forces of White power maligned Black people or how Black power served as a catalysis to unite or empower Back sisters and brothers respectively, Adanté appeared to discern the differences in power and influence of White and Black power. Just as Adanté appeared to understand how systemic racism historically has affected Black peoples’ lives so did Simone and Casey. For instance, Simone captured Black a fist, an afro, and hoop ear rings in her drawing (Figure 9). (Lines 29–37) 29. I decided to draw a woman with the “Black power” fist 30. as an Afro. This, for me, is the epitome of black culture. 31. The fist represents the power and unity within Black culture. 32. As for the Afro, it is also what comes to my mind when I think of blackness. 33. The Afro also pays homage to the modern natural hair movement and 34. the natural hair movement back in the 1970s when Afros were popular. 35. The fist being in place of the Afro symbolizes the struggle and prevalence 36. that bloomed from that struggle for African American civil rights, 37. and it embodies the essence of black history. In lines 29-47, Simone wrote about her drawing in ways that she is able to acknowledge and show a link between the Black movements that sought to take action and show beauty in being Black. When I interviewed (May 8, 2018) Simone, she conveyed, “I think it’s very Eurocentric 127 that [White people] prefer straight hair over curly hair.” To counter the positioning that being Black is beautiful and to embrace her Blackness, Simone wrote in lines 38 – 41 that: 38. For the middle, it is simply a depiction of me. 39. I’m a young, black girl, my favorite color is purple, and I have curly hair. 40. I decided to make that person look like me because these thought bubbles belong to me, 41. and my interpretation of the words chosen. As evidenced in Simone’s own words her message, it is clear from her Racial optimism that she has a strong sense of her Black self. Her hair is curly, and her words illuminate proudness despite the effects of anti-Black racism, which is pictured adjacent to her conception of Blackness. In that picture, she drew what the dominant White society accepts more pervasively—straight hair as opposed to Black people wearing their natural curls. Casey juxtaposed the Black fist to the United States and a police badge in her drawing (Figure 10). Also, she colorfully colors a thought bubble with red, yellow a green, the color of the Pan African flag. In her drawing the African flag along with a police badge on top of it, she acknowledged the intersections between racial violence and the freedoms that are supposedly entitled to everyone based on doctrines signed into law in the United States Constitution. Her understanding of how Black people experienced turmoil because of racial violence and racism is captured when she wrote about Black people’s oppression in lines 10 -16. The symbols illustrated were chosen to represent the system that oppressed black people. 11. and makes it extremely difficult for black people to have a fair chance at anything. 12. The police badge is a tribute to all the people who have lost their lives to police brutality and 128 13. to their families. The badge also represents the stereotypes that black men are “thugs,” black 14. women are “full of attitude,” and the race as a whole is a threat to the countries’ welfare. 15. The confederate flag is a representation of those states who wanted to continue slavery 16. and the oppression of Black Americans. Casey recognized the social injustices and struggles that Black people have faced and continue to experience since the enslavement of Black people. In understanding how systemic racism and anti-Black stereotypes can affect Black lives, Casey shared in an interview (May 18, 2019) that “A lot of the laws and the people who built America had to deal with bringing down black people. And a lot of the things that go on in America are unfair and unjust.” And she went on to say that “It really seems counterintuitive that the pilgrims came over here to gain freedom from a monarch, just to enslave other people.” Casey implicitly seems to grasp how White dominance operates from a place of self-interest and Black lives did not matter since the colonizers’ arrival to America (Kendi, 2016). Conversely, when Casey interrogates Black power, she recognized the strong presence of Blackness but realized there will continue to be a resistance to and dismantling of racism (Davis, 2016). She said in lines 21-24 that: 21. I attempted to draw a fist with the shout of Black Power, 22. with a background of red, black and green, to represent the ongoing fight for equality 23. and respect to the black community. 129 24. Due to social media, there is more awareness in the empowerment of blackness in movements 25. and the oppression of Black Americans. Interestingly, Casey showed evidence of racial validity by recognizing that the Black community has an “ongoing fight for equality” and Racial optimism by acknowledging “the empowerment of Blackness in movements.” Casey’s views in our interview and within her written description of her drawing demonstrate the complexities of attaining racial hope. The students’ drawings show what can happen when they participate in JOLM. In doing so, they can make sense of institutional and societal dynamics around race, racism, Blackness, and anti- Blackness, which affect their lived experiences. Visual Anti-Blackness and Blackness (The Digital Racial Narrative): Conceptions of Living a Full Black Life I Am My Black Self I am my black self But not just from the outside, but on the inside I have this culture that follows me around like a vulture that stalks its prey However, in a good way I know from this that I am what has made me From the beautiful colors, songs, dances, and faces That have collided into one to make the person that I am today But for some reason, my blackness has been viewed as a way to insult I am my black self Not just from the inside, but on the outside I have these features that are written on my forehead That make me stand out when I try to stay in I cannot wear my hair out in its natural state Without it being labeled as “dirty” or “unruly” That I should straighten it to conform to these standards that have somehow Been the “correct” way of doing things 130 I cannot be seen without the color of my skin Being the first thing that people notice about me and now there is This curiosity within me that has to wonder why I have to ponder Over these insecurities that I have I cannot speak to someone without thinking about which language I shall speak in their presence “But who controls articulation? The English language is a multifaceted oration subject to indefinite transformation.” Therefore, how I say what I say, it still maintains its essence. I am my black self Not just from the outside looking in, but from the inside looking out I see all of these black men being killed over the color that they were born with And it makes me think of why they are killed over the color that they were born with And by the police? The ones who are supposed to “protect” But who are they “protecting” when they are the ones who are “assuming” That Black men are the abominations to this nation that we call “America”? And that brings me to another topic which is the Black Man The Black Man, also referred to as the “negro” And the bottom of the American societal chain One cannot fathom how much has been thrown at them Without losing their own minds and spirits The false charges, stop and searches and situations Where a hair brush or phone are “mistaken” for a gun And these “mistakes” that have been going on for a while now Have made someone lose a husband, father, or son No, I am not apologetic for my blackness and my pride No, I am not apathetic to what is happening and happened To my people I am just my black self Blackness is defined through multiple characteristics, some of which are: Strength, courage, family, unity, culture, identity. Who I am and who I always will be. A network of similarities with its own unique language. Yes, Black Language. The way I talk. 131 And it ain’t wrong either. It’s my race, and my ethnicity. My physical characteristics and my nationality. What society made me and what I am made of. Yes at times it’s a struggle. Fighting all these labels and boundaries. Trying not to be what the system wants me to be, Simply because what they see When they look at me. By Casey, Shayla, Simone, Adanté, MJJ, and James We now turn to the digital racial narrative, the culminating project, where I explore the students’ project, which was multimodal and multi-voiced. The above poem is excerpted from the racial digital narrative which included a poem and rap from my dialogic group. My dialogic group, as did all of the students, produced powerful examples of their racial digital narratives. However, I can recall when Ms. Thomas and I first introduced the racial digital narrative to the class. As I walked around the room, some students openly shared that the assignment was difficult. With lip turned up and arms crossed, Aaliyah grimaced at the thought of creating a racial digital narrative as a group. She did not openly say it, but I surmised her positioning based on her body language. She did not seem comfortable with how the project was multilayered and multi-voiced. Frustrated, she appeared to withdraw from her group until one student explained that if they each person took on the task of doing a job with which the person felt comfortable doing that he or she could produce a good racial digital narrative. As I walked away, I noticed from the corner of my eye that Aaliyah settled into her chair, unfolded her arms, and appeared to relax. Many of the students voiced that they had never had the opportunity to create any kind of digital story. (Memo, 5/24/208). 132 During an interview about working as a group to create a racial digital story, Shayla she expressed that, I think [working collectively] allowed for me to hear and to mentally process a bunch of different ideas that were similar and different from my own, and because we all have so many different experiences so many different interpretations of what it means to be Black, it was nice to come together all these different stories, and then to find something that works that accommodates all our different interpretations of what it means to be Black. (February 14, 2019) Equally joyful about the opportunity to work collectively, MJJ shared during a group interview about the racial digital narrative that, I would say that having the opportunity of working with a group of people and putting together the digital story, for me, I would say it was a good experience. Mostly because, we all contributed in different aspects. Like Simone, wrote the poem…And I was able to offer, like, some photos and music. And when I offered the music, I offered a song “Bittersweet.” And I would say that—it encapsulated the whole idea of being and having a Black identity. (February 13, 2019) Overall, the dialogic groups’ sentiments were positive. Our students’ racial digital narrative complements the earlier work discussed in the chapter. However, their final project represents how our students’ understanding and learning helped them to visually show and write about the complexities of the constructs race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness collaboratively during JOLM. For the final project, Ms. Thomas and I required our students to work in collaborative groups. In doing so, they worked together to construct a group digital racial narrative, which would depict their experiences visually of all the constructs. Our students were not given any 133 constraints as to how to describe their sensibilities and experiences. Thus, they were given the leeway to be as creative as they envisioned and to think of themes that might help them in processing and organizing their presentation. Their completed project showed how they engaged in critical consciousness raising as a group. As evidenced in the digital racial narrative and their group interview about the process to visually show their collaborative learning, a variety of views were expressed. Each of our students had similar and dissimilar experiences. In working as a group, they had opportunities to engage in CCT throughout the process of creating their project. They questioned, interrogated, and dismantled White racist practices; while at the same time; they centered Blackness. The digital racial narrative was multidimensional (e.g., writing the racial narrative, gathering pictures and music, and putting it all together for the presentation). Also, it was multi-voiced because Casey, Simone, Adanté, Shayla, MJJ, and James voiced their perspectives; while at the same time, they had to come to a consensus about what to write and how to show visually their understandings of living a full Black life. Moreover, the final project as Ms. Thomas and I knew it, perhaps “could stand as a testimony, bearing witness to education as a practice of freedom,” for which bell hooks (1994) argues in her book Teaching to Transgress, Education as the Practice of Freedom. When I analyzed our dialogic groups’ racial digital narrative, I stopped to contact MJJ through text messaging to ask him for any notes that he and his group had taken. He responded back quickly, and he shared the groups’ outline (See Appendix.) The group chose to focus on the theme of identity. In doing so, they centered on seven topics relative to Black identity such as the following: natural hair, color of skin, Black Language, police brutality, the black man, black pride, and a possible seventh topic in which they might interview a student about the other six 134 topics. Also, they included notations about the poem, scenes and images, songs, and book. Their written notations represent their working collectively to organize ideas on which they would focus. All of the ideas presented in their outline were topics that were discussed during whole class CCT. Although Simone wrote the original draft of the poem, the students made revisions and edits to reflect everyone’ positioning. For the purpose of my analysis, I will focus on a few of the topics discussed in the poem. The dialogic groups’ poem and perspectives from an interview about their experiences from working together on their racial digital narrative further strengthens my argument that Black students should be in a supportive environment, where their Blackness takes precedence and where they have the opportunity to interrogate anti-Blackness. From the start of their poem, the group begins “I am my black self.” In centering their Black selves, they as a group construct collectively their views of what it means to be their Black self, as Black youth. Just as Baszile (2006) does in her story from, “Rage in the Interests of Black Self: Curricular Theorizing as Dangerous Knowledge,” our students’ poem is a symbol of their counter story, where they weave together their knowledge based on learning from JOLM in the class and personal experiences. Their poem represents how racial violence, police brutality, White supremacy, anti-Blackness, and Blackness all are embedded within the self, which contribute to their experiencing parts of the Racial continuum (e.g., Racial optimism and Racial apathy). In acknowledging their Blackness, which contributes to their Black pride, our students centered Blackness but recognized that the color of their skin sets then up as mark to experience White racist thinking and violence against their Black selves in lines 5-8: (Lines 5 -8) 5. I know from this that I am what has made me 135 6. From the beautiful colors, songs, dances, and faces 7. That have collided into one to make the person that I am today 8. But for some reason, my blackness has been viewed as a way to insult As the poem continues in lines 11-12, they appear to recognize that “I have these features that are written on my forehead/That make me stand out when I try to stay in.” It seems that they implicitly understand how actions built on White supremacy can minoritize Black people and how anti Black actions and sentiments can contribute to their experiencing racial shame (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012) In lines 19-20, This curiosity within me that has to wonder why I have to ponder/Over these insecurities that I have. Their sentiments could affirm that their feelings of Racial shame are reflective of their not wanting to be seen—rendering themselves invisible. During our CCT about African American Vernacular English (Memos, March 2-3, 2018), a student remarked that, “I feel like there is common stereotype in America, especially within urban cities, that Black people speak ghetto.” A similar sentiment is taken up in the poem in lines 21 – 26. (Lines 21-26) 21. I cannot speak to someone without thinking about which language 22. I shall speak in their presence 23. “But who controls articulation? The English language is a multifaceted oration subject to 25. indefinite transformation.” 26. Therefore, how I say what I say, it still maintains its essence. It is clear that from line 23 that students build on Jamilla Lyiscott’s TED Talk on, “3 ways to speak English” and that they understand how White dominance contributes to deficit thinking 136 around the ways Black people communicate—rendering Black Language as “ghetto.” Alim and Smitherman (2012) posited, “White Mainstream English and White ways of speaking become the invisible—or better, inaudible—norms of what educators and uncritical scholars like to call academic English, the language of school, the language of power, or communicating in academic settings” (p. 53). What is important to point out is that the students recognize implicitly the power to choose what they say and that they are always their Black self. Their words communicate fortitude and strength in maintaining their Black essence despite the “overt (obvious) and covert (hidden) racist practices that contribute to the marginalization of Black people (Alim & Smitherman, 2012). During the group interview, Casey voiced, A part of me wanted to suppress that Blackness…but I am Black, and I am not White, and I have to take pride in what I am and who I am helped to strengthen my love for myself and my culture, especially within this unit. (February 13, 2019) Just at the students made connections to how deficit thinking plays a role in how White supremacy is inextricably linked to White America not accepting linguistic diversity, they highlight how racial violence and police brutality contribute to Black suffering. In lines 31-34 and lines 40-43, they pointed out how racial violence affects Black through unjust harassment and beatings and killings triggered by false claims and racial stereotypes. (Lines 31-34) 31. And by the police? 32. The ones who are supposed to “protect” 33. But who are they “protecting” when they are the ones who are “assuming” 34. That Black men are the abominations to this nation that we call “America”? Lines 40-43 137 40. The false charges, stop and searches and situations 41. Where a hair brush or phone are “mistaken” for a gun 42. And these “mistakes” that have been going on for a while now 43. Have made someone lose a husband, father, or son Still they remain constant and assured that, “I am my Black self.” Discussion A justice oriented pedagogical mutuality (JOPM) surfaced from the justice-oriented learning mutuality that Ms. Thomas and I built. At the heart of our partnership was sustaining a learning environment where students could engage in learning that would support them as Black students. In doing so, we were deliberate in our planning. We created activities that were multi- faceted and multidimensional, as seen in the drawings and visual racial narratives. Through JOLM, our students were able to disrupt dominant practices and beliefs that marginalize and minoritize them. I believe that having multiple opportunities throughout the semester to participate in effective inquiry during CCT about race, racism, Blackness, and anti- Blackness better equipped them to craft their literacy artifacts (drawings and racial digital story.) All the students’ counternarratives show how important it is to know and love oneself while making sense of institutional and societal racism, which can affect their lived experiences. All of the socially situated activities in which the students engaged during JOLM have real implications for student learning. Implications How might using different mediums to understand students’ cultural contexts about Blackness and anti-Blackness help English educators to foster an environment where JOLM may exist? First, engaging students in CCT about White supremacy, Blackness, and anti-Blackness is 138 a complicated endeavor, as is having students to create work that builds on CCT. However, Ms. Thomas and I recognized that our commitments to our students outweighed the complexity of the work. Encouraging our Black students to become more socially, culturally, and politically aware through various literacy practices was essential. Their critical consciousness raising mattered to us because it would help them more deftly navigate spaces both inside and outside the classroom. Having opportunities to question, interrogate, and dismantle systemic racism is necessary. If ELA teachers could embrace similar commitments, they might be able take up similar work. Through JOLM, Casey, Simone, Adanté, MJJ, and Shayla showed us that being able to make sense of how Blackness and anti-Blackness affect their lives may help them to understand and what it means to live a full Black life in current times (Baker-Bell, Butler, & Johnson, 2017; Butler, 2017; Cherry-McDaniel, 2017; Dumas & Ross, 2016; Johnson, 2019, Johnson, Jackson, Stovall, & Baszile, 2017; Martinez, 2017). In their work on centering social justice issues in out- of-the school settings, Kinloch, Burkhard, and Penn (DATE)argue in their implications that, Because Black adolescents demonstrate excellence in schools, educators must affirm Black life by encouraging students to produce counternarratives that reject deficit discourses about Blackness…and also be aware that to encourage students to produce counternarratives is also to design learning spaces and cultivate educational opportunities that are critical, engaging, sustaining, and loving. (p. 51) This implication holds true for JOLM. Teaching and learning for Black students means having commitments that support living a full Black life and giving students opportunities to participate in literacy practices that require them “to read, write, listen, and speak with, and for, purpose” (Kinloch, 2012). By taking up JOLM in the classroom, ELA teachers could provide students with more justice-oriented experiences where love, hope, and resistance can exist. 139 CHAPTER 7: BLACK SYMMETRY: SUSTAINING BLACKNESS WITHIN THE ELA CLASSROOM AND BEYOND Introduction I was present at an event on Wayne State University’s campus to hear authors, Rae Paris and Kiese Laymon to engage in conversations on Black thought. Listening to them speak about their work made me think more deeply about the work that I have committed to take up on behalf of Black youth. Sitting there, I felt affirmed and excited about how my work connected to Paris and Laymon’s praxis of Black love. Their deep affection and their vision of what it means to fight for liberation and justice is similar to my work in teaching and learning with Black students. Paris commented that we need to use institutions (e.g., the academy and schools) to do the work that we want to do. This means that even though the system as a whole does not support justice and equity, we should still work within the system to affirm and sustain Black lives. Paris further commented that in doing so that this may be the first way to get reparations 8. Her comment made me think about two questions: What does it mean to honor the lives of Black students in an educational space that has historically dehumanized Black lives rather than empower them? How do we address their pain and trauma within the system while still engaging in praxis that is transformative, liberatory, and loving? To answer these two questions, one must acknowledge the importance of providing a space that is Black (Paris, 2017). Hearing Paris say that made me think of what I tried to do with Ms. Thomas. Out of our shared commitment to our students, we carved out a Black space where Blackness took precedence (Paris, 2017). The present research aimed to show what could happen in an ELA classroom when Blackness takes precedence. By engaging in a collaborative participatory approach to teaching 8 In Coates’s (DATE) passionate essay, “The Case for Reparations,” he argues that Black people are entitled to monetary reparations for the crimes committed over centuries of slavery and inhumanity. 140 and learning, Ms. Thomas, the classroom teacher, and I were able to sustain a classroom culture that was justice-oriented, where we reconceptualized what it meant to affirm our Black students. Revisiting the Black Continuum In centering students’ voices about their perceptions of and attitudes about the experience of being Black youth, I was able to understand the importance of centering Blackness in an ELA classroom. This knowledge led me to construct a continuum that ranged from Racial hope to Racial suffering. Reflecting on the students’ stories, I was filled with joy at their enthusiasm for expressing the importance of centering Blackness in an ELA classroom. MJJ, a student from the dialogic group, stated that reading about Black characters in Black novels was helping him and his classmates to evaluate themselves and think about their lives in relation to others and the world around them. Then there were moments where I felt a deep sadness because some of their stories were so troubling. For example, Casey expressed that she no longer wanted to be Black, an example of Racial shame. The students’ past and present realities supported the need for a disruption of the status quo. Following Freire (1970; 2005) and hooks (1994), I created the continuum to underscore the importance of a teacher who creates a learning space that valued the students’ consciousness raising, knowledge, and sensibilities. The students’ needs reinforced the need for a Black space (Paris, 2017), where Ms. Thomas affirmed her students’ multiple languages and literacies in their speech and writing, chose texts to interact with that represented their racial and ethnic identities, and provided opportunities to engage in critical conversations and literacy engagements about race, racism, Blackness, and anti-Blackness. 141 Justice-Oriented Pedagogical Mutuality (JOPM) What does Black freedom look like in a Black space where two Black women teachers partner to engage in mutuality to disrupt anti-Blackness (Paris, 2017)? What was needed to sustain Black students? In our partnership, we took a JOPM approach to learning. In doing so, I used the definition articulated in Chapter 5 to describe JOPM. Ms. Thomas and I encouraged the sharing, acceptance, and the dialogic practice of ideas and sentiments about various aspects of teaching and learning that center justice-oriented transformative practices. JOPM came about from the justice-oriented learning mutuality between Ms. Thomas and me. Throughout our JOPM, there was evidence of Black love. Our pedagogical positioning, practices, and commitments were informed by our need to care for our students in a Black space (Paris, 2017). The commitments included the following elements: 1) sharing of our confessional narratives, 2) creating a space where students felt loved and cared for, and 3) centering Black scholarship (Johnson, 2018). We gave them opportunities to draw, write, and create multi-modal work in which they confronted anti-Blackness (Baker-Bell, Butler, & Johnson, 2017; Butler, 2017; Cherry-McDaniel, 2017; Dumas & Ross, 2016; Johnson, 2019; Johnson, Jackson, Stovall, & Baszile, 2017). From our JOPM, we showed what can happen when a Black teacher- researcher and Black teacher unite from a shared desire and commitment to their Black students. Justice-Oriented Learning Mutuality (JOLM) In conceptualizing what a justice-oriented learning mutuality would look like, I thought about how our students’ work related to the commitments of Ms. Thomas and me. Our planning was deliberate since we desired to have students address their sentiments, which in some instances represented Racial optimism or Racial shame. Our mutuality and commitments informed our praxis, which led to our empowering a community of Black students to engage in 142 Critically Conscious Talk (CCT). The students’ engagement in CCT provided them the opportunity to counter White supremacist narratives that contribute to Black suffering. Also, the students created drawings and a digital racial narrative, which were visual conceptions of living a full Black life. Ms. Thomas and I were able to do the kind of work that does not typically get taken up in ELA classrooms. Despite academic institutions not valuing the work in which we were engaged, our resistance to the status quo demonstrated that we were willing to go beyond the boundaries that have been set in place to support anti-Blackness. Our joy and love fueled our resistance against hegemonic anti-Black practices and determination to inspire our Black students within a carved-out Black space (Paris, 2017). Recommendations and Implications Practitioners This study shows the importance of classroom teachers partnering with researchers (Baker-Bell, Paris, & Jackson, 2017). The relationship between and Ms. Thomas and me was mutually advantageous. First, I had a strong need to return to the classroom to continue the work that I have always loved, which is to affirm and sustain the lives of Black youth. Thus, I chose to partner with a Black classroom teacher whom I believed was already nurturing the souls of her Black students but was willing to discover the possibilities of centering Blackness in an ELA classroom. Ms. Thomas had a stake in our relationship in that she desired help with planning lessons and making curricular choices (e.g. multi-modal work) that were culturally affirming (Shujaa, 1994). This relational work is necessary between researchers and teachers. The dissertation demonstrates how doing justice-oriented work can be advantageous to both. As two Black women with similar positioning and commitments, we recognized that we felt deeply 143 about the “successful engagement of each child in learning as part of the larger ongoing task of contributing to their race and to the human race” (Walker, 1996). In imagining a space that was Black, where Blackness took precedence, we recognized that their lives mattered. This study could serve as a model for other English teachers who might consider creating a similar space that centers Blackness. One of the students, Shayla, expressed in an interview that the kind of work that took place in our classroom was not common. How might similar practices and engagements be implemented into other English classrooms? Building alliances department- wide should be a priority. When students move from one English course to the next, they should feel assured that they will find similar commitments, practices, and curricular choices. Fighting for justice and liberation begins with the teacher’s commitments in sustaining Blackness. An asset-based approach to learning is critical (Alim & Paris, 2017). For example, Ms. Thomas and I used Critically Conscious Talk (CCT) as a tool to disrupt White supremacist narratives. Curricular choices (e.g., reading texts like The Hate You Give and Black Boy that focus on Black lives) and providing opportunities for Black students to engage in multiliteracies that affirm their ways of knowing and being are also important. Finally, the importance of building authentic, caring relationships with Black students is paramount. I noticed that Ms. Thomas and I sharing our own confessional narratives was extremely validating for students (hooks, 1994). For example, I shared the time I was admonished by a university professor about my use of Black Language. Ms. Thomas opened up to students about riding the bus across campus and wrongly judging another Black student as acting “ghetto.” Both instances triggered opportunities for the students to examine deficit thinking and behaviors they had witnessed or participated. We all supported each other. Teachers play a critical role in modeling behaviors for Black students that support engaging difficult 144 conversations that are necessary when questioning, critiquing, and dismantling anti-Black racism. Teachers cannot expect students to take risks if they do not do so themselves (hooks, 1994). Teachers should endeavor to work in solidarity with their students so that they are not made to feel dehumanized (Paris & Winn, 2014). Teacher Education What does this study mean for English education programs, pre-service teachers, and mentoring? In an early interview, Ms. Thomas stated that she felt that in her teaching program there were not many, if any, opportunities to talk openly about anti-Blackness and practices that could affect Black students’ learning. Also, she shared that there was not enough support in her English education classes for handling issues of anti-Black racism and White supremacy even though she had experiences with both. With the current focus on police brutality and racial violence, there is a need for classes to engage in CCT and forefront contemporary issues in Black education. Kohli and Pizarro (2016) argue that while teachers of color have many things to share in terms of their background and experiences, not much has been done within teacher training to honor or build on their ways of knowing and being. Kohli and Pizarro further contend that “numerous studies demonstrate the focus and design of teacher training is for White teacher candidates, and the voices of teachers of color are either ignored or silenced within classes” (p. 73). It is therefore critical to support Black and Brown teachers who endeavor to remain in education. Just as it is needed to carve out a Black space for Black students, it is necessary to do the same for Black pre-service teachers (Paris, 2017). If teacher education programs are to retain and recruit Black teachers, the institutions have to be able to sustain them. 145 Relationships in Research Ms. Thomas and I had built a relationship over time, and I recognize that forging such a collaboration may not be simple. Other partnerships will look different and may require other kinds of learning between partners. Before pursuing research in schools with teachers, researchers should develop meaningful relationships with teachers. Relationship building may often prove challenging in light of time constraints, lesson planning, publishing, and other factors. Although Kinloch and SanPedro (2014) discussed engaging in humanizing practices with youth, the approach that they offered could also be initiated with teachers. In finding ways to promote humanized relationships with teachers, researchers should find ways to invite teachers to campus for events, go into the community to host events with teachers, and allow time for teachers to share their stories. From there, perhaps a connection could arise between teachers and researchers. The connection is a start. Ultimately, as with Kinloch and San Pedro (2014)’s approach in working with youth, there is power in “listening and storying” (p. 21) and “learning from and collaborating with” (p. 21). Conclusion Grounded in Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) and Critical Race English Education (CREE), my dissertation shows the importance of a teacher having an asset-based approach to teaching and learning and providing opportunities for students to examine and confront issues of race, racism, and anti-Blackness as a way to center Blackness. My concern with putting these two frameworks in conversation with one another was to support my understanding and analysis of my partnership and literacy engagements of the students. Thus, our collective work together illuminates what an ELA classroom can look like when a Black woman teacher-researcher and 146 Black woman teacher create a Black space (Paris, 2017), where their commitments are based on care, love, and dignity in the sustainment of their Black students’ lives. 147 APPENDICES 148 APPENDIX A: Teacher Participant Information and Consent Form You are being asked to participate in a research project. Researchers are required to provide a consent form to inform you about the study, to convey that participation is voluntary, to explain risks and benefits of participation, and to empower you to make an informed decision. You should feel free to ask the researchers any questions you may have. Study Title: Culturally sustaining talk: How black students use discourse to make sense of race and racism through engagements with culturally sustaining literacies Researcher and Title: Dr. Django Paris, Associate Professor; Davena Jackson, Graduate Student Department and Institution: Department of Teacher Education, College of Education, Michigan State University Address: Dr. Django Paris: Erickson Hall 620 Farm Lane, Room 116i East Lansing, MI 48824 Contact Information: Dr. Django Paris: dparis@msu.edu Davena Jackson: jacksdav@msu.edu EXPLANATION OF THE RESEARCH: You are being asked to participate in an instrumental case study that will investigate a teacher’s engagement with culturally sustaining literacies to teaching and learning to deepen the researcher's understanding of asset-based pedagogical approaches. Within this case study, I will explore black student’s critical consciousness building, during what I have termed Culturally Sustaining Talk (CST). CST may allow students opportunities to reference or draw on out-of- class experiences related to race and racism in an English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. The teaching and learning that will be explored may suggest that when an asset-based approach is used that black students may have both positive and productive experiences during literacy learning. Because of the study’s importance, it could serve as a framework because it may make visible a real teacher’s enactment of CST and what a teacher can do in an ELA classroom. You have been selected as a possible participant in this study because you have been identified as teacher who exhibits asset-based pedagogical approaches. 149 WHAT YOU WILL DO: Participation in this study will involve your ordinary course assignments from class being reviewed and analyzed by the researcher. It also will involve your willingness to participate in an interview or interviews during or after the course. All interviews will be audio and video recorded, and you have no obligation to participate in the interviews. Finally, your participation will involve your class being observed and recorded. YOUR RIGHTS TO PARTICIPATE, SAY NO, OR WITHDRAW: Participation in this research project is completely voluntary. You have the right to say no. You may choose not to participate in the study. You may also change your mind at any time and withdraw from further participation in the research by emailing Django Paris at dparis@msu.edu and Davena Jackson at jacksdav@msu.edu. There are no consequences for withdrawing from the study. COSTS AND COMPENSATION FOR BEING IN THE STUDY: There is no cost for your involvement in this study. CONTACT INFORMATION FOR QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS: If you have concerns or questions about this study, such as scientific issues, how to do any part of it, or to report an injury, please contact the researchers (Django Paris, dparis@msu.edu; Davena Jackson, jacksdav@msu.edu). If you have questions or concerns about your role and rights as a research participant, would like to obtain information or offer input, or would like to register a complaint about this study, you may contact, anonymously if you wish, the Michigan State University’s Human Research Protection Program at 517-355-2180, Fax 517-432-4503, or e-mail irb@msu.edu or regular mail at 4000 Collins Rd, Suite 136, Lansing, MI 48910. DOCUMENTATION OF INFORMED CONSENT: You indicate your voluntary agreement to participate in the entire study by signing below. ________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________ Name _________________________________________ Date 150 APPENDIX B: Student Participant Information and Consent Form Dear Parent/Guardian: I am a former English teacher of 20 plus years in the Detroit and Southfield area and am now a doctoral student studying teacher education at Michigan State University. I am investigating a teacher’s engagement with culturally sustaining literacies to teaching and learning to deepen the researcher's understanding of asset-based pedagogical approaches. Within this case study, I will explore black student’s critical consciousness building, during what I have termed Culturally Sustaining Talk (CST). CST may allow students opportunities to reference or draw on out-of- class experiences related to race and racism in an English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. The teaching and learning that will be explored and may suggest that when an asset-based approach is used that black students may have both positive and productive experiences during literacy learning. Because of the study’s importance, it could serve as a framework because it may make visible a real teacher’s enactment of CST and what a teacher can do in an ELA classroom. Because I am trying to learn more about CST’s effectiveness and on how well a teacher implements CST into her classroom, I will be recording class discussion, videotaping her classroom, collecting student samples of the work, and interviewing some students who have volunteered and to be part of a focus group. Although the video recording will involve both the teacher and various students, the primary focus is on the teacher’s instruction, not on the students in the class. Thus, during recording, students may appear in the video. These activities involve research, and the research is voluntary. At any time, students can withdraw or refuse to answer any questions by not being part of the focus group, not to be recorded, and not have their work reproduced. In the event that some students in class do not agree to be videotaped, the researcher will position the camera to film only those who have agreed. This is common in classroom research using video. Not participating in any aspect of the research (e.g., being videotaped, volunteering to be interviewed as part of a focus group, and reproduction of class materials) will not have a negative effect on students or their grades. Signing this consent form means that the parent has agreed to have his/her child to be interviewed as part of a focus group, include his/her child’s image on video as he or she participated in a class conducted at University High School Academy by Ms. McKenzie and/to reproduce materials that his or her child may produce as part of the classroom activities. All names of students will be changed, and pseudonyms will be used. Sincerely, Davena Jackson Davena Jackson (Researcher) jacksdav@msu.edu Dr. Django Paris (PI) dparis@msu.edu (517) 884-6639 151 APPENDIX C: Permission Slip I DO give permission for you to video-record and interview me and to reproduce I DO NOT give my permission to video-record and interview me and to reproduce Permission Slip Student Name: ___________________________________________________ School/Teacher: ___________________________________________________ o materials that I may produce as part of classroom activities. o materials that I may produce as part of classroom activities Student Signature: _________________________________ I am the parent/legal guardian of the child named above. I have received and read the letter regarding the teacher assessing her teaching practices and agree to the following. (Please mark below in the box that corresponds.) o I DO give permission of my child to be interviewed as part of a focus group, and to include my child’s image on video as he or she participated in a class conducted at University High School Academy by Ms. McKenzie and/to reproduce materials that my child may produce as part of the classroom activities. All names of students will be changed, and pseudonyms will be used. o I DO NOT give my permission of my child to be video-recorded, interviewed as part of a focus group or to reproduce materials that my child may produce as part of classroom activities. Signature of Parent or Guardian: _______________________________ Date: ___________ Date: ___________ ONLY TO BE FILLED OUT BY STUDENT IF YOU ARE 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER I DO give permission for you to video-record and interview me and to reproduce I am the student named above and am more than 18 years of age. I have read and understand the project description given above. I understand that my last name will not appear on any materials that may be shared. o materials that I may produce as part of classroom activities. o materials that I may produce as part of classroom activities. Student Signature: _________________________________ Date: ________________________ Date of Birth: _______/__________/____________ (Month/Day/Year) I DO NOT give my permission to video-record and interview me and to reproduce 152 Table 11. Terms and Definitions APPENDIX D: Terminology Term Race Racism Anti-Blackness Definition “A socially constructed system of classifying humans based on phenotypical characteristics (skin color, hair texture, and bone structure” (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012). “In the United States and Canada, racism refers to White racial and cultural prejudice and discrimination, supported by institutional power and authority, used to the advantage of Whites and the disadvantage of people of Color. Racism encompasses economic, political, social, and institutional actions and beliefs that perpetuate an unequal distribution of privileges, resources, and power between Whites and people of color” (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012). Describes the theorization of the Black condition as it relates to disdain of and violence toward Black people (Dumas & Ross, 2016). When used as a weapon to physically harm Black people over time, they can experience dehumanization and oppression (Jeffries, 2014). Describes the acceptance of the multiple identities of and is the centering of the lived experiences of Black people (Jackson, Stovall, & Baszile, 2017). “Action based on prejudice. When we act on our prejudices, we are discriminating” (Sensoy & DiAngelo’s 2012). Describes the offhanded remarks and insults that is targeted towards and experienced by Black people in the United States (Tatum, 2017). “Learned judgement about members of social groups to which we don’t belong. Prejudice is based limited knowledge or experience with the group. Simplistic judgments and assumptions are made and projected onto everyone from the group” (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012). White supremacy Describes every dimension of White privilege, dominance, and assumed Microaggression Blackness Discrimination Prejudice Oppression Black Language superiority in society. All of the dimensions include the following: ideological, institutional, social, cultural, historical, political, and interpersonal (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012). The discrimination of one social group against another, backed by institutional power. Oppression occurs when one group is able to enforce its prejudice throughout society because it controls the institutions. Oppression occurs at the group or macro level and goes well beyond individuals. Sexism, racism, classism, ableism, and heterosexism are forms of oppression” (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012). Describes the language that is used by many, U.S. slave descendants or African-American people (Smitherman, 2000). Smitherman further defines Black or African American Vernacular English (BL or AAVE) as a way to speak using English words “with Black flava—with Africanized semantic, grammatical, pronunciation, and rhetorical patterns” (Smitherman, 2006, p. 3). 153 APPENDIX E: Literacy Texts to Center Blackness Anchor Texts: Thomas, A. (2017). The hate u give. New York, NY: Balzer and Bray. Wright, R. (1989). Black Boy. New York, NY: Perennial Library/Harper & Row. Beers, et al. (eds). (2015). Collections Grade 11. New York, NY: Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt. Children’s Literature: Giovanni, Nikki. Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2008. Print. hooks, bell. Happy to be Nappy. New York: Hyperion, 1999. Print. Nonfiction/Links: Why the Myth of Meritocracy Hurts Students of Color https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/07/internalizing-the-myth-of- meritocracy/535035/ Emmett Till Accuser Admits to Giving a False Testimony at Murder Trial http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-emmett-till-accuser-false-testimony- 20170128-story.html America Always Knew Woman’s Emmett Till Story was a Lie http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/glanton/ct-emmett-till-lie-glanton-20170130- column.html Ferguson https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/11/28/ferguson-must-force-face-anti- blackness/pKVMpGxwUYpMDyHRWPln2M/story.html?s_campaign=8315 H & M Ad https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/01/08/hm-apologizes-for-showing- black-child-wearing-a-monkey-in-the-jungle- sweatshirt/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3de58c0f2ba7 Life After Jim Crow https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/civil-war-era/reconstruction/a/life-after- slavery The Birth of a Nation http://ny.pbslearningmedia.org 154 The Ethics of Living Jim Crow http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma01/white/anthology/wright.html The N-Word [An interactive project exploring a singular word]. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dre/features/the-n- word Movies: Baldwin, J., Peck, R., Grellety, R., Peck, H., Jackson, S.L., Belafonte, H., & Brando, M. (2017). I am not your negro. Kino Lorber Edu. Art: Carly Larson: “No Justice, No Peace: The Millions March for Eric Garner” https://www.google.com/search?biw=1173&bih=887&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=GE- iXIj7LoaUsgWY- pioBg&q=carly+larson+photographer+picture+of+racism&oq=carly+larson+photographer+pictu re+of+racism&gs_l=img.3...15367.26177..26514...10.0.0.161.3015.40j2......1....1..gws-wiz- img.......0j0i24j0i30.Y6XbRnDX1CA#imgrc=Sa8adrZsKwXPsM: Social Media Texts (Photos, Videos, Podcasts, TED Talk, & Websites): Audre Lorde https://player.fm/podcasts/Racism “Black Lives Matter.” https://blacklivesmatter.com Black-ish [Television], “Confronting Racism and Police Brutality” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwcychAm--s Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story/up- next?language=en Jamila Lyiscott (TED Talk) https://www.ted.com/talks/jamila_lyiscott_3_ways_to_speak_english/up-next?language=en Kendrick Lamar and Dave Chappelle, 2018 Grammys Performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeFwtA3p4Mw Malcolm Thomas recites a poem about Black Lives Matter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y4UFQCi8nc&t=3s 155 Poetry: Audre Lorde, “Power” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53918/power-56d233adafeb3 McKay, Claude, “The White House.” https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/white-house Shakur, Assata. “The Tradition.” http://www.iamhiphopmagazine.com/poetry-inspiration-the-tradition-by-assata-shakur/ Music and Links to Music: Nina Simone “Mississippi Goddamn” and “Strange Fruit” “Things done changed” https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/notoriousbig/thingsdonechanged.html Kendrick Lamar “The art of peer pressure” https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kendricklamar/theartofpeerpressure.html Childish Gambino “Hold you down” https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/childishgambino/holdyoudown.html DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince https://genius.com/Dj-jazzy-jeff-and-the-fresh-prince-summertime-lyrics Interviews: Interview with Jason Reynolds about teaching YA literature during racial violence. http://www.cc.com/video-clips/avk8pe/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-jason-reynolds--- serving-young-readers-with--long-way-down- Interview with Angie Thomas https://www.npr.org/2017/02/26/517305270/the-hate-u-give-explores-racism-and-police- violence http://www.ebony.com/entertainment-culture/the-hate-u-give-angie-thomas#axzz56WgEX1gu Interview with Tupac Shakur about police brutality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIGZfY2OeOA 156 APPENDIX F: Racial Digital Narrative Directions: Students will be expected to reflect on their own knowledge of and experiences with learning about the constructs race, racism, blackness and anti-Blackness. This critical digital learning activity will help you to integrate the key insights learned from the class. Also, you will work collectively to illustrate your learning. In doing so, you will employ technology to create your digital stories by infusing music and graphics. Each digital story should be no more 10 minutes and the narrative script will be submitted along with the digital story. OVERARCHING QUESTION: How has reading THUG and Black Boy and being provided opportunities to engage in conversation about race, racism, blackness, and anti-Blackness affected you as a learner? Here are some questions that you could consider in helping you to create your digital story. Power and interest In whose interest is the text? • • Who benefits from the text? • What positions, voices and interests are at play in the text? Whose view: whose reality? • What view of the world is the text presenting? • What kinds of social realities does the text portray? • How does the text construct a version of reality? Multiple meanings • What different interpretations of the text are possible? Objectives: • Students will employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing – process elements to communicate with different audiences in order to produce a product that demonstrates competence in narrative writing. • Students will employ technology, MovieMaker or Imovie, to create their digital stories, infusing music and graphics. • Students express individual, social, and cultural perspectives through story development • Students will demonstrate their competency in the English language arts, primarily focusing on syntax, diction, and organization of ideas. 157 Directions: 1. Move into your groups of four to create a digital story. 2. Read the following information regarding creating a digital story which goes into greater detail as to how to create your compelling digital stories. 3. Find pictures and music that help tell your story. Then, use the story board to organize your ideas, music, and pictures. 4. Create your group’s narrative, which focus on the constructs race, racism, blackness, anti- Blackness. 5. Fill out your digital story timeline as your group finishes each task. 6. Prepare digital story for presentation. 158 Figure 11. Drawing sheet APPENDIX G: Racial Drawing Sheet 159 APPENDIX H: Racial Narrative Understanding how your personal experiences have shaped your own assumptions about diverse groups is important. Our past experiences shape our identity, including how we perceive ourselves and how we perceive others. Our experiences also influence our expectations and aspirations. For this particular assignment, you will need to examine how race, racism, Blackness, and anti- Blackness have influenced YOUR experiences, sense of self (how you think about yourself), and how they might influence your assumptions/attitudes towards your learning and navigating the English classroom. Consider in your essay what school, family, experiences, and the media taught you about your own identity. How has your identity affected your experiences in school, and how have those experiences affected your learning and opportunities or lack thereof, in the English classroom? You must make connections to The Hate You Give around the topics (e.g., race, racism, blackness, and anti-Blackness) that we have discussed in the class. 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