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The imperative to support Black youths in resisting low and limiting expectations

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: Harmful narratives circulate about Black youths in North America. Deficit narratives portray them, their culture, and their communities as problems, narratives about policing encourage their control and punishment, color-evasive narratives ignore how race shapes their experiences, and essentialist narratives erase their distinct and often intersectional experiences by presenting them as monolithic. Community psychology and allied fields do not escape these trends, which in turn infuse practice, research, and teaching involving Black youths. The present paper highlights four principles that community psychology and allied fields can adopt to support Black youths in resisting these negative and narrow narratives. They are: (1) emphasizing Black youths' and Black communities' strengths, (2) supporting their agency, (3) adopting culturally relevant practices, and (4) developing critical consciousness through reflections on and deconstruction of these narratives. We hope that the reflections shared in this paper will expand the perspectives infused by researchers and practitioners in community psychology, social work, urban studies, and allied fields who work with Black youths.

Source: American Journal of Community Psychology

DOI: 10.1002/ajcp.12637

Authors: Régine Debrosse, Leslie Touré Kapo, Karen Métayer

Institutions: McGill University, École d'innovation sociale Élisabeth-Bruyère, Saint Paul University

Language: English

Topic: Racial and Ethnic Identity Research

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: McGill University