“It’ll Never Be the White Kids, It’ll Always Be Us”

Abstract

We examine how Black high school students, participants in a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) program, understand issues of racial discrimination and inequality in their schools. Through semi-structured individual interviews conducted early in the program, eight students (six boys and two girls) recount experiences of racial stereotyping, discrimination from teachers and staff, lack of institutional support for a positive racial climate, and lack of racial diversity in curricular offerings. Further, through evolving critical analysis supported by the YPAR experience, these students describe rationale for and implications of such negative race-based educational experiences. Findings reveal how Black adolescents interpret the racial discrimination and inequality they experience in school and the implications of parental and community socialization on the development of a critical understanding of race-based social inequalities.