PIPELINE TO POWER: A CREATIVE EXPLORATION OF MY JOURNEY TO BLACK YOUTH EMPOWERMENT

Abstract

Through an arts-based autoethnography, I explored the influences and experiences that informed my approach to leading Black youth empowerment programming. Although there is a significant amount of scholarship on Black youth empowerment programming and its importance to Black children, there is limited literature on how one becomes a Black youth empowerment facilitator in the community. I sought to answer the following questions: (1) How did external forces and people inform my approach to leading Black youth empowerment programming? (2) How did my inner drive and consciousness inform my approach to leading Black youth empowerment programming? (3) How does a critique of power, privileges, and oppressions of my experiences inform my approach to leading Black youth empowerment programming? Through critical reflection journals, photos, and interviews data collection, three findings were identified. The first finding is that external forces and people from my childhood community helped me understand communal Black resilience to care for each other despite the conditions of the Black community. The second finding is that my inner drive and consciousness caused me to have an epiphany while serving in the Iraqi Desert War about helping Black youth have choices in their life beyond military enlistment. The final finding centered on my understanding of how social injustices make Black youth empowerment a must in my community and the privileges that allowed me to answer such a call of service.