"It's a Struggle, It's a Journey, It's a Mountain That You Gotta Climb": Black Misandry, Education, and the Strategic Embrace of Black Male Counterstories

Abstract

Access to education is one of the only or most realistic means in the United States to improving one's opportunities and agency over a lifetime. That so many Black men are severed from this oppor­tunity, early and often, is distressing at best and deadly at worst. Addressing this systemic issue, this essay centrally positions Black male voices to narrate their educational experiences at the inter­sections of race and gender. Guided by critical race theory coupled with Black misandry, this essay positions "gendered racism" as a communicative phenomena that can be further understood through qualitative narratives that speak to intersectional identities, power, oppression, and resistance. Drawing from the analysis of five focus group discussions, we highlight three subcategories that surfaced in relation to stereotypes including: (a) Omnipresence of Stereotype Threat, (b) Everyday Struggles with Stereotypes, and (c) Negotiating Stereotypes and Stereotype Threat. Each of these is presented by shifting Black male voices from the margins of inquiry to the center in the hopes that their insightful and instructive reflections will be taken into serious account.