Black Youth Rising: Activism and Radical Healing in Urban America
2010; Howard University; Volume: 79; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2167-6437
Autores Tópico(s)Youth Development and Social Support
ResumoBlack Youth Rising: Activism and Radical Healing in Urban America, by Shawn Ginwright. New York: Teachers College Press, 2010, viii + 179 pp., $29.95, paperback. Researcher and community activist Shawn Ginwright is a modern-day agent of healing who has captured the stories of African American in a very humanizing and real way in his newly published book, Black Youth Rising: Activism and Radical Healing in Urban America. While many researchers are busy seeking understand and describe what is wrong with today's Black youth, Ginwright advocates a new approach, rooted in social action and activism. He draws on the voices and experiences of Black youth, along with his own experience with activism and healing, promote a new model for healing the trauma of historical oppression experienced by many in the Black community. In the Introduction, Ginwright states that the purpose for writing this book was to create a new dialogue regarding what constitutes activism among black in post-civil rights United States (p. 12). After a comprehensive read of the entire book, will find that this goal has been succinctly accomplished. Readers are challenged move beyond the paradigm of fixing Black a model of action. In the modern era many programs and educational organizations have often been ineffective and insufficient because of their inability thoroughly understand the stories and needs of youth. This work calls for radical healing, arguing that caring relationships, community connections, political consciousness, and cultural identity Black reengage in civic by addressing issues that are closely connected struggles in their everyday life (p. 144). Through interviews with engaged in the programs provided by Leadership Excellence (LE), an organization in Oakland, California, founded by Ginwright, readers are given a chance humanize Black through reading their stories. These young people's lives have been transformed by the myriad of programs LE offers and the care, commitment, and sense of community LE provides for them. In the first chapter Ginwright offers an overview of the geography of Oakland by taking a written bus ride through Oakland show its racial, economic, and social diversity. As the birthplace of of the nation's most notable Black activist organizations, the Black Panther Party, Oakland stood at the forefront of the Black Liberation movement during the 1960s and 70s. However, the author theorizes that the urban trifecta, which he defines as the demise of the Black Panther Party, the exodus of blue-collar jobs, and the influx of crack cocaine. . . transformed the nature of black radicalism in America (p. 42) - including Oakland. Chapter 2 highlights how and commitment can foster activism in who have experienced trauma in their communities. Chapter 3 uses lessons from Camp Akili, a five-day camp created in 1989 with the intention of healing the trauma of Black in environments, explore one approach building and sustaining community among black youth (p. 80). Chapter 4 explores the ways in which young black men (ages 5-20) in an all male afterschool program support group discuss their fathers, manhood, racism, violence, and rage with love, compassion, and care (p. 106). Ginwright starts the chapter by sharing his daughter's question him, Daddy, are they dangerous? …
Referência(s)