Healing Black Futures: Black Youth Organizing to Redefine Destiny

ABSTRACT

Black youth throughout American history have resisted racism and the social injustice it produces. Strategies have historically included rebellion, advocacy, and social protest as well as the construction of mutual aid societies. Black youth have been central to the development of Black counter-institutions preserving their heritage and collective strengths. While contemporary organizing frameworks recognize the need personal and “collective-self” care to sustain social action, there is little research on the meaning of ancestral historical resistance or the cultural and spiritual mechanisms Black youth incorporate. In this article, findings from interviews with 20 Black youth organizing in New York City will be presented; highlighting what they described as discovering their calling and channeling liberation for a healed Black future. Implications for Black youth-led community organizing in the context of historical trauma and systemic violence through social action will be explored. The study is situated in literatures examining organizing among Black youth in the context of historical trauma.

KEYWORDS:

• Black youth
• organizing
• healing
• futures
• ancestors

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).