“It really was My fault”: examining white supremacy and internalized racism through detained U.S. Black youths’ narratives and counternarratives

Abstract

This research project's initial purpose was to explore how Black youth who had been assigned to youth detention centers described their experiences with school-based racism, and how those experiences informed their experiences with school discipline prior to being detained in a correctional facility. Guided by the following research questions, (1) How do correctional facility-detained Black youth describe their experiences with racism in public schooling? and (2) How do these experiences shape their understandings of racism, relative to themselves and others?, the researchers found that there was consistent contradiction in the ways that youth described their personal experiences and the ways that they interpreted their contexts and circumstances. As they narrativized experiences, they readily considered White Supremacy in individual school experiences, but when asked to explore systemic racism, they instead blamed themselves in what Ladson-Billings and Tate describe as ‘self-condemnation.’

Keywords:

• Detained youth
• White supremacy
• interviews
• internalized racism
• critical race theory

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Desireé Tallent

Desireé Tallent currently serves the Metro Atlanta school district as a school psychologist in Georgia, USA. Dr. Tallent has spoken on the national, local, and collegiate level regarding topics ranging from racism in public schools and its contribution to the school to prison pipeline as well as trauma-informed practices and advocacy efforts. Research highlights using racial literacy as a source of promoting positive racial identity and developing an academy that serves to educate and empower youth at risk for being committed to the juvenile justice system.

Stephanie Anne Shelton

Stephanie Anne Shelton is an Associate Professor of Qualitative Research in the Department of Educational Studies at The University of Alabama, and affiliate faculty member in the Department of Gender and Race Studies. Research interests are interview- and focus group-based and include examining intersections of gender identities, gender expressions, sexualities, race, and class in educational contexts. Find her on Twitter @stephshel78.

Sara McDaniel

Dr. McDaniel is a Professor of Special Education in the Department of Special Education and Multiple Abilities at the University of Alabama and is the Director of the Center for Interconnected Behavioral and Mental Health Systems (CIBMHS). Dr. McDaniel conducts research and teaches in the areas of: (a) positive behavioral interventions and supports, (b) classroom management assessment and coaching, (c) Tier 2 social, emotional, and behavioral supports, and (d) preventative treatments for diverse populations of students placed at high risk.