This week as we continued to meet with a group of energized youth, two exciting components emerged regarding social inclusion and the goal of bridging this gap. First, we were successful in bringing another stakeholder to join to us in this project. Jerome Bennett, Disproportionate Minority Coordinator with Department of Corrections, sat at the table for this week’s meeting with the youth. I have had the opportunity to work with Jerome last semester, during my internship with Youth MOVE, and co-facilitated several focus groups with him at Long Creek Juvenile Detention Center. These groups were formed of committed/detained minority youth and explored the obstacles they faced in Maine’s systems of care. In June of 2016, Jerome held an “Injustice to Justice” forum, as mechanism for engaging participants in a conversation about racism and seeing firsthand the injustice that youth of color face. “The kids that I work with hear it and get discouraged, and (the rhetoric) ends up justifying beliefs they already have, and it polarizes communities,” Bennett said. “It perpetuates implicit bias and stigmas that people are already trying to combat” (Pafundi, 2016, p.1).
Secondly, this week as the youth were brainstorming ideas for scribing their “own story,” there stemmed a dialogue around their perception of themselves. One youth explained his own internal battle of balancing not being “too black” because of wanting to fit in, but also not trying to be “too white” and someone he is not. In Racing to Justice this week, Powell discusses a similar message while referring to a 1986 study. “A number of African Americans, especially young males define doing well academically we “acting white” and take pains to avoid the stigma of whiteness, or perhaps the stigma of seeming to separate from the group to win acceptance from an institution perceived as fundamentally hostile or rejecting” (pg.88). Not only are these youth hitting the obstacle of racism in the community, but also are struggling with finding their true selves!
References:
Pafundi, J. (2016, June 22). Forum takes hard look at racism in Maine’s juvenile justice system. Kennebec Journal. Retrieved from http://www.centralmaine.com/2016/06/22/forum- takes-hard-look-at-racism-in-maines-juvenile-justice-system/
Powell, J. A. (2012). Racing to justice: Transforming our conceptions of self and other to build an inclusive society. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Secondly, this week as the youth were brainstorming ideas for scribing their “own story,” there stemmed a dialogue around their perception of themselves. One youth explained his own internal battle of balancing not being “too black” because of wanting to fit in, but also not trying to be “too white” and someone he is not. In Racing to Justice this week, Powell discusses a similar message while referring to a 1986 study. “A number of African Americans, especially young males define doing well academically we “acting white” and take pains to avoid the stigma of whiteness, or perhaps the stigma of seeming to separate from the group to win acceptance from an institution perceived as fundamentally hostile or rejecting” (pg.88). Not only are these youth hitting the obstacle of racism in the community, but also are struggling with finding their true selves!
References:
Pafundi, J. (2016, June 22). Forum takes hard look at racism in Maine’s juvenile justice system. Kennebec Journal. Retrieved from http://www.centralmaine.com/2016/06/22/forum- takes-hard-look-at-racism-in-maines-juvenile-justice-system/
Powell, J. A. (2012). Racing to justice: Transforming our conceptions of self and other to build an inclusive society. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
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