Mask Off

It’s time for us to take the mask off and address the stereotypes of Black boys in schools. Black boys are stereotyped as being thugs, predators and criminals. I believe that Black Male Educators can help change the experiences of Black boys in schools by dismantling the stereotypes. 

As an educator, I encourage my colleagues to use affirmations to change the stereotypes and how we engage Black boys. In order to do this, we must change the mindset of those educating Black boys.

Our schools can affirm Black boys to be thugs or Kings. Black boys are perceived at predators in schools but aren’t encouraged to be Presidents.

Black boys are groomed by society to be criminals in communities, but schools can mold them to be Champions in school, on the field and in the community. We don't see the pain of Black boys in schools face from constantly being overlooked due to being viewed as a stereotypical figure. For years Black boys have been hidden and left behind in schools because of the stereotypes created about our ability to learn.

Black boys are mainly encouraged to be athletic and not academically successful.

They are forced to go into specific fields that are deemed masculine i.e. law enforcement, construction, medicine and engineering. Black boys aren’t encouraged to be educators, lawyers or doctors as much as they are encouraged to be rappers or ball players. Black boys should be free to be excellent in whatever industry they choose. 

Black boys are not a social experiment yet the constant lack of research-based discipline programs that work for Black boys in schools. One reform, after reform to yet another reform that only limits their abilities to obtain success, not gain a prison sentence. Black boys are not a menace to society, but the stereotypes created by schools’ forces to be true.

America has spent more time and money on drawing conclusions on how to handle Black boys in schools as oppose to educating them. We have not put enough efforts into successfully educating Black boys. This freedom to allow Black boys to be who they are forces us to have the much-needed conversation about masculinity and the Black male.

It's time to take the mask off.