PTEA form

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Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework and Literature

Theoretical Framework: T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E.

Although MOB is a program at an academic institution, MOB’s success as a

program cannot solely be understood in the traditional standard of academic achievement.

While academic achievement is an outcome and students do reach academic/traditional

success through forms of resistance: MOB’s focus centers around issues related to

identity and consciousness. Likewise, this study is not about measuring academic

success, it is about how students experience and resist racialization and the interventions

that MOB provides to these experiences. In this respect, academic success outcomes that

were found in this study must be placed in context with how students resist racialization.

It just so happen that the confidence students have built to resist racism by being

affirmed in their urban Black male identities found in this study: Was also a confidence

that reflected how these authentic hood Black males (who expressed themselves in a way

that is counter to Eurocentric norms and values) were also the kids on campus getting A’s

and Bs and serving as leaders on campus. In this case, while academic achievement is an

outcome for these students, their processes and experiences of racialization is the focus in

measuring their success in MOB. Measuring success the MOB way, the Black masses

way: Is to celebrate the Black man that uses his political racialization to “bang on the

system” while still achieving academic success within that same system as praxis to

change the system through education.

Moreover, to also celebrate the Black man that says “fuck the system and fuck

school” and choose to not want to engage within the system at all-and instead focus their

energy on creating their own Black system. The main focus in both these cases, is that

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these students are navigating their experiences of alienation in a way that is authentic to

their own meaning making systems that is grounded in the urban Black community and

culture that they stand from. Whatever produces from this above stated grounding, is

whatever produces.

Because MOB is a program that is rooted in the experiences of urban Black

males, the program aligns itself with many of the principles espoused by Tupac Shakur.

These principles are central to the work of the program itself. In order to adequately

measure how the program utilizes these principles in helping students navigate processes

of racialization, this dissertation uses a new set of concepts related to Tupac Shakur’s

development of T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E. These concepts allow me to explore and make sense of

the experiences of MOB students.

The Hate U Gave Little Infants Fucks Everyone (T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E or Thug Life)

framework of Tupac Shakur within Hip Hop in particular, is a new type of Black cultural

capital that instills confidence, racial pride, and resiliency in Black people to utilize their

struggles as a source of empowerment that allows them to navigate life against all odds

(Shakur,1992). Black males identify with Thug Life as it means the hate that has been

bestowed upon Black men as young children seeds of oppression, will eventually blow up

in the faces of colonial systems (Shakur, 1993). Shakur further conveys that a thug is a

person who comes from rough conditions and who is oppressed, that still rises above to

empower themselves against oppressive power structures (Shakur, 1993). In connection

to community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005), Thug Life is embedded in forms of

communal, familial, cultural and resistant (protection of Black community members)

capital nurtured through the code of Thug Life for Black men and women.

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Thug Life as a Conceptual Framework

Thug Life as a Conceptual Framework; Stages of Consciousness They don’t give a fuck about us Recognition of inequality/individualized

racism and dehumanization

I Guess It’s Cause We Black That We Targets

Recognition of a community of the

oppressed

Conquer the Enemy Armed With Education

Recognition of communal struggle/solidarity

Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished

Political praxis rooted in racial alienation:

MOBISM

There are four key concepts that I have developed related to Thug Life. These

provide an opportunity to understand the experiences of MOB students with nuance and

depth. Below I provide a conceptualization of each of these concepts. In this study, I use

these concepts as a framework to do a discourse analysis in which I am looking for these

themes in the data.

They don’t give a fuck about us (Recognition of inequality/individualized racism and dehumanization)

One theme that emerged from the data was student recognition of racism. Several

students expressed frustration over feelings that they were frequently subjected to racial

discrimination. These sentiments are captured in the Tupac song, “they don’t give a fuck

about us.” In this song, Tupac describes the racial oppression that Blacks are confronted

37

with on a global scale. I use this concept to describe a beginning stage in the development

of consciousness when students realize the discrimination that they face based on their

Blackness. Students describe a process of understanding the reality of what they must

face as Black people. This experience with racism often follows them to campus.

Although during this stage, students often speak of individualized experiences of racism,

such as “I” and “me,” they begin to make connections between individual and collective

experiences with racism. This understanding is captured in the Tupac phrase “they don’t

give a fuck about us.”

I guess it’s cause we Black that we targets (Recognition of a community of the oppressed)

In this stage, students make clear connections with their personal experiences with

racism to structural forms of domination. For example, students begin to realize that they

are part of a community of others that share a common experience with racism. In this

stage students often use words like “we” and “us” when speaking about racism. These

sentiments are captured in the Tupac song, “letter to the president;” in particular, the line

from the song “I guess it’s cause we Black that we targets.” In this line, Tupac describes

the racial oppression that Blacks face on a systematic level as a community that

experiences this shared struggle. I use this concept to describe a another stage in the

development of consciousness when students realize the discrimination that they face

based on their Blackness on the individual level (personal experiences with

discrimination on campus and in the real world outside of campus), are experiences that

Black men face as a collective. Students describe a process of understanding that they are

part of a community of Blacks that experience discrimination. This experience with

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racism often extends beyond the college campus. Although this is a stage where students

often speak of experiences of racism as a community, such as “we” and “us,” they also

begin to develop a sense of pride in this collective struggle and begin to gain a

consciousness,- a Black identity, that is grounded in their community struggle. This

understanding is captured in the Tupac phrase “I guess it’s cause we Black that we

targets.”

Conquer the enemy armed with education (Recognition of communal struggle/solidarity)

Solorzano utilized methods of qualitative inquiry and counter storytelling to

examine the construct of student resistance through her Latino/Latina critical race theory

framework (Solorzano, 2001). In the “conquer the enemy armed with education” stage,

students begin to identify the need to resist collectively against the forms of racism that

they have identified. Students begin to develop a collective sense of pride in the same

cultural attributes that they are often chastised for. In other words, students see their

Blackness as both tying them to a community of the oppressed and as an archive for

resistance. During this stage, students begin to identify the need to educate themselves in

order to resist the racism that they are facing. These sentiments are captured in the Tupac

song, “words of wisdom;” in particular, the line from the song “conquer the enemy armed

with education.” In this line, Tupac defines education as knowledge of self/culture and

the historical struggle that Blacks face as a collective. Tupac uses education as a political

praxis to establish collective Black pride, grounded in collective Black struggle, to resist

oppression. I use this concept to describe a stage where students development a

consciousness to use their education to resist aspects of discrimination by constructing

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solutions to their collective Black struggles. This understanding is captured in the Tupac

phrase “conquer the enemy armed with education.”

Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished (Political praxis rooted in racial alienation: MOBISM)

In this stage of development students begin to engage in political praxis rooted in

their sense of pride in being Black. Students have recognized their shared experiences

with racism, have expressed a collective affirmation in their Blackness and have made a

commitment to resist the structures that they have identified. These sentiments are

captured in the Tupac phrase, “N.I.G.G.A: Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished.”

In this phrase, Tupac has expressed a political praxis that is grounded in pride in

collective Black struggle-producing an individual and collective commitment to resist

discrimination in a way that is for the Black community and by the Black community. I

use this concept to describe a stage where students development a consciousness, an

eternal commitment to justice by the means of whatever justice looks like to the

collective Black community and themselves as individual members of that community.

Whether it be students’ commitment to engaging and building with the urban

Black youth, wanting to be part of and/or lead a revolution, or utilize their Black pride to

resist discrimination in their personal encounters in school/life: Their justice aspirations

are completely grounded in their own meaning making systems in alignment with the

collective oppressed Black masses. This understanding is captured in the Tupac phrase

“N.I.G.G.A: Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished.” Dyson conveyed the term

nigga in connection with Thug Life as a praxis to judge and critique the anti-Black

society that constructed the term nigger in the first place (Dyson, 2006). The phrase

“Nigger,” is a term used to insult Blacks and push a subservient identity that is under

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White coloniality. “Nigga,” in contrast, is the Black counter term to Nigger that is

embedded in Black pride and empowerment in a collective struggle to overthrow the very

institution that created the term Nigger (Dyson, 2006).

MOB helps to facilitate these stages as it provides a space for students to reflect

critically on their shared experiences. In connection to counter storytelling to examine the

construct of student resistance (Solorzano, 2001): Resistance in this study is defined as

students resisting whiteness by privileging Blackness via how students show up as their

authentic Black selves via dress apparel (in a way that counters white norms), how they

resist racist experiences in school by continuing to persist and assert themselves in racist

encounters on campus in a way where they refuse to be shut down academically;

furthermore, resisting whiteness by creating programs that engage the larger Black

community by working with Black youth in a way that is authentic to them-without any

regard for how the institution thinks they should function. Each of these key concepts are

central to Tupac’s Thug Life framework and form the foundation of my analysis. Each of

these concepts operate within the framework of a political philosophy and praxis that is

rooted in the experiences of the oppressed Black masses.

It is important to understand that these themes operate in a context that is “strictly

for my niggaz.” In other words, solidarity with the Black masses is the defining feature of

each concept. What is key here, is that Tupac is mapping a political philosophy that

articulates a notion of justice, success, identity and solidarity that is in accordance with

one’s own worldview. In other words, success is not defined from the outside, again, this

is a key departure from Eurocentric notions of Black life. This will allow us to interpret

the experiences of students within MOB in a different light.

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Aspects of the code of Thug life convey that Carjacking in the hood is against the

code, selling drugs to children is against the code, slanging drugs to pregnant Black

women is against the code and having children of the community sell drugs is against the

code (Shakur, 1992). Other codes hold that the police do not control anything in the

Black community and instead the community does (Shakur, 1992). Furthermore, those

who live the code of the Thug Life must make the community safe and protect it at all

times (Shakur, 1992). These key elements of Thug Life are rooted in themes of

community, racial pride, solidarity and a sense of protection/militancy against oppressive

forces such as the police as a function of racial justice. Thug Life as Tupac Shakur

conveys, reflects Black experiences with racism and oppression as a means to counter

colonialism and survive (Shakur, 1992).

Literature

This work explores the experience of MOB students with racialization and

attempts to highlight the forms of resistance that these students have developed. In this

way, this study differs from most studies on college retention programs. Although some

studies acknowledge that students face racism, their primary concern is on the program

itself, not on the process of student experiences with racism. This study explicitly

explores this process. It attempts to analyze the ways students both experience racism and

develop strategies to navigate that racism. I focus on how MOB serves as a tool for

students to deal with these experiences.

The problem with much of the literature is that it focuses on academic success and

not on this process. Therefore, much of the literature is not sufficient for understanding

how students develop a critical consciousness. In other words, a student could say “fuck

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school.” Much of the literature would understand that as academic failure. However,

there is something more nuanced happening and in order to see what is happening we

need to develop a new framework. That framework is provided by Tupac Shakur.

In connecting this larger issue of racism to Black male engagement and retention,

the Thug Life framework is critical to addressing the problem of anti-Black male identity.

Thug Life, as mentioned above, is an anti-deficit narrative of culture and power that must

be tapped into to impact Black male success. Existing literature on what leads to Black

male departure in higher education and what engages Black males on campus to impact

their success surrounds themes of Black male identity focusing on the following: Racism,

racial affirmation, and cultural validation in relation to what impacts Black male sense of

belonging and engagement on campus.

Racism and Black Male Educational Experiences

There is much literature that discusses the impact that racism in the college

institution has on Black male student attitudes, experiences and retention in education

(Harper, 2006). Black males experience discrimination in the classroom and have

negative attitudes towards education and school importance especially when there is no

sense of racial centrality (educational material and practices that are centered around their

racialized experiences) in their education (Chavous, 2008). In examining the influences

of school racial discrimination and racial identity on academic engagement outcomes for

Black adolescents, Chavous examined relationships among racial identity, school-based

racial discrimination experiences, and academic engagement outcomes for adolescent

Black boys and girls in Grades 8 and 11. Methods included 410 African American

adolescents (n 204 boys and n 206 girls). Findings demonstrate that centrality moderated

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the relationship between discrimination and academic outcomes in ways that differed

across gender (Chavous, 2008).

Findings further convey that girls had significantly higher 11th-grade GPAs and

academic self-concepts than did boys. However, the Boys in this study reported more

classroom and peer discrimination (Chavous, 2008). For boys, higher racial centrality

related to diminished risk for lower school importance attitudes and grades (Chavous,

2008). This data is important because it emphasizes how racism and affirmed racialized

experiences is an important factor in Black male outcomes for better or worse. Black

males facing racism and discrimination from the education institution results in low

attitudes towards education. Yet, when their educational experience centers on their racial

identity and experiences (racial centrality), lower school importance attitudes are

diminished (Chavous, 2008).

In connection, Shaun Harper looked at Black male experiences with

discrimination at the college level in addition and explored themes of racial centrality via

Black males being validated in their identities and lived experiences (and the implications

for this) in a quantitative study. In a national survey of student engagement consisting of

844,000 respondents, the survey found that more than two-thirds (67 percent) of Black

males who start college do not graduate within 6 years, -the lowest completion rates

among both sexes and all racial groups in higher education (Harper, 2006). Respondents

indicated that encounters with racism and stereotyping from majority white faculty and

staff in the classroom and other functions of the college institution contributed to students

having imposture syndrome and feeling like they do not belong on campus (Harper,

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2006). Methods featured a report from 50 PWI’s on Black male experiences and

retention.

In continued findings, many Black male student survey responses conveyed that

Black males had to contend with feelings of alienation, isolation, racism, discrimination

and environmental incompatibility (not able to relate or have a real connection to the

campus) (Harper, 2006). Based on findings from the study, harper implied that

institutions need to maintain affirmative action and race based college admissions

policies (Harper, 2006). Furthermore, institutions must invest in more ethnic based

programs such as Gear Up and hire more Black male faculty and staff to validate the

racialized experiences of Black male students on campus (Harper 2006). This literature is

significant because it looks at the general problem of Black male retention based on the

numbers as well as a glimpse of the experiences that Black males face that impacts their

retention. Like the Chavous study, findings from Harper’s study indicates that racism and

Black males not having their lived experiences affirmed on campus results in less

engagement on campus for Black males and subsequently low graduation rates. In

combatting this victim narrative, Black male racial centrality (having their racialized

experiences affirmed via campus programming or faculty and staff) impacts their success

in a positive way (Harper 2006). These implications, again, applies and can be traced

back to Black male experiences at the K-12 level.

Through semi structured individual interviews of Black high school student

experiences in a Youth Participatory Action Research Program (YPAR), Elan Hope

examined how Black high school students understand issues of racial discrimination and

inequality in their schools. Through semi-structured individual interviews conducted

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early in the program, eight students (including 6 Black males) recount experiences of

racial stereotyping, discrimination from teachers and staff, lack of institutional support

and lack of racial diversity in curricular offerings (Hope, 2014). Findings reveal that

student interactions with teachers play a pivotal role in the development of achievement

and social competence (Hope, 2014). This is critical as it conveys how teachers, faculty,

and administrators in K-12 and higher education serve as key agents of school-based

racial socialization. Directly related, Black youth receive messages about what it means

to be both Black and a student through their interactions with their teachers (Hope, 2014).

Students from each school district indicated at least one personal experience in which a

teacher or school staff member treated them unjustly based on race. The above literature

looks at themes of racial discrimination, alienation and negative stereotyping that has

been a problem that Black males face in K-12 and higher. However, much literature also

focuses on Black male racialized experiences in both k-12 and higher education from a

high achieving anti-deficit lens.

Hotchkins used a qualitative case study approach to explore how African

American male collegians embody and perform various forms of excellence within a

predominantly White college institution (PWI). Data was collected using three semi-

structured interviews, a brief in-person follow-up interview, and three observations of

participants on how they contextualized the resulting interview data. Hotchkins found

that participants’ experiences with anti-Black racism fostered higher ordered critical

thinking, resiliency, and a reinforced commitment to social justice via collegiate

excellence outcomes (Hotchkins, 2008). While this literature looks at student experiences

from an anti-deficit framework emphasizing a positive narrative of resiliency based on

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encounters with racism, it is still connected to the above literatures in that it focusses on

Black males racialized experiences in higher education that impact their educational

outcomes and retention.

Harper, Hotchkins, Hope, and Chavous looks at Black male student experiences

and factors such as racial discrimination amongst educators. In alignment, William

Tierney looked at functions of the higher education institution and implications for not

validating Black male identity in connection to departure and low retention rates of

students. This study was intentional in holding that Vincent Tinto’s theory of college

student retention misses the mark for minority students, Black males in particular

(Tierney, 1999). In utilizing program observations and student narrative interviews on

Black student experiences in a college prep based program; Tierney’s study featured a 3-

year program evaluation that focused on student experiences with a college preparation

and retention program (NWI) that served high school students from inner-city South

Central neighborhoods and supported students through college.

Tierney maintained that Vincent Tinto’s theory of college student retention misses

the mark for minority students by holding that students must assimilate to the dominant

cultural mainstream and abandon their ethnic identities to succeed in predominately white

Colleges. Findings from this study demonstrate how students specified that the cultural

and community validation from the program had the strongest impact on student

confidence to persist in higher education (Tierney, 1999). Based on findings, Tierney

conveyed that instead of students of color at PWI’s undergoing initiation rites that lead to

their cultural suicide: Cultural Integrity, a cultural model of academic life that affirms

who they are, instead of rejects, would have a profound impact on students’ retention and

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success as they are validated on campus (Tierney, 1999). There is much literature that

looks at models of academic life that affirms who Black male students are, in respect to

culture and race, to impact their engagement and retention on campus.

Race: Validating Black Males Lived Experiences

Harper looked at Black male issues of racial discrimination in higher education

and how Black males have resisted discrimination and found belonging on campus to

impact their retention. Harpers study is significant in that it focuses on Black males who

succeed in higher education in contrast to much existing literature that looks at Black

male problems in higher education that result in low graduation rates. In this research,

harper conducted interviews with Black male achievers at 30 predominantly white

colleges and universities.

Findings reveal that students were frequently confirmed with stereotypes but

overcame them by partaking in leadership roles, engagement in student organizations

(Black organizations and spaces for ethnic minorities) (Harper, 2012). Findings also

convey that Black faculty/leaders on campus serve the purpose of empowering Black

students to resist stereotypes on campus. By doing so, this affirms students to resist and

counter their negative experiences (Harper, 2012). Example, one student explained that

being able to engage with other Black male faculty/staff on campus who could resonate

with their struggles empowered students to feel confident in challenging campus peers

and professors whenever students are subjugated to racial stereotypes. In connection with

the literatures discussed thus far, this data provides an understanding that when students

do have a connection to campus, it is when their racial and cultural experiences are

validated by faculty and staff programming that empowers them to persist.

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Brooms further explored this racialized and cultural validation that empowers

Black males in his study of Black male experiences in the college Black Male Initiative

(BMI) Program. In the multisite study, he explored the impact of the BMI program on

Black Male students college experiences across three separate campuses. As theoretical

frameworks, he used Yosso’s community cultural wealth and Strayhorn’s belonging

models to investigate how the participants made meaning from their engagement with the

program (Brooms, 2018). Findings explained how the BMI program enhanced the

students since of mattering and belonging on campus through helping them access

sociocultural capital, providing holistic support focusing on Black male identities and

engendering student persistence (Brooms, 2018). This is important in naming race, in

connection to campus programming, as an important factor to providing holistic support

for Black males rooted in Black male identity. Based on the discussed literature, race is

important. Further existing literature connects culture and cultural relevant pedagogy as a

factor in validating Black male identity by engaging students in a way that validates their

lived experiences in the educational space to impact retention.

Culture: Validating Black Males Lived Experiences

Andrade used Hip Hop as a tool to engage urban Black and Brown youth,

allowing them to make meaning of who they are and take ownership of their education by

incorporating hip hop in classroom instruction. To study the impact Hip Hop culture has

on the identity development of Black male and Latino students, his study utilized

qualitative methods (classroom observation) in observing a classroom unit designed to

incorporate Hip Hop music into a traditional style of English poetry. Findings from this

study suggest that not only were students engaged by being able to incorporate their lived

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experiences and positionality (via Hip Hop) to the mandated curriculum/text; but students

were able to have fun and learn about a culture and genre of music of which they had

great familiarity with (Andrade, 2002). In connection with culture that Tierney discussed,

incorporating Hip Hop in educational spaces allows educators to think outside of the box

and tap into the worlds of Black male youth in order to make powerful connections with

traditional academic texts and affirm, in meaningful ways, the everyday lives of Black

males (Andrade 2002). This study is significant in that it sets a foundation, in connection

to culture, for what works in validating students in spaces.

The term reality pedagogy was coined in using Hip Hop cyphers to create a

learning environment in class that allows Black students to bring their knowledge,

perspectives and systems of meaning-making to understand course material (Emdin,

2011). Emdin used Hip Hop/Rap Cyphers to allow Black students to bring materials and

knowledge from their surrounding communities to their science class experience. There is

much literature that looks at the significance of using Hip Hop in teaching strategies to

affirm the lives of Black youth and to develop learning and critical thinking abilities for

students. Cooks discussed the importance of using Hip Hop in the classroom as a

teaching tool in his study on middle school Black males in the Oakland Unified School

district. Utilizing Hip Hop in the form of rapping is an important tool for instructional

strategy to impact student writing/literacy, voice and their overall validation as young

Black males (Cooks, 2004). Hip Hop pedagogical framework, frameworks rooted in

cultural relevant pedagogy in general, impact both K-12 and college stakeholders in how

to utilize the cultures of Black youth to impact student success (Howard, 2003). Andrade

and Cook’s study conveys that Hip Hop culture is one approach to validate Black male

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student identity and culture. Howard expressed that faculty and staff members must be

able to address the complex nature of race, culture, and ethnicity when working with

student populations (Howard, 2013). Furthermore, those who work with students

regardless of racial background must understand the racial and cultural context of

students and be especially intentional when working with Black students at the K-12 and

college level (Howard, 2013). Akom further discusses how critical it is to center students

culture and racialized experiences within their learning by using Hip Hop as a form of

liberatory praxis within classroom instruction (Akom, 2009).

Nasir explored aspects of culturally relevant pedagogy in her study of 9th grade

Black male student experiences in an all-Black male manhood development class. In his

study, methods draw on classroom observations and interviews with twenty-three Black

male ninth graders in an urban district to focus on the nature of disciplinary practices in

an all-Black, all-male manhood development class. The Study found that the disciplinary

practices in the class were rooted in a Black cultural way as opposed to demonizing

Black male students by judging their behaviors as threatening via school suspension and

disciplinary referrals (Nasir, 2013). Based on findings, Nasir argues that, led by a “hero

teacher,” the manhood development class functions as an example of “transformative

resistance” in changing how Black male students perceive themselves rooted in their

racialized, community and cultural experiences (Nasir, 2013).

Gaps in Literature: What Tupac Conveys

Tupac agrees with transformative resistance and empowering students through

their culture and racialized experiences as discussed in the above literature to impact

student success. The literature already highlights the significance of taking students lived

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experiences (issues of racism, internal racism within the community, poverty, and

strengths such as Hip Hop etc) and centering them at the forefront of students classroom

experiences to engage them. Tupac conveys that this engagement and sense of

empowering students through race and culture should be taken to the streets, schools, the

workplace and essentially all fabrics of society beyond the school. In order to do so, it

would not only be the effort of educators to empower students via classroom CRP

practices; it would be educators, community and students empowering each other as a

collective in the fight for the liberation of Black life. The “culture,” for the Black masses

is a culture of resistance.

When schools fail urban Black males, it results is the direct outcome of the school

to prison pipeline and prison industrial complex. There is a strong relationship between

school suspension and incarceration rates (Fryer, Heaton, Levitt, & Murphy, 2013). In

this case, the achievement gap continues to be a source of focus of many CRP scholars.

Tupac helps us understand that schools are not failing Black boys, and instead they are

working as design to push Black males into prison or to push a Eurocentric conformity

amongst Black youth. As such, Tupac calls for a lifestyle and culture of practice that

addresses the government, judicial system, education system, and the police overall as

they serve to enforce the school to prison pipeline.

When we analyze these above phenomena through a THUG LIFE lens we can see

that the key factor is that the knowledge and practices of Black youth should be first and

foremost understood through their own experiences. Below, I provide more discourse

analysis of Tupac lyrics in order to demonstrate his conceptual utility.

“My heaviest words will move a mountain

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Casualities in mass amounts (*political praxis rooted in racial alienation*), brothers keep

countin

Fuck the friendships, I ride alone

Destination: Death Row-finally found a home (*Recognition of community of

oppressed*),

Plus all my homies wanna die; call it euthanasia

Dear Lord, look how sick this ghetto made us (*Recognition of community of oppressed*)

Sincerely yours, I’m a thug (*recognition of communal struggle/solidarity*). The product

of a broken home

Everybody’s doped up, nigga what you smokin on?

Figure if we high they can train us

But then America fucked up and blamed us

I guess it’s cause we Black that we targets (*recognition of community of oppressed*)

My only fear is God, I spit that hard shit

In case you don’t know, I let my pump go

Get it ride for Mutulu like I ride for Geronimo

Down to die for everything I represent

Meant every word in my letter to the president (*political praxis rooted in racial

alienation*)”

(Shakur, 1996).

In connecting all discussed literatures together surrounding Black male sense of

belonging/engagement in connection to Black male retention: The literature helps us

53

understand how important validation of racialized experiences and culture is to Black

male identity. It is that thing that needs to be validated as part of the process of Black

males being engaged and finding belonging in educational spaces to impact their

retention. Overall, the literature divides identity into race and culture such as need for

more Black faculty and staff to validate Black students (Harper, 2013) or the importance

of faculty and staff of all racial groups to understand the cultures of Black youth and how

to use this in teaching instruction to validate students (Howard, 2003). However, this

position assumes that anyone of any race can have the same impact on Black students as

long as they practice understanding student culture and be intentional when working with

them. Or, it assumes that so long as Black males have Black faculty and staff (racial

focus) they will have an automatic connection with the faculty. Which we know this is

not always the case.

Even in the case where we have a Black faculty or staff member that also utilizes

culturally relevant practices (CRP) in their work with students, the literature suggests

they are primarily using CRP in classroom instruction pedagogy or campus programming

for students to implement culture in learning. Yet, in this same context, some of these

same educators are still telling students that they have to “code switch” once they leave

those educational “safe spaces.” Essentially, and perhaps unconsciously, sending a

message to students that they must abandon the very cultural roots that are affirming to

them in school educational spaces when engaged with CRP practices once they leave the

campus and navigate the larger society.

Code switching typically is associated with some sort of image/appearance or

behavioral semantics of the student that must be “molded” or shifted in order to “fit” in

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institutions, and less to do with the work and content of the student. Furthermore,

connecting back to CRP, existing literature highlights CRP practices often in alignment

with Black male achievement gap to impact Black male retention in the school primarily.

While the achievement gap is important, primarily focusing on the achievement gap for

Black males do not speak to the overall historical experiences and realities that shape

Black male students outside of school regarding systematic racism. Furthermore,

respectability politics is not praxis for taking up forms of justice against the institution.

Instead, code switching, respectability politics, privileges the institution. Tupac helps us

understand that a sense of solidarity amongst Blacks, pride in culture and identity, and

affirmation of racialized experiences as a lifestyle, privileges Black males to resist

politics of respectability. Thus, creating success by their own values and standards.

“It's time for us as a people (*recognition of community of oppressed*) to start makin'

some changes

Let’s change the way we eat

Lets change the way we live

And let's change the way we treat each other

You see the old way wasn't workin'

So it's on us to do what we gotta do to survive (*recognition of communal

struggle/solidarity*)”

(Shakur, 1998).

In analyzing the body of literature through a Tupac Shakur lens, this study adds

on to scholarly work that centers on the significance of race and culturally relevant

practices to empower urban Black youth. This study explores new perspectives of

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cultural wealth centered on the role that Black male students and the Black community

overall play in utilizing their individualized and collective experiences of

inequality/discrimination to build a sense of pride and solidarity to impact success: a

political and cultural praxis that is rooted in their racial alienation. In order to investigate

what cultural wealth looks like to students through their experiences in the MOB

program, we asked students what does MOB mean to them?

Research Questions

This project aims to explore the racialized experiences of young Black males. In

particular, my interests lay in the ways in which young Black males experience schooling

as a process of alienation, the ways in which they navigate these processes, and what role

programs that embody the solidarity, racial justice, community/solidarity and racial pride

identity, philosophy and practices of Tupac (can) play on helping students navigate these

experiences. Undergirding this interest is a deep concern for how these students live their

Blackness and how these spaces of alienation can be mitigated in a manner that leaves

this Blackness intact.

In essence, this work simply asks: What does MOB mean to Black male students

in the MOB program?