My Quest Project 

           Rehabilitation of African American Males

    “We will not let television tell our vision”- Christopher P. Chatmon.

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      Education is the new Jim Crow because it is not designed to fulfill the needs of all students within a school.  In this paper, I will discuss the importance of youth mentorship programs, specifically programs that assist African American males while they maneuver through the systematic oppression of the public school system. Next, I will discuss how individuals can be mentors which increase successful outcomes. Knowing there is someone who has your back is a blessing, especially when that someone looks like you and has experienced similar life situations. I will go further in depth with what I found in my research about how mentoring can help change the narrative of African American males. Also, I will talk about my first hand personal experience with this topic, during middle school as a member of Oakland Unified School District’s (OUSD) African American Male Achievement Program (AAMA) and then as a member of its its Student Leadership Council in high school.  This experience prepared me to recognize the importance of my topic. I used what I learned to be able to conduct my own actions as an African American male. My actions helps me portray the essence of Black joy and Black excellence which the media chooses not to report or display. It gives me hope for the future. Therefore mentoring African American Men (AAM) is very impactful on their well-being. By helping and uplifting African American males,  the image status quo of how they are viewed in our society will change. It is now our time to change the narrative and rise together as people.

    This topic is important to me because it is very personal. I know and experienced the injustice for men of color while they are in or outside of school. We are viewed as a threat to society, portrayed as the angry black man who is here to terrorize the community. This is typically  how the media depicts African American males, which follows us everywhere. Thus, it is essential to change the narrative. African Americans already carry negative images in society. Being a part of AAMA has helped shape me into the person  I am today. It also helped me with how I view the world and understand how the world views me. This program was created to mentor African American males in the Oakland public school system since traditionally there is not much support provided by most schools when dealing with this sector of the population.. The program’s initial goals were to get African American males to graduate high school, go to college, and reduce suspensions at school. The program’s founders recognized that African American male students were disciplined heavier than the rest of their peers while in the classroom. This cycle starts while the student is in elementary school. This influenced the creation of OUSD’s African American Male Achievement program. To serve as a mentoring program, to promote brotherhood, and most important to know our own history. Knowing our self-worth is very import and that is being taught to us while we are in an AAMA class.  For example, every student member is referred to as “King” when being addressed. The manhood development classes start in elementary schools continue all the way up to the high schools. The curriculum provided is within the school so you are still able to get the credit that correlates with the A-G Requirements. This helps African American males turn from boys to men and I am very proud to say they turned me into the man. One who goes against the negative stereotypical image the media presents me to be. Therefore the essential question that I will answer throughout this paper is...How can mentoring and having a mentor impact the lives of African American men and what is being done to make this possible? As African American men it is hard to stay motivated and on the correct path because of the obstacles put in place in front of us.

    What I’ve learned from my Quest topic is that mentoring is really important for the well-being and success of the student. It is not fair that some students are more supported or given more opportunities than other students.  I found that African American students do not have good relationships with their teachers. These teachers typically choose to not build community with all of their students. If they were able to do this then they the would understand the struggle that African American men go through. Some teachers are not approachable because of the situations that happen when they are engaged with the student. This hinders or damages the relationship a student can have with their teacher. According to Mr. Kevin Jennings, a teacher at Montera Middle School in Oakland, CA (and an AAMA instructor) says that, “I form a relationship with my students through many different tactics. The most important one is getting to know them. Connecting with them on their level whether it’s through playing a game against each other or sharing a common interest in books. I often try to make sure we connect on some level and let them know I’m just like them. I often share my life story because we all go through the same things or have the same dreams. I also want them to know that our common goals in life are to grow and get better and that's what we help each other do in our shared space.”

This shows the relationship that needs to be formed that gains the trust of the student. This demonstrates that the mentor (or other figure) shows a lot of care for their well being. Letting them know that you have common struggles. This allows you to connect with the students and make it seem you are more of an ally than someone that is only there to pick up a check. Mentoring brings back humanity in our educational system especially when it is for underrepresented students.

    The school to prison pipeline concept is enforced by the disciplinary actions that are more punitive towards students of color in general , especially African American males. Then on top of that, the curriculum that is being taught to students is very one-sided. Which is purposely written, as a strategic way of diminishing and brainwashing the minds of the students. Set in place to only make African American students think one way and that way is how the oppressors want students to think. It strips them away from who they can be, unless these students have the proper re-education. Which is another reason why Mentoring programs should be incorporated into our school system? As reported by Mr. Christopher Chatmon who is Oakland Unified School District’s Deputy Chief of the Office of Equity and founder of the African American American Male Achievement Program says: “In this country African American people were stripped of their language, culture, values, rituals, family, and roots and then reoriented, reeducated into a system that by design was created to oppress, diminish, demean, suppress them.  The school to prison pipeline is by design and protected by the 13th amendment. That's why our work is about liberating our minds, hearts, spirits, and souls and lifting up our cultural legacy, his and her story, bringing back our language, rituals, routines and culture to upset this set up. My work, OUR work is about legacy and when we know our HISTORY we know that all things are possible and that it is only a matter of time to regain our thrown and role in society and that is one of KINGS and QUEENS.”

    This shows the effects that this action truly affects African American Males, we’ve been socially conditioned that this is normal. For example,  it is normal for the Young African American males to go to jail regularly and be put into the system that is designed to put us all at a disadvantage to empower ourselves and lift each other up.  Or it is normal for African American Males to not take AP courses, be at the end of the grade point average, work as a drug dealer or as an athlete instead of a 4.0 student and owner of a business. That is why I joined African American American Male Achievement because its focus is to lift African American American males up and not put him down. It is fact that we stand strong together than apart.

In order to have a successful mentor relationship you need to follow certain virtues to create an impact on the lives of the students. According to Videra, Debra “Seven C's' of Success."states,

“Compatibility: Mentors and young people ought to be compatible in basic personality, but they need neither be close in age nor matched by race or ethnicity.

Capability: Mentors are most effective when they already have experience working with young people and are sensitive to the socioeconomic challenges students face at home.

Consistency: It's important for mentorship pairs to meet regularly.

Continuity: Mentorships must be long-lasting--at least a year, according to some studies.

Closeness: Forming an emotional bond is critical to the success of the relationship.

Centeredness: Though they require some structure, relationships should be centered on the young person's developmental needs.

Connectedness: Mentors are more successful when they connect with parents or other key figures in a young person's life.”

These show how to care for the person you are mentoring. This will make sure that the mentoring process will be complete. In fact, we should use these Seven C’s in our everyday lives to become better people. The Seven C’s of success will help keep mentoring successful and have a impact on the lives of the ones who need it he most. These can improve how we view schooling as well, again this will bring humanity back in schools. The original purpose of school was to act as a safe haven from the injustice and inequalities that students face outside of school.  According to Smith, Anna Deavere. “Opinion: The School-to-Prison Pipeline Punishes Kids of Color for Being Poor.” states,

”For a long time, school has been considered a potent intervention against poverty, inequality and racism and the intersection of all three.

But like a lot of people, I had lost touch with the fact that schools have been in such decline.”.

The purpose of school was to protect the children from these infractions that occurs in our society. This has been the complete opposite for some schools and how they use the school system against African American males. The inequalities in school are shown to really target the minorities (People of Color) but the motto of schools is to not leave a child left behind but they are not abiding by this motto at all. Therefore, The Seven C’s of success will help keep mentoring successful and have a impact on the lives of the ones who needed the most.

   During my QUEST project I shadowed and observed my mentor Kevin Jennings who is a teacher at Montera Middle school. For the day, I was able to be his teacher assistant (TA), where I had the chance to to meet the students that he teaches and mentors. I helped in the classroom when I needed to do so. I also participated in the classroom conversation because the topic of that day was about Black History Month and famous black inventors. When I first went into the classroom I did not know what to expect from the students and their reactions when seeing a stranger in their classroom. I was able to shadow two of my mentors 6th grade classes and his 7th grade Manhood Development class (MDP). I was able to meet some of the 7th graders in his class during the lunch break. I was able to be a mentor to the students who I had a chance to meet. They had a lot of questions for me about high school and other things that i’ve experienced that they are now going through. What I notice during my experience was mentoring is not all about giving someone advice about something. You can also be a friend and build a relationship with that person where the person feels more comfortable to ask for help when needed. For example, I tried this with the students and I found out what they were interested in. I built off of that so it turned into a conversation. We all talked about basketball for the rest of lunch and they left the classroom knowing that I somehow made an effort to show them that I cared. That is what I feel that my mentor does really well when working with his students.

What my mentor taught me from my experience hours is that building relationships with the students is the strongest way in becoming an implacable mentor. Then to uplift the students by referring them as Kings and Queens, implementing the awareness that they come from greatness. Also that they are not a statistic but put on this earth for a purpose. You install this mindset in the student, so they know that you are here for them and they can rely on you. This is another method that is very helpful to get the students really engaged in the topic or lesson, which creates a healthy learning environment. But there are times when you need to be strict, and that is when there is a lesson to be learned. The whole point of mentoring is finding the balance between being nice and strict.

    The way I spread awareness of my topic was through my outreach. During school my Academy hosts a Solidarity Festival during lunch. Where the classes plan different activities and display the teachings that we received and share it to the rest of the school. The senior class has to present their quest project to everyone, we have a table that is shared with other seniors who has a quest project that is similar to mine. We all needed to do a cultural piece and a symbolic piece.  My cultural piece was to talk about my project and the importance of my topic in front of everyone. I talked about how there isn't a lot of African American male teachers or mentors in our school to help guide the youth. Then I proceeded to talk about how it is essential to be a mentor figure to the generation after us and help each other be the Kings and Queens that we are. My symbolic piece is that I made a pledge for people to become a mentor in their own communities. They pledged that they will keep above a 2.8 Grade Point Average and continue to be that positive role model.

   My action for my QUEST project was a workshop that I hosted with the other Ambassadors in the African American Male Achievement Student Leadership Council. We went to Seattle,Washington  to host an youth leadership development conference called “Man Up”. They requested our presence to assist them in hosting their First Man up conference since they are adopting the practices that we do in African American Male Achievement. We went to tour the different middle schools and high schools. This was very empowering to see other African American Males from a different state come together in solidarity and converse among each other about their own struggles. Most of the students that we visited came to the Man up conference that Saturday morning, where they were enlightened with a plethora of workshops we planned for them. The theme of the whole event was about brotherhood and building bonds among ourselves. We received students from middle schools. The workshop that I did was called “Crossing the Line.” I would ask a question…”is the question applied to you then you would cross the line,” if it did not then you would stay on the side you were originally on.  The purpose of this game was to visually see the common struggles that we share and the differences we may also have. Knowing this will create brotherhood among the students that are in the room. When we asked the students about what crossing the line meant to them they believed that it meant breaking a rule. We educated them saying that crossing the line could also mean going through different experiences where you need to persevere through different obstacles. Then we also made the connection of how crossing the line meant moving into the next chapter of one's life. Since most of the students were in the 8th grade we talked about the jump of going into high school and what that is like. Sharing all of our experiences really connected all of us together in one which we formed a brotherhood.

While carrying out this QUEST project I learned a lot about my topic. This enriched my prior knowledge of my topic. I was able to answer my essential question with the research I found and experienced. My essential question is… How can mentoring and having a mentor impact the lives of African American men and what is being done to make this possible? Throughout this project I saw that mentoring African American males does have a huge impact their lives. There is a lot being done to keep this going, but there is still a lot that needs to keep happening in order to have consistent results. I know most of the organizations or programs are non-profit, so they do not get a consistent income to help African American Males. Most of the work is purely volunteering. African American Male Achievement is funded by Oakland Unified School District, this is also an unreliable source of income because their budget can be cut at anytime. So I believe that breaking away from other institutions and create an independent program that will uplift African American males will be more sustainable. I also believe that the relationships at home need to be improved. Most of African American males do not have their fathers in their household. Therefore there is not a male figure telling them right from wrong. This leads to African American males being easily influenced down the wrong path. If these are to be improved then I believe more will be done to improve the state of African American males.

The current state of the world is in shambles and it is up to us to fix the mess that   accumulated over hundreds of years. The United States has been at the center of many existing problems since it declared its independence from Great Britain. Newspaper editor John O’Sullivan coined the term “Manifest Destiny” which described the unalienable right of westward expansion. Eventually, westward expansion became global expansion as the US imperialized territories around the world to control natural resources, people, cultures, and governments. This comes from the injustice within  itself when dealing with race, gender, and religious beliefs. puts themselves on a pedestal where we believe that we are the savior of the rest of the world from their “barbaric” or “savage” ways of living. It is known that there are American footprints in countries of color who America belittles. This is self evident in how America treats people of color here. Always stepped over and looked down upon as inferior to our white counterparts.

I also believe that everyone who lives in American has some privilege, we do not experience the same life threatening events that other people in different countries face. I want to connect my QUEST project to what is going on in Mindanao. The country is under Marshall law where the Military has taken over the country. The government is trying to dismantle the indigenous people and their land. These people have created their own schools with their own curriculum that will teach tradition and culture to the next generation. The government does not approve on this so they bomb the schools that are built. This connects to my QUEST topic because how they take their students and teach them independently so they do not lose sense of their culture. As Americans we need to check our privilege of what we have here. They can be killed for doing the work that they are doing for their people. There are somethings that here in America take for granted. We do not take in consideration of what is going on in different parts of the world especially since America is the cause of most of the worlds problem.

Before you get into the meaning of a moral just world you need dissect the meaning of both concepts to figure out the bigger picture. Morality are the principles that you follow or believe in. There is a clear distinction between right and wrong. People may have different morals because of their own personal experiences that they’ve been through. So there can be a misconception of how people’s morals can differentiate. Which also raises a lot of questions about what is actually right and wrong. The word “Just” is the behavior or treatment by institutions and or corporations. So the difference between the two is that morals are how we as the people treat each other, then “just” means the treatment that the people get from the institutions. My conception of a moral and just world is that everyone should treat each other with respect. Then at the same time that we all should look out for each other within our race. We see that the goals of our oppressors is to divide and conquer. Which will give them more control over our mind, body, and spirits. If we are able to break away from the systematic oppression then we will be able to strive together as a race. While still being able to respect each other and other races personhood.  

     My personal experience has embodied this notion because of the programs that I have been apart of. For example, AAMA which is a program for young African American males, and their main motive is to change the narrative of how black boys are perceived. Also in schools we have experienced a plethora of unfair or unjust treatment that makes it very hard to succeed in. This educational system was created to teach us to hate school and not being able to learn. Which has led us to hate education. I know from personal experience that many young male of color face the problem of being seen as a threat. This is only because of what the media has put out about us. These are the many different obstacles that young men of color have to go through to succeed. Sadly not many of us do which is why African American Male achievement is so important to the black community. I believe my views correlate with two different theorist Malcolm X  and Huey P. Newton. Who were really noted for being strong activist and leaders in their communities. They were both very radical when involving the needs of their people. This is what made them so great and influential leaders as they would fight for the needs and the necessities of their people. Malcolm X was a convict who then changed his life around when he discovered the Islam. This is what influenced him to make a change in his life. He found his calling and the need of a leader for Black people. As they were facing tremendous amount of hate and racism, put in place by the powers of Jim Crow. So he went by one of his famous quotes “By any means necessary ” which means if my people are harassed and treated inferior to anyone then we will stand up and fight for ourselves since no one else will. This segways into who Huey P Newton. He and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther party. Their main focus was to protect themselves from police brutality in Oakland. They created their own community that was run by themselves where they looked out for each other when dealing with the outside world. Both of these theologist shared one thing in common and that was the love of their people, and that is what I admire so much about them both. Both had such an impact and their legacy still continues today as we continue to fight the same fight they have been fightings. “Only a fool will let his his enemy teach his children.”- Malcolm X

“The revolution has always been in the hands of the young. The young always inherit the revolution.

Black Power is giving power to people who have not had power to determine their destiny.

If you stop struggling, then you stop life.” -Huey P Newton, these quotes resonate with my conception of the world and how we should abide by the different aspects that govern us to be great people.

    This year I learned a lot during my year in the Social Justice Academy. I have learned that even the oppressed have some privileges in this country. This opened my eyes to be less self centered and more considerate of others. I enjoyed my time in this class where I met amazing individuals whom I made a connection with. Also this project allowed me to get out of my comfort zone to explore a problem that I felt was important.

 

 Bibliography

 

African American Male Achievement / Frequently Asked Questions.” / Frequently Asked Questions, www.ousd.org/Page/12804.

 

Chatmon,Christopher.Persona   Interview. April 20, 2018

 

George, Justin. “City Leaders Call on Black Men to Mentor Youths and Stop the Violence.”Baltimoresun.com, 25 Mar. 2015, www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-ci-mayor-summitr-20150324-story.html.

 

Jennings Kevin.Personal Interview. April 20, 2018

Smith, Anna Deavere. “Opinion | The School-to-Prison Pipeline Punishes Kids of Color for Being Poor.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/school-prison-pipeline-punishes-black-brown-kids-being-young-poor-ncna850846.