Abstract
Black boys’ grief coping with peer homicide remain under-researched and undertheorized. This is especially significant when combined with the emerging understanding that Black boys may experience homicidal death in significantly different ways and durations than others. This manuscript examines the experiences of three Black boys attending an urban school, in the wake of the homicidal death of their peer. We purport the absence of grief counselors and the lack of administrative sensitivity, created a misalignment between the boys’ need to grieve, and systems within an urban school context that denied and erased trauma. Drawing from concepts of disenfranchised grief, we situate our analysis using a theory of proximal processes. This framework reveals a perspective that counters the hegemonic ontologies which deny Black boys’ the right to grieve. Furthermore, in examining one Black male mentor’s support of the boys in the aftermath of this tragedy, this manuscript contributes to an increased awareness of the need for urban school policies and practices that reflect reframed understandings of Black boys' mourning.
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20 December 2021
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-021-00630-1
Notes
We use Black and African−American interchangeably.
All names are pseudonyms to protect the confidentiality of participants.
Author One applied to the Institutional Review Boards of both her university and the school district and was granted permission that the school's administration further supported. A letter of introduction endorsed by the school administration was also sent to the mentees' parents for consent. All study participants had parental consent and assented for themselves.
Author One sat at the end of the table so the boys could be closest to Mr. King. She audio-recorded the meetings using a handheld digital device and jotted down notes.
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Pabon, A.JM., Basile, V. It Don’t Affect Them Like it Affects Us: Disenfranchised Grief of Black Boys in the Wake of Peer Homicide. Urban Rev 54, 67–82 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-021-00605-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-021-00605-2