Understanding the Laws of Harvest: Black and Latino Male Collegians Enacting Critical Race Care as Youth Mentors

Abstract

Background/Context:

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of student engagement programs intended to increase college access, retention, and graduation for Black and Latino males. Although supporting Black and Latino male students’ educational opportunities and success efforts is an urgent need, few studies examine their collective leadership experiences—either on campus or in the community. These experiences are important in understanding how engagement and leadership are vital components for Black and Latino males’ sense of self, community ties, and collective consciousness.

Focus of Study:

We investigate the collegiate experiences and engagement of 12 Black and Latino male students in the Brothers Empowering Collective Achievement (BECA; pseudonym), a male-centered program at a Hispanic-serving institution. We explored their leadership and mentoring experiences through the following research questions: (1) How do Black and Latino college men make sense of their engagement in a male-centered success program? (2) What factors influence Black and Latino males’ decisions to serve in a leadership capacity as youth mentors? (3) What is the focus of Black and Latino males’ leadership work as youth mentors? (4) What do Black and Latino males take away from their experiences as youth mentors?

Intervention/Program/Practice:

The BECA program is an academic and social engagement program that was developed in an effort to increase graduation and retention of Latino and Black men. BECA provides professional workshops, one-on-one and small group mentoring, community service opportunities, and various other social activities. In addition, strategic partnerships with local schools allow college students to mentor middle and high school students.

Research Design:

This qualitative study is based on focus group interviews with 12 Black and Latino male students at a Hispanic-serving institution related to their leadership experiences as youth mentors for local middle school and high school students.

Findings/Results:

Our findings show that students were nested in, benefited from, and enacted critical race care—expressed as holistic care for youth, which considers their racialized identities and experiences as well as various facets of their lives in supporting their needs and development—through their BECA engagement. According to the men’s narratives, BECA provided a unique opportunity to bring Black and Latino males together to pursue individual and collective goals. In addition, serving in leadership roles as youth mentors within the local community enhanced the men’s sense of self and allowed them to contribute to community education and youth development.

Conclusion/Recommendations:

This study speaks to the value and benefits Latino and Black men accrue from critical race care. Specifically, being engaged and embedded in a community in which they pursue collective educational and personal goals enhances engagement, leadership, and relationships for Black and Latino college students.

Keywords

critical race care black males latino males student engagement student leadership

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agosto

Jones

(2016). Masking mentorship: Critical (race) care among Black males in special education. In Bass

(Ed.), Black mask-ulinity: A framework for Black masculine caring (pp. 77–90). Peter Lang.

Antrop-González

De Jesús

(2006). Toward a theory of critical care in urban small school reform: Examining structures and pedagogies of caring in two Latino community-based schools. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 19(4), 409–433. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518390600773148

Baker

C. N.

(2013). Social support and success in higher education: The influence of on-campus support on African American and Latino college students. The Urban Review, 45(5), 632–650. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-013-0234-9

Baldridge

B. J.

(2018). On educational advocacy and cultural work: Situating community-based youth work[ers] within broader educational discourse. Teachers College Record, 120(2), 1–28.

Beale

Charleston

Hilton

A. A.

(2019). Black male college persistence: A phenomenological collective of familial and social motivators. Journal of Research Initiatives, 4(3), 1–18. https://digitalcommons.uncfsu.edu/jri/vol4/iss3/1

Bhattacharya

(2017). Fundamentals of qualitative research: A practical guide. Routledge.

Brooms

D. R.

(2018). “They don’t really care about us”: Policing Black and Brown lives and futures. In Weissinger

S. E.

Mack

(Eds.), Law enforcement in the age of Black Lives Matter: Policing Black and Brown bodies (pp. 137–152). Lexington Books.

Brooms

D. R.

(2020). “It’s the person, but then the environment too”: Black and Latino males’ narratives about their college successes. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 6(2), 195–208. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649219884339

Brooms

D. R.

Clark

J. S.

Smith

(2018). Empowering men of color on campus: Building student community in higher education. Rutgers University Press.

10.

Brooms

D. R.

Franklin

Clark

J. S.

Smith

(2021). “It’s more than just mentoring”: Critical mentoring Black and Latino males from college to the community. Race Ethnicity and Education, 24(2), 210–228. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2018.1538125

11.

Camangian

(2010). Starting with self: Teaching autoethnography to foster critically caring literacies. Research in the Teaching of English, 45(2), 179–204. https://www-jstor-org-443.web.bisu.edu.cn/stable/40997089

12.

Carrillo

J. F.

(2016). Barrio nerds: Latino males, schooling, and the beautiful struggle. Sense Publishers.

13.

Clark

J. S.

(2017). This is a Black-White conversation: Navigating race, class, and gender at an urban school [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Louisville.

14.

Cooper

A. J.

(2016). A voice from the South. Dover. (Original work published 1892)

15.

Garcia

G. A.

Huerta

A. H.

Ramirez

J. J.

Patrón

O. E.

(2017). Contexts that matter to the leadership development of Latino male college students: A mixed methods perspective. Journal of College Student Development, 58(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2017.0000

16.

Garza

(2009). Latino and White high school students’ perceptions of caring behaviors: Are we culturally responsive to our students? Urban Education, 44(3), 297–321. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085908318714

17.

Ginwright

S. A.

(2015). Hope and healing in urban education: How urban activists and teachers are reclaiming matters of the heart. Routledge.

18.

Guardia

J. R.

Evans

N. J.

(2008). Factors influencing the ethnic identity development of Latino fraternity members at a Hispanic serving institution. Journal of College Student Development, 49(3), 163–181. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.0.0011

19.

Harper

S. R.

Quaye

S. J.

(2007). Student organizations as venues for Black identity expression and development among African American male student leaders. Journal of College Student Development, 48(2), 127–144. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2007.0012

20.

Hotchkins

B. K.

Dancy

T. E.

(2015). Black male student leaders in predominantly White universities: Stories of power, persistence and preservation. Western Journal of Black Studies, 39(2), 30–44.

21.

Howard

T. C.

Woodward

Navarro

Haro

Watson

Huerta

A. H.

(2019). Renaming the narrative, reclaiming their humanity: Black and Latino males’ descriptions of success. Teachers College Record, 121, 1–31.

22.

Huerta

(2015). “I didn’t want my life to be like that”: Gangs, college, or the military for Latino male high school students. Journal of Latino/Latin American Studies, 7(2), 119–132.

23.

Jackson

Sealey-Ruiz

Watson

(2014). Reciprocal love: Mentoring black and Latino males through an ethos of care. Urban Education, 49(4), 394–417. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085913519336

24.

Kiyama

J. M.

(2010). College aspirations and limitations: The role of educational ideologies and funds of knowledge in Mexican American families. American Educational Research Journal, 47(2), 330–356. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831209357468

25.

Luedke

C. L.

(2020). Developing a college-going habitus: How first-generation Latina/o/x students bi-directionally exchange familial funds of knowledge and capital within their “familias.” The Journal of Higher Education, 91(7), 1028–1052. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2020.1726702

26.

McArthur

S. A.

Lane

(2019). Schoolin’ Black girls: Politicized caring and healing as pedagogical love. Urban Review, 51(1), 65–80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-018-0487-4

27.

McKinney de Royston

Vakil

Nasir

N. S.

Ross

K. M.

Givens

Holman

(2017). “He’s more like a ‘brother’ than a teacher”: Politicized caring in a program for African American males. Teachers College Record, 119(4), 1–40.

28.

Noddings

(1984). Caring, a feminine approach to ethics and moral education. University of California Press.

29.

Noddings

(2005). The challenge to care in schools: An alternative approach to education (2nd ed.). Teachers College Press.

30.

Patrón

O. E.

Garcia

G. A.

(2016). The convergence of social identities and environmental contexts in facilitating Latino male resilience. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 38(4), 523–545. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0739986316669496

31.

Pérez

II . (2014). Exploring the nexus between community cultural wealth and the academic and social experiences of Latino male achievers at two predominantly white research universities. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 27(6), 747–767. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2014.901573

32.

Preston-Cunningham

Boyd

B. L.

Elbert

C. D.

Dooley

K. E.

Peck-Parrott

(2016). What’s up with this leadership thing? Voices of African American male college undergraduates. Journal of Leadership Education, 15(3), 53–74. https://doi.org/10.12806/V15/I3/R1

33.

Quigley

M. W.

Mitchell

A. B.

(2018). “What works”: Applying critical race praxis to the design of educational and mentoring interventions for African American males. Journal of African American Males in Education, 9(2), 74–102.

34.

Rios

Jr. (2011). Punished: Policing the lives of Black and Latino boys. New York University Press.

35.

Rivera-McCutchen

R. L.

(2012). Caring in a small urban high school: A complicated success. Urban Education, 47(3), 653–680. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0042085911433522

36.

Roberts

M. A.

(2010). Toward a theory of culturally relevant critical teacher care: African American teachers’ definitions and perceptions of care for African American students. Journal of Moral Education, 39(4), 449–467. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057241003754922

37.

Rodriguez

K. L.

Schwartz

J. L.

Lahman

M. K. E.

Geist

M. R.

(2011). Culturally responsive focus groups: Reframing the research experience to focus on participants. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 10(4), 400–417. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F160940691101000407

38.

Rolón-Dow

(2005). Critical care: A color(full) analysis of care narratives in the schooling experiences of Puerto Rican girls. American Educational Research Journal, 42(1), 77–111. https://doi.org/10.3102%2F00028312042001077

39.

Sáenz

V. B.

Ponjuán

(2011). Men of color: Ensuring academic success for Latino males in higher education. Institute for Higher Education Policy.

40.

Sáenz

V. B.

Ponjuán

(2012). Latino males: Improving college access and degree completion: A new national imperative [Perspectivas: Issues in Higher Education Policy and Practice]. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED571015

41.

Sáenz

V. B.

Ponjuán

Figueroa

J. L.

(Eds.). (2016). Ensuring the success of Latino males in higher education: A national imperative. Stylus Publishing.

42.

Strauss

Corbin

(1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. SAGE.

43.

Strayhorn

T. L.

(2008). The role of supportive relationships in facilitating African American males’ success in college. NASPA Journal, 45(1), 26–48.

44.

Strayhorn

T. L.

(2010). When race and gender collide: Social and cultural capital’s influence on the academic achievement of African-American and Latino males. Review of Higher Education, 33(3), 307–332.

45.

Strayhorn

T. L.

DeVita

J. M.

(2010). African American males’ student engagement: A comparison of good practices by institutional type. Journal of African American Studies, 14(1), 87–105. https://www-jstor-org-443.web.bisu.edu.cn/stable/41819238

46.

Sutton

E. M.

Terrell

M. C.

(1997). Identifying and developing leadership opportunities for African American men. New Directors for Student Services, 80, 55–64.

47.

Valenzuela

(1999). Subtractive schooling: U.S.-Mexican youth and the politics of caring. SUNY Press.

48.

Watson

Sealey-Ruiz

Jackson

(2016). Daring to care: The role of culturally relevant care in mentoring Black and Latino male high school students. Race Ethnicity and Education, 19(5), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2014.911169

49.

Weiston-Serdan

(2017). Critical mentoring: A practical guide. Stylus.

50.

Yosso

T. J.

(2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/1361332052000341006