McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research

The Black Boys and Men: Changing the Narrative podcast series brings together thought leaders to analyze stereotypes and dispel myths concerning Black boys and men, to explore their strengths and achievements, and to discuss the many ways in which all of us can support their progress and well-being. Mackey is an educator and artist who understands the power of images and social media on the narratives built around Black men and boys. He is the Director of the Ethics and the Arts Program at the Emory University Center for Ethics, and the Creator of Black Men Smile, a platform to celebrate the way Black men see themselves. He shares the origins of his artistic movement, exploring images of Black men, masculinity and how we can change the narrative.

The Black Boys and Men: Changing the Narrative podcast series brings together thought leaders to analyze stereotypes and dispel myths concerning Black boys and men, to explore their strengths and achievements, and to discuss the many ways in which all of us can support their progress and well-being. Reverend Anderson has a strategic and collaborative role at Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, a private grant-making foundation focused on dismantling inequity and poverty in Arkansas. He discusses the role of philanthropy in improving outcomes for Black boys and men, and how our communities can be better connected to policy discussions.

The Black Boys and Men: Changing the Narrative podcast series brings together thought leaders to analyze stereotypes and dispel myths concerning Black boys and men, to explore their strengths and achievements, and to discuss the many ways in which all of us can support their progress and well-being. A social scientist focused on addressing the effects of criminalization and mass incarceration, Dr. Pryor is the former executive director of the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions in Brooklyn, New York. He discusses his journey from incarceration to higher education; the mass incarceration and over-policing of Black men, women, boys and girls; and what it takes for diversion and reentry programs to work.

The Black Boys and Men: Changing the Narrative podcast series brings together thought leaders to analyze stereotypes and dispel myths concerning Black boys and men, to explore their strengths and achievements, and to discuss the many ways in which all of us can support their progress and well-being. The leader of a social justice institute at historically-Black Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas discusses her work, how to make services for students more trauma-informed and how to create safe spaces for transgender and LGBQ students at HBCUs.

The Black Boys and Men: Changing the Narrative podcast series brings together thought leaders to analyze stereotypes and dispel myths concerning Black boys and men, to explore their strengths and achievements, and to discuss the many ways in which all of us can support their progress and well-being. London is an internationally-recognized Chicago poet, activist, educator and musician. He runs the largest youth open mic in Chicago alongside his friend Chance the Rapper. In this episode he explores toxic masculinity and his own journey through a restorative justice process relating to sexual assault against a woman. He also delves into how we can create safe spaces for conversations and reimagine masculine identities in positive ways.

The Black Boys and Men: Changing the Narrative podcast series brings together thought leaders to analyze stereotypes and dispel myths concerning Black boys and men, to explore their strengths and achievements, and to discuss the many ways in which all of us can support their progress and well-being. An educator who was the principal of Mastery Charter School–Shoemaker Campus in Philadelphia, El-Mekki discusses the importance of having more Black teachers in the classroom, and what it will take to get there. He explains “windows and mirrors” theory, by which White children see themselves reflected in the education experience and those who teach them; while Black children don’t, and are left looking through a window at the world.

The Black Boys and Men: Changing the Narrative podcast series brings together thought leaders to analyze stereotypes and dispel myths concerning Black boys and men, to explore their strengths and achievements, and to discuss the many ways in which all of us can support their progress and well-being. Dove leads a national membership organization committed to improving the life outcomes for Black men and boys. He discusses the roots of the narrative change movement around Black boys and men, to which his organization has been instrumental. He shares how we can change the way the narrative is framed, from being deficit-based to being asset-based; what it takes to nurture leadership within Black men and boys; and how important it is for Black men to get beyond the stigma around seeking help for mental health concerns.

The Black Boys and Men: Changing the Narrative podcast series brings together thought leaders to analyze stereotypes and dispel myths concerning Black boys and men, to explore their strengths and achievements, and to discuss the many ways in which all of us can support their progress and well-being. Mayor Scott shares what it is like to be the first Black elected mayor of an iconic city in civil rights history: Little Rock Arkansas. He also discusses the growing vanguard of Black Millennial mayors in the South, what it means to be an effective role model to young Black boys, his plans for promoting equity in his city, and how being an associate pastor at Little Rock’s Greater Second Baptist Church has influenced his journey.

Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. It is the characteristic or trait that allows people to thrive despite inconceivable hardship and experiences of trauma. This podcast discusses how we are all resilience and the importance of support throughout your journey.

Following incarceration, black men who are seeking employment are met by several challenges that are detrimental to their success and increase recidivism. However, there are best practices that can be taken to ensure successful integration.This podcast focuses on the challenges that black men often face when reintegrating into the workforce following incarceration and what we can do to help.

Incarceration has many impacts during and after sentencing. This podcast highlights the challenges that Black men often face with regards to reentry and removing the stigma of incarceration.

Police brutality and the criminalization of Black men have been issues of concern within Black communities for centuries. Although making up just 13 percent of the U.S. population, Black people are disproportionately impacted by police related deaths. According to a recent study published by the American Journal of Public Health (Buehler, 2017), Black men are nearly 3 times as likely to die from the use of force by the police than their White counterparts. Police brutality and other forms of racial trauma often elicit race-based traumatic stress and psychological injury. This podcast will focus on the impact of police brutality on the psychological well-being of Black boys and men.

Black fathers are often stigmatized within the U.S. for a myriad of reasons including negative stereotypes and inaccurate media portrayal. And for these reasons, they are often not engaged in child and family behavioral health settings. However, there is a host of data that describes the importance of black fathers in the lives of their children and families. In fact, there are currently more fathers living with their children than without and data suggests that black fathers are more involved in the daily lives of their children in comparison to their white and latino counterparts. This episode underscores the importance of engaging black fathers in behavioral health services.

Black fathers often contend with the stereotypes of being lazy, disinterested in the lives of their children and families, and absent from their communities. Those stereotypes are just that, stereotypes. However, Black fathers also contend with policies that adversely affect them and their ability to provide for their families.

The School to Prison Pipeline is the link between educational practices and the increase in Black boys entering the juvenile justice system. This podcast will describe this phenomenon and provide best practices that school administrators and policy advocates can take to intervene.

There are many myths regarding the academic achievement of Black boys and men, including that that Black boys do not value education. However, those statements are not true. This podcast will focus on debunking many of those myths regarding the achievement of Black boys and provide tangible strategies to further engage them in schools.

While families come in many forms, we often downplay the role that mothers have in the lives of young Black boys. This podcast focuses on the mothers of Black boys, the unsung heroes are who are more than deserving of our praise.

How we conceptualize masculinity is widely debated and in many ways those definitions have been used as categories of inclusion and exclusion for years. This episode explores “organic masculinity,” as termed by Tiq Milan, and the beauty of being yourself.

This episode highlights the trends regarding the social determinants of health of Black boys and men and steps that we can take to decrease disparities and work towards better health outcomes.

This episode focuses on suicide prevention efforts geared towards young black men. Despite the progress that we have made, suicide continues to be a taboo subject in many communities, which makes it all the more important to notice the signs and symptoms of depression, and have access to support.

Data suggests that deaths due to violent injury have been decreasing throughout the United States. However, Black men are disproportionately overrepresented among victims of violent injury and are at higher risk of violent trauma recidivism than all other populations. In this episode, Dr. Richardson will focus on the impact of violence and trauma among young Black men and models of prevention.

The podcast will focus on the role of historical trauma in the lives of Black boys and men.These forms of trauma include destruction of cultural practices, slavery, forced relocation, and genocide, among others and can deeply impact individuals, families, and entire communities.

Black boys and men are the subject of negative racial and gender-based stereotypes that significantly impact their health and social standing within the U.S. This episode provides an overview of the series and the need for us all to collectively change the narrative.