Youth anti‐racism action: Contributions of youth perceptions of school racial messages and critical consciousness

Abstract

The current study examined whether youth perceptions of school racial messages that acknowledged the reality of racism (critical consciousness [CC] messages) or denied racism (color-blind messages) predicted youth anti-racism action through interpersonal and communal/political means.We further tested whether youths' critical reflection of perceived inequality and anger toward social injusticepsychological aspects of CC development-mediated relations between school messages and youth actions. These questions were explored using structural equation modeling with 372 racially/ethnically diverse adolescents (M age = 17.00; standard deviation = 1.29; female = 51.0%). Results indicated that youth perceptions of CC messages predicted their involvement in both interpersonal and communal/ political anti-racism action. Youths' anger toward social injustice mediated links between school racial messages and anti-racism action, albeit in unique ways. These findings underscore the power of schools in prompting youth antiracism action. Implications of the importance of partnerships between schools and youth community organizing groups to stimulate youth anti-racism action were discussed.

Traumatic Incidents and Experiences of Racism and Sexism: Examining Associations with Components of Critical Consciousness for System‐Involved Girls of Color

“…The 8‐item perceived inequality subscale was used for critical reflection and assesses respondents’ analysis of social and political constraints on educational and occupational opportunity (e.g., “Certain racial or ethnic groups have fewer chances to get ahead”) on a 6‐point Likert scale, ranging from 1 ( strongly disagree ) to 6 ( strongly agree ). This subscale has demonstrated excellent reliability in adolescent samples (α = .93; Bañales et al, 2019), and yielded the same in our sample (α = .93).…”

“…Freire hypothesized critical reflection and action to be interrelated, reciprocal processes, however, empirical research is just beginning to examine reciprocal relationships between critical consciousness components. In cross‐sectional work, Hope and Jagers (2014) find that perceiving inequality is associated with taking critical action; however, Bañales et al (2019) find that critical reflection is not directly related to taking critical action (albeit specific to the anti‐racism domain). In a longitudinal study, Poteat et al (2020) find evidence of bi‐directional associations between efficacy and action over the course of a school year.…”

“…Predictors of critical consciousness encompassed in the literature include parental and peer socialization, educational contexts, and experiences of oppression (see Heberle et al, 2020 for a full review). Studies identify parental racial socialization and peer sociopolitical support as important antecedents to the development of both critical reflection (Bañales et al, 2019) and action (Diemer & Li, 2011). Others report the central role of educational contexts such as open classrooms as predictive of critical action (Godfrey & Grayman, 2014), and progressive school climates (Seider & Graves, 2020) and arts participation (Ibrahim & Godfrey, manuscript in preparation) as important for the development of both critical reflection and action.…”

“…Extant literature on critical consciousness and marginalized youth evidences associations of this construct with important outcomes across multiple domains such as academic achievement (Seider & Graves, 2020), political participation (Diemer & Li, 2011), and critical thinking (Watts, Abdul‐Adil, & Pratt, 2002; for a systematic review see Heberle, Rapa, & Farago, 2020), suggesting the importance of this developmental asset (Diemer, Rapa, Voight, & McWhirter, 2016) in promoting thriving for oppressed youth. Scholarship in this area suggests parental and peer socialization (Bañales et al, 2019; Diemer & Li, 2011), educational contexts (Godfrey & Grayman, 2014; Seider & Graves, 2020), and experiences of oppression are central (Roy, Raver, Masucci, & DeJoseph, 2019; Roy, Uristegui, & Uribe, 2019) to the development of critical consciousness.…”

Intraminority solidarity: The role of critical consciousness

“…Recent theoretical work suggests that the development of CC is spurred by sociocultural factors including racial discrimination, racial socialization, and racial identity(Anyiwo, Bañales, Rowley, Watkins, & Richards-Schuster, 2018). New evidence suggests the role of parental racial socialization in increasing critical reflection(Bañales et al, 2019). Other predictors of CC development include discussions of political issues with parents and peers and an open classroom climate that encourages respectful discussions of inequities(Christens et al, 2016;Diemer & Li, 2011;Godfrey & Grayman, 2014).…”