Chapter 26: A Black Man’S Story of Empowerment: Why I Stopped Begging Whites to Accept My Blackness

On August 28, 2016, Chance the Rapper, an African American hip-hop artist, tweeted the hashtag entitled # Blackboyjoy in where he essentially authorized the need to celebrate the personhood of every Black boy and man of color in White America¹ at the 2016 MTV Music Video Awards. Sadly, this seemingly innocuous proclamation to inspire and affirm Black men and boys’ right for happiness wasn’t openly embraced by those in the majority. As I reflected on the venomous rhetoric espoused by both White and Black men toward the # Blackboyjoy on my Facebook feed, it forced me to recognize how race and racism has intersected not only in White America but also within my own life. For this reason, my utilization of critical race theory (CRT) seeks to critically analyze how White racist systems of education have imposed psychosocial barriers upon my overall identity as a scholar of color as well as a man of color in White America.