When the Black Kids Moved In: Racial Reproduction and the Promise of Intergroup Dialogue in an Exurban High School
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When the Black Kids Moved In: Racial Reproduction and the Promise of Intergroup Dialogue in an Exurban High School by Shayla Reese Griffin A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Social Work and Anthropology) in the University of Michigan 2012 Doctoral Committee: Professor Michael Spencer, Co-Chair Professor Andrew R. Shryock, Co-Chair Professor Laura Lein Professor Carla O’Connor Associate Professor Damani J. Partridge Copyright Shayla Reese Griffin 2012 All rights reserved. To the black women who raised me: my grandma, Margarette Louise McWilliams Sallee, who graduated valedictorian of her class in 1946 at the age of 16; my nana, Geneva Estella Brown Griffin, who graduated from Howard University in 1949; and my mother, Pamela Denise Sallee Griffin, M.S. Education, M.A.E. School Administration—my first and best teacher. ii Acknowledgements Some children learn to read and write easily. I was not one of them. Of my mother’s four children, I struggled the most to acquire those basic skills. I was certainly not born an academic; I was made one by the dedication, determination, and commitment of my mother—a woman who continues to amaze me. My earliest memories of writing are of her red pen correcting my spelling, helping me restructure sentences, and pushing me to think more critically. She made me rewrite, redo, and rework until it was truly my best. Until college, my mother read every paper I wrote—going through it with that red pen, making me redo it again and again. Little by little the mistakes became fewer, the pen marks less frequent. It was this commitment, rooted in her immense love for me, which laid the foundation for my academic career. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that in the weeks before the final draft of this dissertation was due, my mother once again picked up her pen to find stray words, sentences that needed clarification, misspellings, and ideas that were convoluted. I am confident that there is no mother in the world better than mine and hope only that I can be half as selfless, loving, and smart as she is. This dissertation (and degree) has truly been a collaboration between the two of us almost three decades in the making. It is as much mine as it is hers: Pamela D. Griffin, M.O.D. (Mother of Doctor)! When choosing a committee I was not only concerned with whose work was most aligned with mine and who would provide the best intellectual feedback, I wanted to make sure I surrounded myself with kind, supportive, positive people. Andrew Shryock, Michael Spencer, Damani Partridge, Laura Lein, and Carla O’Connor have all challenged me intellectually, pushed me to think deeply about where my work fits, and provided me with wonderful advice. They all did so while smiling, laughing, and making me feel like maybe this journey does not have to suck your soul. iii I would also like to thank the staff, academics, colleagues and professors who have kept me going: Letha Chadiha, Lorraine Gutierrez, Laura Thomas, Todd Huynh, Berit Ingersoll-Dayton, Laurie Marx, Megan Gilster, Laura Wernick, Alice Gates, Sara Crider, Heather Tidrick, Ellen Block, Kate Sheets Rendle, Rebecca Cecil-Karb, Anneeth Hundle, Rosalyn Campbell, Ilean Baskerville (for her amazing transcription services which truly saved the day), and my great uncle Clifford Brown whose tunes were the soundtrack to this project. I came to this dissertation as a practitioner doing youth work and intergroup dialogue in high schools. Mike Spencer, Charles Garvin, Mikel Brown and Naomi Warren have been amazing colleagues, teachers and friends along the way. Their collaboration made me a better facilitator and sparked my interest in the questions that guided this dissertation. This support has been continued in Adrienne Dessel, Kelly Maxwell, and Susan King—all of whom put up with me as a co-facilitator and collaborator while I was in the dissertation trenches and failing to check email. I was able to do this work because I have had the good fortune of having great funding throughout my graduate career. The National Science Foundation, Rackham Graduate School, and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation have all provided me with amazing fellowships. In addition, I am grateful to the Graduate Employees Organization and the American Federation of Teachers-Michigan for fighting for good funding and a living wage for all graduate employees. I am immensely grateful for my community outside of the academy who has kept me nourished spiritually, emotionally, and physically. I would like to thank my father, Thomas Jefferson Griffin II, for his unwavering conviction that his children truly are the best in the world. My siblings Maiessha Griffin, Trevor Griffin, Cory Griffin, Margarette Griffin, and Victoria Griffin, for cheering me on, making me laugh, continuing to remind me that I will never be the funniest, smartest, or wittiest among them. I would like to especially thank Marggy and Tori for offering to do the “grunt work” of transcription before realizing what they had gotten into, and Trevor for continued tech support. And to my extended family the Sallees, Griffins, and Dobbies, who continually bring me joy and give me support. To my family by proxy, the Dorns (Pat, Fran, Kibibi, Rachel, Becca), iv you have truly treated me as one of your own and given me assistance through this process in the form of good food, good laughs, and borrowed children. My friends and neighbors have kept me going in more ways than they know; especially, the “Core Four” and “We All We Got”: LaFleur Stephens, Jennifer Maddox, and Latoya Brach—the three women who started this journey with me and have remained my closest friends and supporters; and “Michigan’s Finest”: Davin Phoenix, Keith Veal, Kenyatha Loftis, Maria Johnson, Menna Demisse, Gbenga Olumolade, Andrea Benjamin, Tonya Rice, and Kyla McMullen. To those who have been with me since my youth and remain my best friends: Robyn Morris, Qrescent Mason, Tarani Merriweather Woodson, and Darrika Van. And to the amazing community of friends I have cultivated in Michigan who have entertained my conversations about “dissertating,” studied with me, and cheered me on: Roxana Zuniga, Jennifer Bahns, Al Defreece, Nate Walker, Clare Pritchard, Andy Pritchard, Nikhol Atkins, Danielle Atkinson, Dessa Cosma, Tiereny Eaton, and Jamilia Harnois. Perhaps most importantly I would like to thank the truly amazing high school students, teachers and administrators I have had the honor and pleasure of getting to know over the past seven years at five different high schools in three different cities, especially Ronald Norwood, Kyle Sherrod, Shannon Johnson, and Rona Lohry. In particular, I want to thank everyone at Jefferson High School who not only gave me access to their school and lives, but also welcomed me with open arms. Know that after three years of working at Jefferson, my biggest conclusion is that I really like you all. And finally, to my beloved David S. Dobbie. You are my “biggest” supporter, my true dissertation advisor, and my best friend. You literally got me through this process by being a sounding board, notetaker, outline editor, great friend, and loving husband. You enrich my life, make me happy, bring me joy, and continually motivate me to be a scholar-activist. Your steady support, calm disposition, sense of humor, and pure genius sustain me in this work and in our life together. Through your own commitment to social justice and education, you inspire me to leave the world a better place than I found it. v Table of Contents Dedication ......................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................iii List of Tables .................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1 Introduction: Rethinking Race and Reform in Schools ........................ 1 I. THE FIGHT: ON THE GROUND WITH RACE .............................................................. 1 A. Students’ Perspectives ........................................................................................................ 3 B. Administrators’ Perspectives .............................................................................................. 6 C. Teachers’ Perspectives........................................................................................................ 9 D. Framing the Project .......................................................................................................... 10 II. ENTERING THE JEFFERSON COMMUNITY............................................................ 11 III. STUDYING RACE AND THE FUNCTION OF CULTURE AND CLASS .............. 12 IV. THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CLIMATE............................................................... 16 V. WHERE SCHOOL REFORM GOT STUCK.................................................................. 18 VI. BUILDING MORE JUST SCHOOLS ............................................................................ 22 A. Beyond Test Scores: What Else Matters in Schooling? ................................................... 22 B. Racial Reproduction and Relational Justice ..................................................................... 23 C. Models of Practice: Toward Social and Relational Justice in Schools............................. 26 VII. OVERVIEW OF CHAPTERS ......................................................................................