Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University African-American Studies Theses Department of African-American Studies 5-7-2016 FINDING JIHAD: How Urban & African-centered literature impacted my life Jihad S. Uhuru Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/aas_theses Recommended Citation Uhuru, Jihad S., "FINDING JIHAD: How Urban & African-centered literature impacted my life." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2016. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/aas_theses/35 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of African-American Studies at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in African-American Studies Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact scholarworks@gsu.edu. FINDING JIHAD: HOW URBAN & AFRICAN-CENTERED LITERATURE IMPACTED MY LIFE By JIHAD S. UHURU Under the Direction of Jonathan Gayles, PhD ABSTRACT By taking an introspective look into my beliefs, perceptions, and life experiences this study will use an autoethnographical approach to examine the researcher’s evolution from street life, to prison life, to academic life. This study will examine the urban life experiences of the author, tracing a forty-six year span of Black male urban life to examine the potential value of America’s Urban youth. Critical pedagogy will be used as the theoretical framework for this narrative. This research is important because it will explore how Urban and African-centered literature was pivotal in inspiring the researcher to move from a criminal mentality to one of resilience, self-determination, and community uplift. INDEX WORDS: African-American studies, Autoethnography, Black male, Urban FINDING JIHAD: HOW URBAN & AFRICAN-CENTERED LITERATURE IMPACTED MY LIFE By JIHAD S. UHURU A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2016 Copyright by Jihad S. Uhuru 2016 FINDING JIHAD: HOW URBAN & AFRICAN-CENTERED LITERATURE IMPACTED MY LIFE By JIHAD S. UHURU Committee Chair: Jonathan Gayles Committee: Georgene Bess Montgomery Makungu Akinyela Electronic version approved Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University August 2016 iv DEDICATION This study is dedicated to all the African-American children in the United States that have been diagnosed with an attention deficit disorder. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I give thanks to the Creator for the breath, strength, passion, and wisdom complete this part of my life’s journey. Ebony Zenobia Gibson you are a godsend. There is absolutely no way I would have completed this journey and this thesis without you. I sincerely thank you Queen. Thank you King John Horne for being there for me and making sure I was on task during this Thesis process. Your phone calls and emails were well received. Dr. Brian Williams thank you for being a living example of the man and educator that I strive to be. Thank you Dr. Jonathan Gayles for your direction, and all your help. I want to thank Dr. Makungu Akinyela and Dr. Georgene Bess Montgomery for everything you have done to make this thesis what it is today. I want to thank Dr. Gary McGaha President of Atlanta Metropolitan College and Dr. William Dorsey, Dr. Akinyele Umoja and the African-American studies department, and Georgia State University for taking me on this invaluable educational journey. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. v 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1 1.1 Background ....................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ................................................................................. 2 1.3 Statement of purpose ........................................................................................ 6 1.4 Research questions .......................................................................................... 10 1.5 Operational definitions ................................................................................... 11 1.6 Design of the study .......................................................................................... 13 1.7 Significance of the study ................................................................................. 15 2 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE ....................................................... 16 2.1 Overview .......................................................................................................... 17 2.2 Ties that bind: Knowledge, Consciousness, Education and Literature ..... 22 2.3 ] Relating literature to consciousness ............................................................ 28 2.4 Critical Pedagogy: Education for liberation ................................................ 29 2.5 Connecting Urban Literature to Education ................................................. 31 3 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................ 37 3.1 Purpose of the Study ....................................................................................... 37 3.2 Methodology .................................................................................................... 38 vii 3.3 Autoethnography ............................................................................................ 39 3.4 Telling the Story .............................................................................................. 40 3.5 Research Design and Methods ....................................................................... 42 3.6 Data Collection ................................................................................................ 42 3.7 Data Analysis ................................................................................................... 42 4 CHAPTER IV AUTOETHNOGRAPHY-FINDING JIHAD ............................. 43 4.1 Why tell my story ............................................................................................ 43 4.2 Make it make sense ......................................................................................... 48 4.3 What am I going to do with a book ............................................................... 55 4.4 From Maleness to Manhood .......................................................................... 65 5 CHAPTER V BLACK JESUS ............................................................................... 75 5.1 Entertainment vs. education .......................................................................... 75 5.2 Ain’t that a “bitch” ......................................................................................... 86 5.3 Creating a demand for African-centered knowledge .................................. 90 5.4 Jihad Shaheed to Uhuru ................................................................................. 91 5.5 Why go back to school now at 40 ................................................................. 108 5.6 Where is your empirical evidence ............................................................... 113 6 CHAPTER VI THE EXODUS ............................................................................ 118 6.1 I wonder if ...................................................................................................... 118 6.2 What happens to a dream deferred ............................................................. 120 viii 6.3 Self-hate to self-love ...................................................................................... 121 7 CHAPTER VII SUMMARY-FIGHT FOR LOVE ............................................ 128 7.1 Reflections ...................................................................................................... 128 References ...................................................................................................................... 131 1 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background The afternoon of September 19, 1992, I was standing in front of the Honorable Judge Robert Vinings. He’d just sentenced me to 132 months in federal prison. He asked if I had anything to say for myself. My mouth dropped wide open, but nothing came out. Although I did not say anything, a couple of questions kept spiraling through my mind. “Why now? Why today?” I never asked, why me? It was as if I was mentally prepared to go to prison, just not at that moment. Almost every man I knew had gone to or was in prison, even my dad. Since I was a child, I wanted everyone to like me. I wanted to have enough money to do and buy whatever I wanted, and I wanted to have the adoration of the finest women in the hood. The only people I saw that had an endless supply of what I wanted were folks like my dad, Dollar Bill, Stinker, and Shine. All of them were drug dealers, fences, number runners, and strong-arm robbers. They all had had run-ins with the law and even did prison stints, just like almost every Black man I knew. However, when they finished serving their time, it was as if they were royalty because of the way the hood celebrated their release. The party planning leading up to someone’s prison release and the parties thrown in honor of them being released were some of the happiest times I had growing up. Therefore, around nine or ten I realized going to prison was