Integration Matters

The United States is more racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse now than at any given point in its history. Urbanization and immigration are key contributors to population growth and shifts, particularly in the southeastern part of the country. Educators are scrambling to determine how best to serve different demographics, and many families in new places are trying to adjust to unfamiliar school systems. For all concerned, this period of adjustment is marked by significant personal, curricular, and institutional development. However, one group of individuals has not maintained pace with the rest: African American males continue to lag behind their counterparts in every measured educational variable as outlined by the No Child Left Behind legislation, despite the educational, social, and economic changes of the past fifty years (since the 1954 landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision). This book – beyond providing educators, parents, and students with a critique of present day educational experiences for those who are the «other» in America, particularly the black male – conceptually integrates queer legal theory, the tenets of critical spirituality, and notions of collaborative activism to construct a blueprint for realizing academic achievement and academic success for all students.