This research project sought out to discover if African American males raised by single mothers are more driven to achieve degrees in higher education than African American males raised in a two-parent household. A literature review and a case study conducted with six African American males in higher education in South Carolina informed the analysis in this research. Remaining true to the African American theoretical method of telling one’s own story as part of the research process, I introduced my own experiences to provide structure to the outline of this paper research. This study could shed light on the influence of single mothers on the academic success of African American males in higher education with the ultimate purpose to establish efficient collaborative efforts between families, communities, educators, and policymakers, to ensure that African American boys and young men, have the tools they need to thrive academically and beyond.

A radical shift in institutional and social structures is necessary to create a society free of police. Abolishing our dependency on policing is a multi-stage process that began with calls to "defund the police," as we saw in the 2020 uprising in response to the ongoing assassinations of the Black community. This outcry called for further rejecting police and addressing social issues like mass incarceration, excessive surveillance, and racial injustice that impact many generations. Further, it is essential to understand why some people rely on the police but not others, and what do others rely upon for justice? This study aims to understand transformative justice as a social movement presenting alternatives to police and prisons. Moreover, I explore different models for treating harm and violence with the intent of ending the cycles of violence. How do these models promote healing, accountability, and collective liberation?

The history of segregation and racial exclusion in the city of Sacramento is long and pervasive. Although overall rates of segregation have begun to decrease in recent years, certain neighborhoods, such as in Oak Park, have seen segregation rates increase. The city has narrated this historically Black and Brown neighborhood as uniquely violent and dangerous, but in the last decade it has engaged in a program of what the city calls revitalization, in a stated attempt to redress histories of disinvestment and redlining. Since the revitalization project began a decade ago, 24% of the entire Black population of Oak Park has been pushed out, with poor Latinx populations suffering a loss of their homes in the community as well. This ethnographic research examines the ways working class Black and Brown communities cohere Oak Park as a collective agent through urban texts. It takes these urban texts as in conversation with the material and racial semiotic productions of the city. I argue that the city of Sacramento understands Black and Brown working class people in Oak Park as a form of decay through the city's material and archival practices. I suggest the community’s urban texts assert alternative visions of life-making outside this process of revitalization, which assumes neoliberal frameworks of existence. Thus, this research is concerned with Sacramento's impulse to enact epistemicide against its Black and Brown inhabitants for the purpose of city-building. This study considers how Sacramento engages in urban colonization by concealing violence within its economic development plans.

Toxic masculinity is used to describe “a loosely interrelated collection of norms, beliefs, and behaviors associated with masculinity, which are harmful” (Sculos, 2017, p. 3). This harm can manifest in many ways such as gender roles and expectations, heteronormativity, misogyny, violence, and sexism. These norms, beliefs, and behaviors are learned at a young age among individuals from families to school settings to culture and society. In social work, these norms impact bullying and harassment (Ingram, et. al., 2019), sexual and intimate partner violence (Murnen, et. al., 2002), and resistance to physical and mental health treatment (Kupers, 2005). Learning more about toxic masculinity as a social worker will gauge a better understanding of clients. While there is growing literature about how toxic masculinity manifests and how it is perpetuated, very little research exists about toxic masculinity and the intersections of race, ethnicity and gender. This qualitative study explores the ways toxic masculinity shapes gender identity among 10 young adults who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). Research suggests that messages about masculinity occur in early development such as home and school settings and are affirmed among peer groups, cultural and societal expectations into young adulthood. Participants provided their unique experiences as racialized and gendered individuals, which expands the knowledge of toxic masculinity as not only reinforcing harmful gender norms, but also sustaining racist, misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic norms, beliefs, and behaviors.