“They can learn it through us”: Youth seeking racial justice through a community-based book club

Abstract

In the summer of 2020, amidst state-mandated social distancing and protests for racial justice, youth participating in an ongoing YPAR initiative sought to design and facilitate a book club for the residents of their subsidized housing community to increase community awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement. Through interviews, youth shared their plans to design and facilitate a book club differently than they had experienced in English classroom settings. Through the lenses of critical literacy and civic praxis, the youths' imaginings reveal a desire to talk about books that were relevant to their lives, involve discussions that were participant-led and democratic, and lead to meaningful, tangible outcomes. Implications encourage teachers to re-examine their classroom book club practices and consider ways to center student desires.