Black Deaf Students : A Model for Educational Success

7 Community Protective Factors

127 Community Protective Factors 7 The African American community and cultural organizations were credited with giving care and support, setting high expectations, and providing positive reinforcement and resources. VR and the church also provided the participants with care and support, positive reinforcement, and resources and set high expectations (see Table 5 in Chapter 9). The African American Community African American culture was a factor that seven of the nine participants considered an important part of their development. They stated that they received support from African American community and organizations, which further fostered pride in themselves and a sense of affiliation with the African American culture. Cultural factors promoted their academic achievement, leadership skills, understanding of themselves, and self-pride. They felt that African American culture was a positive influence on their successful transition into and through college. They discussed the leadership skills, motivation, and cultural information they acquired through the African American community. Caring and Supportive Relationships within the Community One participant viewed the support and encouragement of the African American community as a motivating factor in his school achievement. He made the following comments about the people in the African American community. It was cultural, people in the community supporting me. In the African American community, we still support each other today. People in the community were pushing me when I was trying to sit down and do nothing. They said, “Go on and make the best of yourself. We understand that there are not too many of us going to college and making it, but we want you to succeed. As Chapter Seven 128 a Black man, you show them you can make it.” They said, “You better go ahead because number one, you are Black, number two, you are a man, and number three, you are deaf. You have to prove to them that you can make it. You have to prove to the world that you can do it.” Those statements were positive for me. Meaningful Participation Educational and political involvement plus cultural enrichment activities were a part of this participant’s community that facilitated her cultural understanding and pride in herself as an African American. My African American community itself is very, very supportive. I am from a very White and discriminatory town. There is still discrimination today. If a Black and White couple goes into a restaurant, White people will stare at them still today. In my community, we had Black festivals, talent shows, and something to support kids who were in high school. I remember when Jessie Jackson and Ronald Brown established “Rainbow Push.” They were always having something educational or political. Every year we had something cultural to instill positives about Black people. Every year, in the summer, we would have something educational related to school. Kids would come from all over. They would come from the east, west, north, and south sides of town. It was big. We would have parades, talent shows, and dances. It was always something cultural. Participants discussed various organizations that were helpful to them in developing leadership skills. Among them were organizations that were focused on African American culture. Participation in African American organizations was helpful to this participant in developing her leadership skills. I had wonderful organizations. At my high school, I was involved in an African American organization. My participation helped me develop leadership skills. I was an officer in that organization and I learned about my culture. In college, they had a Black Deaf organization and I was an officer. We had events in which we got together to help each other. I was a leader. I was also involved in the student body government, the Hispanic student organization, and various other organizations to develop my leadership skills and my interaction with different people. High Expectations Several participants mentioned that the low number of graduates from college became a culturally motivating factor for them. It made them want 129 Community Protective Factors to prove that African Americans could succeed in college. They viewed graduation from college as success for themselves, their families, and the African American community. They also saw the need to benefit as much as possible from the opportunities that college offered. The impact that my African American culture had on my transition was not seeing enough Black students graduate from college. I noticed that when I came to college, few Black students graduated. That was awful. That was...