The National Rites of Passage Institute (ritesofpassage.org), The Black Child Journal (blackchildjournal.com) and The Black Child Development Institute of Cleveland, Ohio (Bcdicleveland.com) are proud to announce a special edition collaboration for our Fall/Winter 2022 issue that focuses on Racial Battle Fatigue and the Black Child. Racial Battle Fatigue (RBF) is a term coined sometime in the early 2000’s by Critical Race Theorist William Smith. It describes negative and racially charged experiences and the effects of race-related stress responses of Blacks in the United States where both the anticipation and experience of racial trauma contribute to RBF. These events have both initiated various racial disparities that result in negative outcomes on one’s health and wellbeing. We invite submissions both by and for parents, families, teachers and other adults who are invested in protecting our youth from the effects of such stressors. These stressors are known to have an adverse impact on adults and children indirectly when children are exposed to less than healthy behaviors on the part of some adults. We suspect that as individuals are continuously exposed to racism via schools, the media, and government institutions, there may even be direct effects of RBF in and among children.
We believe that RBF is an important way to understand solution focused responses to the effects of race related experiences in children, their parents, teachers and the community. We invite submissions that address the following:
• Is it possible that a Black child or teenager might actually experience cumulative effects of RBF? What behavioral signs or psychological symptoms might be associated with such fatigue? Does development fatigue in children and youth have a direct effect in aggressive behavior?
• How might the RBF conceptual framework enhance efforts to alleviate negative behaviors, psychological symptoms and improve the child’s educational environments?
• How might a parent’s or classroom teacher’s fatigue indirectly cause stress or fatigue in a child?
• How does an RBF conceptual framework help to inform the work that you currently do with children and their parents?
• What kinds of strategies might assist parents and or classroom teachers to recognize, prevent or ameliorate the effects of RBF in themselves and in children?
• How do we assist parents and teachers who are battling school wide and/or system wide based Racial Battle Fatigue?
• Are there specific issues of exacerbated RBF effects among Black teachers due to the recent and ongoing pandemic experiences?
We recognize that there has been much prior work in this area related to Afrocentric approaches, rites of passage, racism white supremacy, trauma-informed practices, healing and restorative practices, etc. We are inviting submissions that demonstrate the utility of the RBF framework in furthering the aims of such work.
We invite from parents, teachers, college students, school administrators and policy makers, community service providers, medical and social science practitioners, researchers and academicians, artists - all are encouraged to submit.
Members of the editorial staff of the Black Child Journal and the National Rites of Passage Institute will manage the peer-review process. All parts of the manuscript should be submitted electronically as an attachment to the email (“Manuscript Submission” in the subject box) to blackchildjournal@gmail.com Submissions should be in MS Word documents (.doc) format, not converted to PDF’s, and without embedded commands or special formatting. All photos should be submitted as separate JPEG files. References, tables, charts, other texts, art-graphics, and appendices should be included at the end of the document. Submissions should be received by November 15, 2022 at 11:59 pm (EST). The authors are asked to submit a short bio and a black and white JPEG photo as a separate attachment. Notification of papers selected for publication will be made by email - Unsolicited manuscripts are welcomed.
When submitting your article for consideration, please ensure it conforms to the following guidelines:
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