I became conditioned to be a “proper student” and began to lose value for pieces of myself that previously defined me. My unabashed urbanness—loud, conspicuous, and questioning of authority—became lost. This was encouraged when I got into the teaching profession. When I took my first job in a school with students whose faces looked much like mine, the most memorable advice I received from an older teacher was, “You look too much like them, and they won’t take you seriously. Hold your ground, and don’t smile till November.” To be an effective black male educator for youth of color, I was being
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