Our children, our fight: Black parents resisting ableism and racism in schools

The early childhood education (ECE) experiences of Black children, specifically Black boys, are shaped by various negative perceptions. Black families value their young children's brilliance and education and want to see them thrive in every environment, contrary to previous deficit narratives of Black families being uninvolved or not valuing education. In this paper, we draw on the Community Cultural Wealth Model, Critical Race Parenting, and Critical Black Masculinity as a foundation to challenge whiteness as property, anti blackness, racism, and ableism. We use testimonios as a counternarrative to explore our lived experiences navigating and resisting anti blackness, racism, and ableism in an unjust education system for our Black boys. Through our testimonios and conceptual framework, we invite teachers, administrators, and school leaders to envision an equitable and inclusive education system that center the voices of Black families and their children.