Flipping the script on Black men’s pain
David Grant, Master of Social Work alumnus
Growing up Black in Scarborough, David Grant often heard the term “angry Black man.”
Grant investigated this stereotype through TMU’s master of social work program. His major research paper (MRP), “They Don’t Really Care About Us,” examined the lives of previously incarcerated Black men in Scarborough and found that their heightened exposure to racism and violence led to hypermasculinity and displaced anger towards their community and themselves. For his research, Grant received the Faculty of Community Services’ Dean’s Graduate Writing Award.
As an extension of his MRP, Grant delivered a TEDxRyersonU talk entitled “Black Men’s Pain,” in which he connects slavery’s dehumanizing effect on Black people to the all-too-common “school-to-prison pipeline” for Black men.
Currently, Grant is a family service worker with the Toronto Children’s Aid Society, gaining valuable frontline experience before pursuing his PhD. He plans to become a professor to show the next generation that they too can reject the “angry Black” script and write their own stories instead.
At TMU, we engage in relevant research that reflects the diversity of our world.
Photo credit: Ian Patterson