To understand how one participant "engage[s] in social action to solve problems," this research utilizes critical narrative analysis to illustrate how researchers may re-enter into critical conversations with participants to interrupt deficit discourses used when describing the lives of Black male youth. This article analyzes the narrative of Teamer--a Black male from the urban south and former student of the researcher--alongside problematic and pervasive discourse to illustrate how individual narratives provide the context for re-examining normalized notions and how participating in critical meta-awareness can interrupt the deficit gaze placed upon Black males.