Black boys with the special education eligibility of Emotional Disturbance (ED) or Other Health Impairment (OHI) arguably have the most barriers, within and outside of the classroom, related to their educational success. The issues of racism and ableism exist independently and symbiotically to uphold structures of normalcy, creating a need to focus not just on single identities of race, ability, gender, or socioeconomic status. It is necessary to understand the specific relationship their multiple intersecting identities and related oppression have with their educational experience such as teacher perceptions and stereotypes, related to discipline, academic opportunities, and special education placement. To understand these experiences this qualitative study utilized one-on-one interviews of seven Black boys in South Los Angeles high schools with the special education eligibility of ED or OHI, as well as seven of their teachers. Interview data were analyzed to find commonalities throughout the experiences of both the students and teachers, as well as relationships between the realities and perceptions of the teachers and the students. From this analysis, codes and themes were developed to describe the shared experiences in depth. Students' experiences were highlighted by their aspirations and evidence of educational success in the face of feeling "targeted" and internalizing beliefs that they needed special education services because they "were a bad kid". Students described situations and experiences in which they attempted to utilize appropriate social emotional learning skills, just to be further punished. These skills were necessary based on feeling "unworthy", "disrespected", and "unsafe" within specific classrooms. These emotions, combined with the constant fear and anxiety that exists from police brutality, police presence on campus, and other community trauma, cause difficulties with focusing and maintaining relationships with peers and teachers. In continuing their pursuit of educational and lifelong success despite these obstacles, students have found support in motherly figures within their family as well as Black males in educational or mentoring roles. Based on teacher interviews, successfully teaching and supporting Black boys with ED or OHI, requires tremendous levels of care and educating themselves on how systems of oppression impact their students. These factors of racism and ableism, are not addressed within credential or professional development program, thus leading for teachers to educate themselves if they do not have prior experiences. Teachers identified the necessity of humanizing relationships with Black boys with ED or OHI, that include emotional constancy, appropriate voice and tone, and identifying shared experiences. These experiences lead to student success by providing comfort, safety and feelings of worthiness. These findings show evidence of students who are inappropriately identified as ED or OHI, as well as ineffective services, instruction and accommodations for students appropriately eligible. Additionally, based on teacher experiences and perspectives, these issues are perpetuated by ineffective credentialing practices, inequitable discipline policies, and poor student-teacher relationships. Because of these results schools must find ways to provide effective and equitable interventions to students with emotional and behavioral needs, which may or may not be related to systems of oppression, before using special education services. Also, credentialing programs and school districts must focus on the development of teachers related to their ability of building appropriate student relationships while addressing individual student needs, with a specific focus on their intersecting identities. Overall, in addressing these inequitable experiences, it is important to understand that the deficits are not those of the students, but those of the educational institutions they are served by. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]