We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom

Punching Bag

Society expects Black women—particularly Black mothers—to be strong. Love writes that people treat Black mothers like punching bags, expecting them to absorb white rage for their families, which causes enormous stress. Love suffered from chronic stress until she sought help from a therapist.

We Feel No Pain Because We Feel Everything

Love cites data to show that racial bias negatively impacts Black people’s health. Medical staff routinely ignore Black pregnant women’s concerns, leading to high maternal and infant mortality rates. Studies show that Black women and their infants are particularly vulnerable to receiving bad medical care. A 2018 New York Times article found that Black babies are twice as likely to die as white babies. This disparity is wider than it was in 1850, 15 years before slavery ended, when Black women were treated like chattel (150). Serena Williams’s pregnancy and delivery experiences support the conclusions of the New York Times article. Serena has a documented history of pulmonary embolisms. These clots are common in women who give birth via caesarian section. Doctors dismissed Serena’s concerns about blood clots, only to discover a large hematoma in her abdomen during her caesarian section. She needed more surgeries to correct the problem and was bedridden for six weeks. In short, doctors ignored Serena’s concerns and medical history, putting her life and the life of her baby in danger in the process.

Furthermore, some white people view Black people as superhuman and themselves as fragile. The Ferguson police officer who killed Michael Brown in 2014, for instance, referred to the unarmed teenager as Hulk Hogan, even though they were about the same size. He also described feeling like a child before Brown. According to Love, his racism is of a piece with white doctors who refuse to give Black patients pain medication because they assume Black people have a higher threshold for pain. Black mothers live in fear for their lives and the lives of their children. Therapists can help women develop coping strategies.

The Politics of Respectability

The politics of respectability is the Black person’s version of being a model minority. It means living up to white peoples’ standards for Black people. No amount of respectability, however, can combat racism, writes Love. Writing about racism and living it exhausted Love. She was not enjoying life. Therapy helped her realize that she was stuck in survival mode. Her therapist recommended meditation, mindfulness, and living more freely, which helped ease her anxiety.

Alright and Well (There’s a Difference)

Being alright is not enough, writes Love. Abolitionists must also be well to do social justice work. They must have an inner life that insists on their humanity and rejects society’s treatment of them as less than human. Being well includes being vulnerable, having joy, and feeling love, despite society’s hatred of Blackness. The inner life serves as a counterpoint to negative societal attitudes. Black communities are more than their fight for justice. Being fully human also means having a quiet, joyful inner life.

Intergenerational Healing

Trauma is passed down intergenerationally, as is wisdom. Old and new generations must strive to understand one another for the sake of their collective destiny. Individuals must also practice being well so they can be their best selves when fighting injustice. Being well helps shield Black communities from white supremacy, internalized racism, sexism, anti-gay prejudice, classism, ableism, and other forms of discrimination. Abolitionists must bring their whole selves to the fight for social justice, including their race, gender, sexuality, and all other aspects of their identity.

White Wellness

According to Love, whiteness is antithetical to abolitionist teaching. To practice abolitionist teaching, educators must be willing to lose their privilege and stand in solidarity with people of color. Whiteness centers itself and makes people who want to eliminate it feel guilty. White abolitionist teachers must recognize that their whiteness can overpower Black spaces. They must also be willing to advocate for Black people in white spaces. Recognizing white emotionality and keeping it in check are also key. This requires more than attending diversity workshops. White people must come to terms with their whiteness and the violence that maintains it, writes Love. It is impossible to lose whiteness. However, white people can work to de-center whiteness, call out systems that maintain white supremacy, and reject white rage.

Wellness in Schools

According to Love, the education survival complex cannot save Black children. It robs them of joy, restricts their creativity, overburdens them with standardized tests, and punishes them for minor infractions. White educators must speak out against racism, particularly those who work in predominantly Black schools. School officials must stop trying to control Black bodies, an attitude that dehumanizes people of color by treating them like property. Wellness in schools means attending to the physical, mental, and spiritual health of children. Schools must address trauma and become sites of healing. Wellness in schools depends on the wellness of educators. Free therapy, compassion, love, and healing are necessary to teacher wellness.

Survival vs. Freedom

Black Americans live between survival and freedom, Love writes. The road to freedom is long, but merely surviving cannot be the goal. Abolitionists have tried everything to matter. They have fought and died in American wars, sued for rights, protested and marched, created art about resistance, and given speeches on the world stage. Despite all this work, racism persists. However, Love still believes change is possible if people choose to become abolitionists.