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

“Mattering has always been the job of Black, Brown, and Indigenous folx since the ‘human hierarchy’ was invented to benefit Whites by rationalizing racist ideas of biological inferiority to “those Americans who believe that they are White.”

Mattering is a central aspect of abolitionist education. It pertains to the relationship between people of color and society. People of color have always mattered to their families and communities, but abolitionism requires fighting to matter to society by dismantling systemic racism. 

“America's legacy of oppression and dispossession of dark people is in large part met with the ethos of We Shall Overcome, Si Se Puede, and We Gon' Be Alright.”

This quote is about the grit and rebellious spirit of people of color. Through acts of rebellion, people of color have forged a collective identity, built schools, educated children, developed churches as places of worship and community, passed laws to gain basic human rights, and boycotted companies and institutions that demean them. Black people have also produced literature, photography, art, and cinema to explain and process their suffering, created distinctive cuisines, and found other ways to be joyful. People of color stand defiant in the face of persistent efforts to kill and commodify them.

“To want freedom is to welcome struggle.”

People of color have long struggled against racial oppression. Activism today relates to past efforts to create a more equitable world, such as the 19th-century abolitionist movement and the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century. The project of freedom remains incomplete because not everyone is free. Struggle is necessary to change society.