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

by Bettina L. Love

My protectors were not just people who volunteered once a year with children from low-income neighborhoods or donated canned goods to the local food bank for a community service project; they were committed to building a relationship with me, my family, and my community in ways that were authentic and honored my knowledge of growing up Black and a woman in America. They respected my family; they also respected my community and saw the value in both. Even though my home and community were broken, they saw me beyond my trauma. They asked about my mother and father and knew how much I needed them to do well so that I could do well. They lived in my community or understood me, so I did not have to explain my community’s shortcomings as a young adult. I remember Coach Nally, who is White, explaining how he had grown up in Rochester and how the city had changed over the years and how racism impacted the city. He never ran from hard conversations about racism, and he always discussed and confronted the imbalance of power and privilege within our relationship.