ABOLITION
JOURNAL


EVERYDAY SH!T: THE PILOT ISSUE

  1. Editors’ Notes: On Direction & On Poetry | Christopher R. Rogers and Gabriel Ramirez
  2. Abolition is a Brick: On the Origins of the Du Bois Movement School | Geo Maher
  3. The High School Lunch Table Reimagined | David A. Gaines
  4. Relearning the Language of Care | Alexandrea Henry
  5. Tossed About the Room | Tongo Eisen-Martin
  6. From Abolition School to Palestine | Farwa Zaidi in convo w/ Nneka Azuka & Talia Charidah
  7. Movement Moments: PAO Rally Speech | Nneka A.
  8. protest | Raina J. León
  9. The Kids | Alyesha Wise
  10. All (Purchasing) Power to the People | Saskia Kercy
  11. (communique #1) | S. R. Lalo
  12. From Intention to Liberation | Abbas Naqvi
  13. Standardized Test | Taylor Alyson Lewis
  14. The New Republic of Kindergarten | Hiwot Adilow
  15. Lost Lady. Found Niece. | Kiian Dawn
  16. Holding the Jagged Edges | Shantell Missouri
  17. Prison Radio Suite x Abolition Journal |  Kevin “Rashid” Johnson, KnowledgeBorn GodAllah, Krystal Clark, & Spoon Jackson
  18. “Ultimately, What Any of Us Want is Structural Change” | No Arena in Chinatown x Abolition Journal Roundtable
  19. Healing “Body & Soul” | Jake Sonnenberg of Healthcare Workers for Abolition
  20. Abolition Starts at Home | frenchy, Han & zara of the The Philly Childcare Collective
  21. Maximizing Study & Struggle between Haiti and Philadelphia | Talie Cerin & James Beltis x Woy Magazine
  22. Migrant Justice, Border Abolition & The Resistance of Now | Sterling K. Johnson in convo w/ Viktoria Zerda
  23. Movement Life-in-the-Along & the Grand (Re)Vision of Abolition Journal | Christopher R. Rogers



STANDARDIZED TEST | TAYLOR ALYSON LEWIS


1. What is a Teacher1? 
    a. Master2
    b. Overseer3 
    c. Gatekeeper4
    d. Disciplinarian5
    e. Parent6















1Teacher implies White. Teacher is always White. Even Black Teachers walk the path of Whiteness. All Teachers are contractual Teachers of Whiteness. We are all White Teacher. White Teacher reaches towards race neutrality as an improbable goal.2Master of specialized knowledge. Master of the bodies in the room and their functions. Master of selective observation. Master of ostracization. Master of content. Master of the two-week notice. 3By withholding the power of literacy from Black children who refuse to behave as obedient and grateful slaves should, classroom Overseers reveal their commitment to domination over the liberation of self-control. In this way, the dynamics of the plantation are maintained both consciously and unconsciously by Teacher and Student. 4The fear of reenacting the brutality of the plantation is erased by a pathological need to stand as the Gatekeeper of what, when, where, and how Black children learn. 5The expectation to act as Disciplinarian to Black children is the (White) Teacher’s greatest source of anxiety, resentment, and paranoia. Discipline becomes a place where care, consideration, and objectivity are not possible. Black children’s understanding of redirection as disrespect is therefore accurate because of these implications. Power struggles become the only tools in White toolboxes. 6“Better” and “more educated” parent is implied. “Better” and “more educated” parent is implied. “Better” and “more educated” parent is impossibly implied. 


Taylor Alyson Lewis (he/him) is a poet and high school English and Social Studies teacher living in Philadelphia. He holds a BA from Spelman College and an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University-Camden. Taylor has received fellowships to support his writing from Lambda Literary, Fine Arts Work Center, and Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, where he was awarded the Queer Writer Fellowship in Prose. His work appears in Nat. Brut, Poetry Online, Voicemail Poems, Columbia Journal, and elsewhere.