ABOLITION
EVERYDAY SH!T: THE PILOT ISSUE
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.