INDEX

Please note that page numbers are not accurate for the e-book edition.

Abiel Smith School (Boston), 97

abolitionists: importance of elders to, 158; importance of imagination of, 102; joy and, 120

abolitionist teaching: bases for, 100; characteristics of, 159; communities and, 68; description of, 2, 88–89; examples of, 11–12, 104–15; exemplars of, 107–8; role of struggle in, 9; White folx and, 159–60

abolitionist teaching, freedom dreaming, and Black joy, 88–123; abolitionist teaching, examples of, 104–15; accountability, importance of, 122–23; achievement gap, 92–93; art, importance of, 99–101; Beacon Hill (Boston), 93–98; Black joy, 119–21; coconspirators, need for, 117–19; Congo Square (New Orleans), 98–99; education, importance of saving, 88–90; freedom dreaming, 101–3; social movements, co-option of, 103–4; solidarity, importance of, 115–17; system of injustice, insufficiency of tweaking of, 90–92

abuse (physical and sexual), women inmates as survivors of, 61

accountability, importance of, 122–23

achievement gap, 92–93

affirmative action, impact of, 136–37

African American children, education of, 22. See also dark children and youth

African Meeting House (Boston), 95–96

African School (Boston), 97

age compression, 5

ALEC (America Legislative Exchange Council), 25

Alexander, Michelle, 59

Alinsky, Saul, 56

Allies for Change, 118

ally-ship, coconspirators versus, 117–18

alright, well versus, 155–57

alt-right movement, 37–38

America, theories of discovery of, 133–35

America Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), 25

American Civil Liberties Union, on punishment of students, 6

American dream, fading of, 32

American history, Baldwin on, 16

American School Counselor Association, 75–76

Annamma, Subini Ancy, 137–38

Anderson, Carol, 23

Andrew, John, 93

Anthony, Susan B., 95

anti-Blackness, 22–23, 154

antidarkness, 14–15

antiracist pedagogy, 19, 54

Anyon, Jean, 40–41

art, role in social change, 99–101

Asian Americans, 22, 77, 84

Asian CRT (AsianCrit), 137

asylum seekers, child-parent separations of, 26

Atlanta: child murders, 85; gentrification, 30; racial disparities, 84–85

Atlanta Magazine, on affordable housing, 84

bail system, 63

Baker, Ella, 9, 65–68, 89

Baldwin, James, 16, 20, 88, 148

Bambara, Toni Cade, 155–56

barriers to success, failure to remove, 72–75

Beacon Hill (Boston), 93–98

Beal, Frances, 3

being well. See healing and wellness

Bell, Derrick, 28, 135, 136

Between the World and Me (Coates), 8

Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing, 25–26

Black Code laws, 61

Black consciousness, 50, 149

Black feminism, 139–40

Black joy, 15, 119–21. See also abolitionist teaching, freedom dreaming, and Black joy

Black Latinxs, oppression of, 54

Black Lives Matter movement, 112, 140

“Black Lives Matter Week of Action in Our Schools,” 110–12

Black Panther Party, 9, 49

Black queer studies, 142

Blacks (Black folx): in Atlanta, 84; Black feminists, 139–40; Black mothers, as punching bags, 149–50; Black mothers and children, health of, 150–53; Black students, in Atlanta, graduation rates, 84; Black teachers, importance of, 53–54; Black women, erasure of history of, 4; college graduates, unemployment of, 18; doctors, pay of, 4–5; girls, vulnerability of, 85–86; healthcare system’s treatment of, 151–52; improvisation by, 128; incarceration rates, 61; infant mortality rates, 150–52; students, school suspensions of, 5–6, 11, 31, 86, 106; voting by, in Florida, 23–24; women, SNCC’s impact on, 67–68; youth incarceration rates, 62. See also dark people; humanity; joy

Black schools, impact of Brown v. Board of Education on, 28–30

Blackwell, Unita, 67

Black Youth Project 100, 109–10

blame game, 124–25

Boone, Thabiti Bruce, 49, 51, 53

Boston: Beacon Hill, 93–98

Boys & Girls Club (Rochester, New York), 57–58

Braxton, Blanche Woodson, 96

Browder, Kalief, 62

brown, adrienne maree, 100

Brown, Henry “Box,” 96

Brown, John, 97

Brown, Michael, 46, 152

Brown v. Board of Education, 28–29

Bryant, Carolyn and Roy, 25

bullying, in schools, post-Trump, 36–37

Bush, George W., 15, 70

California: affirmative action in, 136–37; school codes on exclusion of Asian American children, 22

carceral state, 61, 62

Carter, Matt, 106

“castle doctrine” law, 25

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on toxic stress, 74

character education, 10, 69–71

character growth card, 76, 77

Character Lab, 71, 72–73

character performance assessments (CPAs), 76, 77–78

Charlottesville, Virginia, alt-right violence in, 37–38

charter school movement, 30–33

Cheney, John Moses, 23

Chicago, sustaining of educational survival complex, 145

Child Development journal, study on youth of color, 86–87

Children Defense Fund Freedom Schools, 74

children of color. See dark children and youth

Chin, Frank, 77

citizenship, low media literacy and, 70

civic empowerment gap, 70

civics: civics education, versus character education, 69–71; mattering as, 7–8

Clayton, Mr. (Love’s teacher), 52–53, 65

Clinton, Bill, 24–25, 60, 70

Clinton, Hillary, 60

Coates, Ta-Nehisi, 8, 40

coconspirators and coconspiracy, 117–19, 144

code noir, 98

Cohen, Cathy, 110, 142

Collins, Addie Mae, 25

Collins, Patricia Hill, 3, 145–46

color-blindness, as racist, 143

color braveness, 129–30

colorism, 54–55

Combahee River Collective, 3

common (public) good, neoliberalism and, 144–45

common sense, 43, 44

community(ies): backstory of, 132; Baker and, 65–68; community cultural wealth, 138–39; impacts on thriving, 65; importance for dark children, 53; Love’s protective community, 81–83; mattering and, 55–59; sovereignty of, role in fighting injustice, 9. See also Rochester, New York

Community Renewal Tax Relief Act (2000), 32

Confederate flags, removal of, 115–16

Congo Square (New Orleans), 98–99

convict leasing, 60, 91

coolies, 77

Cooper, Anna Julia, 3, 51

Cooper, Brittney, 120

corporate America, as culture vultures, 104

corporate school reformers. See charter school movement

Cosby, Bill, 4

CPAs (character performance assessments), 76, 77–78

Craft, Ellen and William, 94–95

creativity, of dark people, 100

Crenshaw, Kimberlé, 3, 135

critical race theory (CRT), 135–39

Critical White Studies (CWS), 143–44

cultures: cultural genocide, 135; importance of teachers’ studying of, 128–29

Cummings, Patricia, 37

DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), 107

Dakota Access Pipeline, 134–35

Dalichov, Tiana (Dayanna Volitich), 38

dark children and youth: dark queer youth, 141–42; dark students, assaults on, 6; education of, 102; girls, vulnerability of, 85–86; incarceration rates, 62; needs for survival, 74; as property, 137, 160–61. See also education; educational survival; schools; students

dark people (dark folx), 1–15; creativity, need for, 100; desires of, 1–2; disposability of, 39–40; educational reform versus educational justice, 10–12; grittiness of, 78; humanity of, source of, 71; identities of, 3; inner life of, 156–57; intersectionality, need for, 4–7; intersectional justice and, 12–15; mattering by, 2–3, 7–8; politics of refusal of, 52; struggle, welcoming of, 8–10. See also Asian Americans; Blacks (Black folx); Hispanics; humanity; joy; Native Americans; racism

dark skin, as label, 21

dark suffering: charter school movement and, 33; Love’s experience of, 22; schools as spaces of, 15, 17, 20, 21, 27; school suspension rates and, 31; White rage and, 26. See also oppression; racism

Dash, Julie, 157

Daughters of the Dust (Dash), 157

Davis, Angela Y., 3, 7, 9, 91–92

Davis, Corrie, 109

Davis, Jordan, 23, 27

Dean, Nicholas, 37

debt peonage system (debt slavery), 91

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), 107

DeGruy, Joy, 112–13

Delgado, Richard, 135

Denver, student strikes in, 107

deviants (Asian American threat category), 77

DeVos, Betsy, 3

DiAngelo, Robin, 143

dignity, protection of, 42–45

Dillard, Cynthia, 99

dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit), 137–38

discrimination: discriminatory justice system, 59–63; intersections of, 4–5. See also racism

diversity, intersectionality versus, 3

doctors, pay discrepancies of, 4–5

double consciousness, 157

Douglass, Charles and Lewis, 93

Douglass, Frederick, 55, 96

Dow, Whitney, 119

Dream Defenders, 109–10

Du Bois, W. E. B., 1, 28, 157, 161, 162

Duckworth, Angela, 71, 76, 78

Dumas, Michael, 15

Dunn, Michael, 27

dysconscious racism, 143

economic justice, Baker and, 66

education: in Atlanta, 84; common sense versus, 43; critical race theory in, 136; cultural genocide through, 135; educational achievement gap, narrative of, 10; educational justice, 9–12; educational-survival complex, 27–34, 92, 101, 145; education debt, 33, 92; education industry, 10, 30; education research, failures of, 13; importance of saving, 88–90; structural barriers to, 19; teachers’ education gap, 126–29. See also schools; teachers (educators)

educational freedom, abolitionist teaching and: abolitionist teaching, freedom dreaming, and Black joy, 88–123; dark people, 1–15; educational survival, 16–41; grit, zest, and racism, 69–87; healing and wellness, 149–62; mattering, 42–68; theory, importance of, 124–48

educational survival, 16–41; conclusions on, 39–41; educational survival skills, Love’s teaching of, 21; introduction to, 16–22; spirit-murdering, 34–39; white rage and, 22–27

educational system (US): educational justice versus, 10–12; need for intersectionality in, 17; structural inequalities of, 19, 102–3, 112; White rage as anchor of, 22. See also charter school movement; grit, zest, and racism

Educational Testing Service, 10

education management organizations (EMOs), 30

educators. See teachers

Edwards, J. David, 147, 148

elders, importance of learning from, 158

Ella Baker and Black Freedom Movement (Ransby), 66

Ellison, Ralph, 149

Emancipation Proclamation, 90–91

EMOs (education management organizations), 30

emotional intelligence, 71

Energy Transfer Partners, 134–35

epigenetic inheritance, 75

Equality of Opportunity Project (Harvard University), 32

Equal Justice Initiative, 26

ethnic solidarity, 105

ethnic studies classes, in Tucson, 104–5

Fairwell, Rufus, 56

Fat-Daddy (one of Love’s protectors), 82

FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test), 19

Feelings, Tom, 100

feminism, Black feminism, 139–40

feminist CRT (FemCrit), 137

“few bad apples” argument, 38

Fields, Ben, 34

Fields, James Alex, 37

Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Infantry, 93–94, 96

FIST (Fighting Ignorance and Spending Truth) program, 48, 49–52, 65, 66

Flint Street City Rec Center (Rochester, New York), 57–58

Florida: anti-Blackness, history of, 23; Dream Defenders, 109–10; Ocoee, White rage in, 23–24; South Florida, economic statistics on, 18; Standards Assessment, 19; “stand your ground” law, 25, 87

Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), 19

Fort Laramie treaties, 134

freedom: Davis on, 7; as goal of abolitionist teaching, 89; Hames-García on, 9; survival versus, 161–62

freedom dreaming, 93, 101–3. See also abolitionist teaching, freedom dreaming, and Black joy

free market, neoliberalism and, 145

Galeano, Eduardo, 42

Garrison, William Lloyd, 95, 96

Garza, Alicia, 144

gay dark youth, 62

gender-nonconforming dark youth, 62

gentrification, 30, 64

Georgia: Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, 73, 84. See also Atlanta

Gilmore, Ruth Wilson, 91

Giovanni, Nikki, 162

girls: school suspensions of, 5–6; vulnerability of, 85–86

Godfrey, Erin, 86–87

Gonzalez, Emma, 109

Gonzalez, Maliah, 36

Gordeuk, Nancy, 34

Government Accountability Office, report on segregated schools, 29

governments, privatization of, 144

Grant, Ulysses S., 22–23

Greene, Maxine, 102

grit, zest, and racism, 69–87; barriers to success, failure to remove, 72–75; character education versus civics education, 69–71; grit, teaching of, as gimmick, 12; history, trauma, and grit, 75–79; Trayvon Martin and, 71–72; potential, protection of, 79–83; protection, intersections of, 83–86; system justification, 86–87

grit labs, as survival tactic, 10

Guinier, Lani, 135

gun control, 6–7, 109–10

Guo, Jeff, 77

Haitians, oppression of, 55

Hamby, Geye, 38

Hamer, Fannie Lou, 67

Hames-García, Michael, 9

“Harlem” (Hughes), 20

Harper, Frances E. W., 140

hashtags, of joy, 119

Hayden, Lewis and Harriet, 94

Hayes, Jahana, 113–14

healing and wellness, 149–62; alright versus wellness, 155–57; Black mothers and children, health of, 150–53; Black mothers as punching bags, 149–50; intergenerational healing, 157–59; Love, impact of politics of respectability on, 153–55; schools, wellness in, 160–61; survival, freedom versus, 161–62; White wellness, 159–60

healthcare: doctors, pay discrepancies of, 4–5; racial biases in, 151–52

hedge funds, relationship to charter school movement, 33

heteronormativity, 141

Heyer, Heather, 37–38

Hill, Anita, 4

Hispanics: impact of Great Recession on, 18; incarceration rates, 61, 62. See also entries beginning “Latinx”

history, trauma and grit and, 75–79

Hobson, Mellody, 129

Hogg, David, 109

homeplaces, 63–65, 68, 105, 158

Homestead Act (1862), 133

hooks, bell, 50, 64, 65, 124

Hoover Commission, 133

hope, grit and, 78

Horn, Jim, 30–31

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 10

House Joint Resolution 698, 133

Hughes, Langston, 20

human hierarchy, 7–8, 46–47. See also incarceration rates

humanity: abolitionist teaching and, 89, 99; Black humanity, White blindness toward, 148; of dark children in Rochester, 45; of dark folx, 68, 71; joy and, 120; loving darkness as path to, 68; mattering as quest for, 7; of students in ethnic studies classes, 105; United We Dream and, 108

Humphrey, George Harvey, 56

hypersegregation, of schools, 29–30

imagination, importance of, 102

improvisation, by Black folx, 128

incarceration rates, 60, 61

Indian Removal Act (1830), 26, 133

Indigenous people. See Native Americans

injustice, systems of, 90–92

“In Lak’ech” (Valdez), 105

integration, of Boston schools, 97

interest convergence, 136–37

intergenerational healing, 157–59

intersectionality: description of, 3; importance of, 39, 147; intersectional justice, dark people and, 12–15; intersectional social justice, 4, 110; need for, 4–7; origins in Black feminism, 140; United We Dream and, 107–8; in youth, impacts of, 62

irrelevancy, mattering and, 45–49

It Gets Better campaign, 140–43

Jackson, Andrew, 133

Jackson, Mississippi, freedom dreaming in, 114–15

James, Mrs. (Love’s role model), 80, 82

Japanese Americans, internment of, 26

jazz, origins of, in Congo Square, 99

Jeantel, Rachel, 71

Jenner, Kendall, 103–4

Jim Crow laws, 26

Johnson, E. Patrick, 142

Johnson, King, 108

Johnson, Lyndon B., 45–46

Johnson, Michael, Jr., 141

Johnson, Mrs. (Love’s teacher), 47–48, 53, 65

joy: abolitionist teaching and, 12; art as, 99, 100; Black joy, 15, 119–21; Black joy, Black feminism and, 140; Black joy, White blindness to, 148; Love’s places of, 93

juvenile justice system, 61–62

Karen (Love’s first boss), 80

Kelley, Robin D. G., 101, 114

Kendi, Ibram X., 39, 161

King, Joyce, 143

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 8–9, 24, 49

KIPP (charter school network), 30–32, 76–77

Kitwana, Bakari, 158

Knight, Judi, 80, 82

Kodak, 59

Kohli, Wendy, 159

Ladson-Billings, Gloria, 33

language, social oppression based on, 20

Latinx children, in Atlanta, 84

Latinx CRT (LatCrit), 137

Latinx students, 29, 54–55, 84

Lee, Robert G., 77

Levin, Dave, 71, 76–77

Levinson, Meira, 70–71

Lewis, Karen, 145

Liberator (antislavery newspaper), 95, 96

life, under educational survival, 39–41

life expectancies, 32

Lincoln, Abraham, 90

lobbying, by prison and educational reform industries, 10

Loewen, James W., 23

Lorde, Audre, 3, 122

Love, Bettina L.: community cultural wealth of, 139; educational background, 21; extra-curricular activities, 57–59; FIST, experiences with, 49–52; grandmother of, 44; home life, problems of, 48; homeplaces of, 68; hooks (bell), response to, 124; impact of politics of respectability on, 153–55; lesbianism of, 44, 153; panic attacks experienced by, 149–50, 153; parents of, 42–45; politics of refusal, use of, 52; protectors of potential of, 80–82; on reading Du Bois, 1; school, experiences of, 42–43, 45–48, 52; success of, reasons for, 79–80; as teacher, 16–22, 126–27; therapy, experiences of, 153

Love, “Honey” (father), 45, 56–57

Love, Patty (mother), 43–45, 56–57, 138–39, 150

loving Blackness, 50–55

Lumumba, Chokwe and Chokwe Antar, 114–15

lynchings, 26

Madoff, Bernie, 77

Mahoney, Mary Eliza, 96

male doctors, pay of, 4–5

Manning, Mandy, 113–14

MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) test, 105–6

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, 6, 109

Mark (Love’s former student), 79

Marley, Skip, 103

Marley Dias, 108–9

Martin, Trayvon, 23, 26–27, 71–72

mass shootings, in urban schools, 6

Matias, Cheryl E., 144

mattering, 42–68; community and, 55–59; by dark people, 7–8; dignity, protection of, 42–45; discriminatory justice system, 59–63; essentialness of, 2; FIST program and, 49–50; homeplaces and, 63–65; irrelevancy and, 45–49; loving Blackness, 50–55; thriving and, 65–68

McDuffie, Arthur, 24

McGraw-Hill, 10

McNair, Denise, 25

Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) test, 105–6

medical field, pay discrepancies in, 4–5

mental health, importance of, 74, 160–61

middle class, economic state of the, 18

migrant workers, 17

Milam, J. W., 25

Miller, Terry, 140–41

Mississippi, responses to Jackson freedom dreaming, 115

model minority, 77

Morris, Monique W., 5, 85

Morrison, Toni, 9, 42

Mother Jones (online news source), article on school bullying, 36

Mott, Lucretia, 95

Moynihan Report, 45–46

Nally, Mike, 80, 82

names, Morrison on remembrance of, 42

Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown (Brown), 96

Nash, Diane, 67

National Assessment of Education Progress, on civics education, 70

National Rifle Association (NRA), 6, 25

Native Americans: children, education of, 22, 27–28; oppression of, 54; resource extraction, on Indigenous lands, 134; settler colonialism and, 133–35; youth incarceration rates, 62

NCLB (No Child Left Behind, 2001), 122

The Negro Family: The Case for National Action (Moynihan Report), 45–46

neoliberalism, 144–46

New Orleans, Congo Square, 98–99

Newsome, Bree, 115–17

New York state: affirmative action in, 137; Rockefeller Drug Laws, 60. See also Rochester, New York

New York Times, article on Rochester, 64

Nineteenth Ward (Rochester, New York), 56, 57, 59

Nixon, Richard M., 46, 60

Nkosi, Lindokuhle, 101

No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2001), 122

“no excuses” teaching, 30–31

Norman, Mose, 23

North Star, theories as, 132–33

North Star newspaper, 55

Norton, Eleanor Holmes, 67

NRA (National Rifle Association), 6, 25

Obama, Barack, 15

Ocoee, Florida, White rage in, 23–24

O’Meara, Brendan, 62–63

oppression: dark oppression, types of, 54–55; human hierarchy, 7–8, 46–47; impact of rebellions against, 8; intersectionality and, 6; spirit-murdering, 34–39; theory and, 147–48. See also dark suffering; racism

Oxford English Dictionary, definition of survival, 16

Parker, Tiana, 35

Parks, Rosa, 49

participatory democracy, 67–68

Pearson Education, 10

pedagogy, limited effectiveness of, 19

The Pedagogy of Pathologization (Annamma), 137–38

people of color. See Blacks (Black folx); dark people

Pepsi commercials, 103–4

Perry, Julius “July,” 23–24

PGRNA (Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika), 115

Phillips School (Boston), 97

police, 24, 154

political economy, results of, 17

political resistance, loving Blackness as, 50

politics of refusal, 43, 52

Portia School of Law, 96

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (DeGruy), 112

potential, 79–83

poverty, 17, 18, 78–79

predatory lending, 32

Prince George’s County (Maryland) school board, 111–12

prison industry, 10, 91–92

privatization, of government, 144–45

protection: difficulty of, 81–83; importance of, 79–81; intersections of, 83–86

Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika (PGRNA), 115

public education, White rage as anchor of, 22

public (common) good, neoliberalism and, 144–45

Puerto Rico, US invasion of, 22–23

Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in School (Morris), 5

quare studies, 142–43

Quashie, Kevin, 156–57

queerness, Whitewashing of, 141–42

queer theory, 142

race: impact of, 4–6, 11, 18, 31, 85, 106; racial suffering, schools as spaces of, 15; racial uplift, comparison with intersectional social justice, 4

racism: dark bodies, erasure of, 127; as distraction, 9; Du Bois on, 161; dysconscious racism, 143; impact of, 38, 41, 150–52; Nixon’s, 46; permanency of, 136; of police in Georgia, 154; Starbucks and, 129–30; teacher education programs on, 130–32; Whiteness at center of, 143–44; in Women’s Suffrage movement, 95. See also dark suffering; educational survival; grit, zest, and racism

radical abolitionism, 114

Randolph, Dominic, 71

Ransby, Barbara, 66

Reagan, Nancy, 45

Reagan, Ronald, 45, 60

Reagon, Bernice Johnson, 54, 67

rebellions, impact of, 8

recreation centers, 57–58

remembering, Galeano on, 42

Reno, Janet, 24–25

Republicans, on school shootings, 6

resistance, loving Blackness as political resistance, 50

resource extraction, on Indigenous lands, 134

respectability, politics of, 153–55

revolutions, 88, 101

riots, King on, 24

Robertson, Carole, 25

Rochester, New York: economic activity, 59; historical importance of, 55–56; as homeplace, collapse of, 63–64; large employers, loss of, 59; riots in, 43, 56; Rochester City School District, 112–13; societal changes in, 45–46

Rockefeller Drug Laws, 60

Roof, Dylann, 116

Ruffin, Josephine St. Pierre, 96

Rustin, Bayard, 9

The Salt Eaters (Bambara), 155–56

Savage, Dan, 140–41

schools: bullying in, post-Trump, 36–37; counselors, shortages of, 74–75; desegregation of, 28–30, 97, 136; failing schools, 19–20; hooks’s experiences of, 50–51; impact of political economy on, 17–18; mass shootings, in urban schools, 6; as places of Whiteness, 13; school-to-prison pipeline, 31, 62, 74, 138; separate but equal schools, 28; as spaces of racial suffering, 15; wellness in, 160–61. See also education; educational survival; students; teachers (educators)

Seattle, teacher activism in, 106–7

Seattle Education Association, 107

Selma, Alabama, march on, 95

Sentencing Project, 61–62

separate but equal schools, 28

settler colonialism, 133–35

sexism, as anchor of educational system, 22

sex trafficking industry, 85

sharecroppers, 91

Shaw, Robert Gould, 93

Sioux Treaty (Treaty of Fort Laramie, 1868), 134

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church (Birmingham), bombing of, 25–26

slave codes, 26

Smith, Abiel, 97

Smith, Elizabeth, 97

SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), 66–67

Snyder, Jeffrey Aaron, 76, 77

society: problems of current, 124–25; social change, 19, 99; social intelligence, 71; social justice movements, 100; social mobility, 17–18; social movements, co-option of, 103–4

solidarity, importance of, 115–17

Southern Poverty Law Center, 37

Southwest Area Neighborhood Association (SWAN), Rochester, NY, 57

The Sovereignty of Quiet (Quashie), 156–57

spaces, abolitionist, 68

spirit-murdering, 34–39

Spring Valley High School (Columbia, South Carolina), 34

standardized tests, problems of, 101–2

Standing Rock Indian Reservation, 134–35

“stand your ground” law, 25, 87

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 95

Starbucks, racism and, 129–30

stereotypes, of Black women, 5

Stewart, Maria, 96

Stidham, Kim, 35–36

stress, toxic stress, 74

structural inequality, 19, 102–3, 112, 143–44

struggle, welcoming of, 8–10

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), 66–67

students: ACLU on punishment of, 6; anti-student violence, 34–39; Black, graduation rates, 84; dark students, inequalities suffered by, 20; with disabilities, violence toward, 6–7; humanity of, 105; survival tactics for, 10–11; suspension rates, 5–6, 11, 31, 86, 106. See also dark children and youth; education; educational survival; schools; teachers

subprime mortgages, 32

success, failure to remove barriers to, 72–75

Success Academy Fort Greene (Brooklyn, New York), 31

suicides, O’Meara, 62–63

sundown towns, 23

survival: definition of, 16; educational-survival complex, 27–34, 92, 101, 145; freedom versus, 161–62; imperative elements for, 48–49; Love’s living in survival mode, 153–55; survival tactics for students, 10–11

SWAN (Southwest Area Neighborhood Association), 57

sweetness of the struggle, 54

system justification, 86–87

Tansey, Molly, 119

teachers (educators): abolitionist agendas for, 54, 89–90; abolitionist teaching examples for, 11–12; activism of, 106–15, 145; Black teachers, importance of, 53–54; color of, 29; education gap of, 126–29, 130; freedom dreaming by, 102, 112; guns and, 6–7; racism of, 14, 51; role in challenging oppression, 19; social justice, lack of understanding of, 13–14; teacher education programs, limitations of, 129–32; trauma of, 75; wellness of, 161; White teachers, needs of, 75. See also education; educational survival; Johnson, Mrs.; schools; students

Teach for America, 10

Teaching to Transgress (hooks), 50

Temin, Peter, 153–54

testing companies, 10

test-taking skills, 10

Texas, actions of slaveholders in, 90

theory, importance of, 124–48; America, theories of discovery of, 133–35; Black feminism, 139–40; blame game, 124–25; conclusions on, 146–48; critical race theory, 135–39; bell hooks on, 124; It Gets Better campaign, 140–43; neoliberalism, 144–46; North Star, theories as, 132–33; teacher education gap, 126–29; teacher education programs, limitations of, 129–32; Whiteness, need for studying, 143–44

Thirteenth Amendment, 60, 90–91

Thomas, Clarence, 4

three strikes rule, 60

thriving, mattering and, 65–68

Till, Emmett, 25

TNT Academy (Georgia), 34

toxic stress, 74, 76, 151–52

Trail of Broken Treaties Caravan, 133

Trail of Tears, 133

transgender dark youth, 62

trauma, 75–79, 157

Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851), 134

Treaty of Fort Laramie (Sioux Treaty, 1868), 134

Trump, Donald, 3, 6, 36–37, 37–38, 77–78

Truth, Sojourner, 56

Tubman, Harriet, 55, 56

Tucson (Arizona) Unified School District, 104–5

Turk, Ryan, 34–35

Turner, Nat, 97

Tyson, James, 116–17

Tyson, Timothy B., 25

Underground Railroad, 55–56, 93, 94

unemployment rates, of Blacks versus Whites, 18

United States: corporate America, as culture vultures, 104; critical race theory and institutions of, 136; entrenched racist ideas in, 39; settler colonialism, 133–35; Whites’ anti–dark people violence, legal protections for, 26. See also educational system (US)

United We Dream, 107–8

urban areas, school hypersegregation, 29–30

Val, Miss (Love’s high school math teacher), 80

Valdez, Luis, 105

VanDyke, Vanessa, 35

Vanhoose, Dr., 153, 155

Verne, Bonnie Godin, 37

Victorious Minds Academy (VMA), 112–13

Vigilance Committee (Boston), 94

Villarosa, Linda, 150–52

violence, educational-survival complex as, 34

Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (1994), 60

Volitich, Dayanna (Tiana Dalichov), 38

Walmart, 25

War on Drugs (War on Dark People), 45, 59–60

wealth distribution, 18

Weiston-Serdan, Torie, 74

wellness. See healing and wellness

Wesley, Cynthia, 25

we who are dark. See dark people

Wheatley, Phillis, 96

White CRT (WhiteCrit), 137

Whiteness: centering of, in It Gets Better campaign, 141–42; as culture, 128; invisibility of, 130; need for studying, 143–44; resistance by, 115; schools as places of, 13

Whites: antidarkness and, 14; Asian Americans, beliefs about, 77; Black joy, embrace of, 121; college graduates, unemployment of, 18; doctors, pay of, 4–5; girls, school suspensions of, 5–6; human hierarchy and, 7–8; racism of, 51; as school staff, 160; students in Atlanta, graduation rates, 84; teachers, 75, 126–28, 131; White emotionality, 144; White flight, 28; White fragility, 143–44; White guilt, 119; White rage, 22–27, 64, 90, 152–53; White supremacy, 14, 22–23, 87; White wellness, 159–60; women, 68, 136; youth incarceration rates, 62. See also oppression; racism

White Vision Glasses, 147, 148

Williams, Patricia, 38

Williams, Serena, 151

Wilson, Darren, 152

Wilson, Naomi, 106

Wolfgang, Marvin, 46

women: Black, SNCC’s impact on, 67–68; Black mothers, as punching bags, 149–50; Black mothers and children, health of, 150–53; doctors, pay of, 4–5; incarceration of, 61; in poverty, 18; vulnerability of, 85; White, 68, 136

Women’s Suffrage movement, 95

Work Hard, Be Hard (Horn), 30–31

working poor, grittiness of, 78

World War II, internment of Japanese Americans, 26

X, Malcolm, 49, 140

yellow perils, 77

Yosso, Tara, 138, 139

zest, 73. See also grit, zest, and racism

Zimmerman, George, 26–27, 71–72, 87

Zuckerberg, Mark, 33