The Abolitionist Educator Newsletter (Chris)

Chris O'Mara

My final project emerged from a desire to advance abolitionist educational goals in a sustainable, tangible, and practical way. As I have begun to expand my concept of abolition through the senior seminar, I’ve been intently focused on the question of how we implement abolitionist principles in the systems we already have – as we have discussed the merits of reform and the merits of revolution, I have felt that, while revolution may be necessary to fully achieve the goal of liberation for all, we will not arrive at a point of readiness for this revolution if we do not first take concrete steps toward the goal of abolition.

I have been thinking passively about abolition for a long time; I have been well aware of the harms that our systems inflict upon people of color and minorities of race, gender, sexuality, ability, and other identities. Growing up in the white and wealthy part of Washington, DC, segregation and inequality have been around me for my whole life, though I have been on the side of these systems which supposedly “benefits” from the inequalities they produce. I’ve understood since my 9th Grade Studies (a multi-purpose class most similar to Social Studies but also including Sex Ed) the necessity of a vast overhaul or revolutionary reconstruction of our world as it currently exists, but had not thought so much about abolition as a framework for education before beginning the Educational Studies senior seminar with Anita and Marika.

Abolition is an excellent framework for education, as it equips students, educators, and families with the thinking, organizational, and action skills necessary to be a productive and caring member of the society we are working towards. Systems of education as they currently stand are crucial vehicles of social reproduction, and we must utilize the fact that schools contribute to social reproduction to create a better future rather than a similar one. A theoretical grounding in the principles of abolition is crucial to the implementation of abolition as an educational framework, but so are tangible, small-effort big-impact actions educators can take to implement abolitionist goals in schools.

To that end, I created this project to empower teachers and educators interested in abolition to share their interests with others in an efficient, effective, and replicable way. The result, a newsletter-like template for teachers interested in abolition, is robust and simple while alleviating an entry-point barrier to abolition work. Teachers can make their own content or share some of the templates I have created.

Abolition is an incredibly important frame of mind and framework for education and also is, in many ways, much easier said than done. That’s why I made this newsletter template – so that people working on abolition can easily share their work with others, and that abolitionist educators can orient their theory and practice towards their goals. The newsletter incorporates theory, anecdotes, podcasts, organizations, and more so that there is something for everyone at every level of the movement. This way, we can make tangible progress toward the goal of abolition while engaging in organizations and thinking that can eventually create larger, concerted strides toward abolition.

Newsletter Template Canva Link