A Call to All Political Educators

Abstract

The contexts within which social justice-minded public school teachers (SJST) work in the United States have always been replete with harm and healing. This is because SJST see their role as vital to the work of shifting localized material realities as well as engaging broader movements to bring about liberation, democracy, and radical reimagination. 2023 has certainly continued this dialectic: several bans on education are targeting marginalized communities. What impact does this have on SJST, who already have a complicated and passionate relationship with their calling as educators? How can comrades and accomplices outside of the institution respond to this impact? Because of its position outside of the K-12 institution, the identity and role of a political educator has allowed me to co-create spaces of home, hope, and healing for SJST that can strengthen responses in this hostile educational context. Implications of this work are discussed.