Soul Rebels: The Power of Radical Healing in Community Change

• In Event: School, Community, and Family Partnerships in Support of Black Success

Abstract

There is no doubt that poverty, increasing gun violence, and lack of employment have taken a toll on those who live and work in urban neighborhoods. Traditional youth development, and civic engagement approaches to supporting youth of color from stressed urban schools and neighborhoods have simply been ineffective in combatting the deep and multilayered level of stress and trauma many young people bring to school. While the impact of these conditions on mental and physical health, and education is well documented, we understand very little about how teacher/activists are supporting young people of color in such dire social conditions.

This paper examines what hope looks like, how to create it, and what can be done to heal from the damage of ongoing stress, burn-out, and hopelessness. Using ethnographic case studies, this paper documents how teachers in some of America’s most challenging schools transform hopelessness into innovative and unorthodox strategies that build hope, well-being, and community change. These “rebels” challenged conventional educational strategies and embarked on their own journeys that allowed them to discover practices that give them the strength to heal and transform their lives, classrooms, organizations, and communities. In doing so, these rebels sought out an alternative vision for their communities, one based on healing and love rather than hopelessness and fatalism.

Theoretical Perspectives

This paper builds upon the healing justice framework which requires that we conceptualize oppression as a form of social and collective trauma. This view of oppression allows us to identify and name the cultural, social, and spiritual consequences of trauma for oppressed communities. Trauma conveys the idea that oppression and injustice inflict collective harm. Effectively responding to oppression, therefore, requires a process that restores individuals and communities to a state of well-being. The healing justice framework is also supported by research in public health, which has linked structural inequality to poor health outcomes in low-income neighborhood and communities. Researchers and practitioners have increasingly adopted a broader understanding of those social and environmental factors that promote or inhibit health (Aneshensel & Sucoff 1996; Edley & Velasco 2010). The healing justice framework rests on the theoretical premise that well-being is a function of social justice.

Data and Methods
This data for this paper was conducted over a three-year period and was divided into four phases. We identified 31 schools and community organizations primarily in California that integrated healing and organizing practices. Our selection process focused on selecting teachers, and organizational leaders that practice both healing, and various forms of organizing. We were also particularly interested in teachers, and organizational leaders who could inform our understanding of the ways that structurally disadvantaged neighborhoods influence civic behavior among African American and Latino youth. From our initial list of 31 schools and community organizations, we identified a 24 teachers and organizational leaders and community organizers in order to describe their motivations, rationale for integrating healing into their school or organizational practices.

Author

• Shawn A. Ginwright, San Francisco State University