Love Yourz: Critical Race Love Letters to Community

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Educational leaders of Color must unlearn how they are taught by white supremacy and anti-Blackness that they should hate themselves as Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), and instead engage in the kind of critical love that nurtures their individual and collective healing. This symposium reveals the praxis-directed work from scholars who work with educators and educational leaders of Color to explore the question, how do we collectively transform the harm created by white supremacy and anti-Blackness into liberatory healing, hope, and political action? In doing so, critical race love letters written to and for a variety of educational contexts are presented and center the experiences of BIPOC as a way to challenge systems of oppression and incite liberatory change.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Division G - Section 5: Inquiry, Transformation, and Communities

Chair

• G.T. Reyes, California State University - East Bay

Papers

• We Love Ourselvz: Critical Race Love Letters to and From Educational Leaders of Color - G.T. Reyes, California State University - East Bay

• Keeping It Radical, Engaging, Authentic, and Loving: An Examination of What Drains, Sustains, and Grows Black Women Education Leaders - Monique Walton, California State University - East Bay

• Letters From Those Who Dare to Love: Generative Autoethnographic Love Letters From Black Educators - Alizabeth McGowan, College Track

• Resilient Youth Transforming Educational Systems: Black Queens Rising Through RYTES of Passage - Rachel Vatannia, San Leandro Unified School District

Discussant

• Micia Mosely, Black Teacher Project