Addressing Anti-Blackness in Education Through Psychological Approaches to Racial and Radical Healing

Abstract

Anti-blackness remains endemic to the U.S. social order. As such, scholars have used theories of anti-blackness to contextualize the harm and violence that many Black youth experience in school settings. In the current article, we discuss the psychological framework of radical healing for communities of color and the Community Healing and Resistance Through Storytelling framework to highlight how schools and educational systems can be reenvisioned to support Black students’ identities, well-being, and humanity. We review how the underlying psychological principles across these healing frameworks (i.e., critical consciousness, cultural authenticity and self-knowledge, collective memory, justice, community resistance, and radical hope) can be leveraged to promote positive academic, social, and psychological outcomes among Black youth. More broadly, we discuss how these principles can be used to center the humanity and brilliance of Black children and address the structurally embedded anti-blackness in education.