Posting Against the System: BIPOC Teacher Counterstories and Resistance in Charter Management Organizations

Abstract

After the murder of George Floyd, Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) teachers at no-excuses charter management organizations (CMOs) formed digital counterpublics on Instagram to anonymously denounce their CMO experience. Grounded in the concept of neoliberalism, Critical Race Theory, and Black Critical Theory, this study uncovers the primary patterns in teacher posts across CMO-based BIPOC@ and Black@ Instagram accounts. Teachers engaged in a social-media-based solidarity movement to reveal their experiences as BIPOC in CMOs and the ways that CMOs and their embodiment of neoliberal logics enact harmful and racist practices. In doing so, teachers offer a counter-narrative to the liberatory narrative self-championed by CMOs.

Keywords

BIPOC teachers charter management organizations charter schools neoliberalism Critical Race Theory BlackCrit social media digital counterpublics

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