Troublemakers: Young people as unruly activists in an anti-trans US school context

Abstract

This piece of comics-based research (CBR) tells the story of young people’s activism and adult lassitude in progressive US communities where the transgender and nonbinary youth had seemed well supported, but were in fact targeted by school staff at two middle-grade schools. While there ensued various forms of protest and activism, adults encouraged children to engage in adult-curated, docile forms, such as making chalk art on the sidewalk in front of the middle school, or writing letters to administration. Many young people refused these forms and instead used “unruly” forms of activism. These included defacing school spaces and other means of disrupting institutional functioning. They saw adult-curated docile activism as a frustratingly inert treatment. Even in such a clear situation, many adults seemed still more uncomfortable with unruly activism, cast as “troublemaking” than with adult transgressions, and refused to see the children as anything other than improper. This comic describes children’s unruly activism in the context of adult violence and adult-curated docile activism as a form of control—and reflects on adult discomfort as a fulcrum of complex power. Reflections on reframing all child “misbehavior” as radical action conclude the comic narrative.