The Abolitionist Teaching Network (ATN) is a radical activist organization which aims to train teachers and other educators to promote far-left critical race theory ideology in the classroom. Specifically, the network instructs teachers to “disrupt Whiteness,” which it describes as one of the many “forms of oppression” which are allegedly present in schools across the United States. ¹

The ATN also claims that school disciplinary measures are a form of what it calls “spirit murder” of minority children, and that current education practices in schools are “a covert form of policing” used against minority students. The network refers to the practices it aims to implement in schools as “rituals,” explicitly describes its methods as “radical,” and calls its supporters “coconspirators.” The ATN pushes for its methods to be implemented in “all aspects of teaching,” claiming that its ideology “promotes justice, healing, joy, and liberation for all Black, Brown, and Indigenous folx [sic].” ²

Initiatives

The ATN employs “activists in residence” who are responsible for promoting the network’s ideology in their local school systems or educational institutions. Activists are recruited on an annual basis. ³ Several current and past ATN activists have ties to radical groups such as Assata’s Daughters and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. ⁴ These organizations are named after the convicted murderer of a police officer who escaped to the Cuban communist regime, and the black nationalist leader who called for revolution by “the ballot or the bullet,” respectively. ⁵⁶

The ATN also runs an online program for children which it calls the “Virtual Freedom School.” The ten-week program is aimed at students ages 9 to 14, and is designed to teach them radical-left “philosophies of race.” ⁷

Impact

Several higher education institutions have endorsed the work of ATN co-founder Bettina Love, including the University of Pittsburgh, Rhodes College, and California State University Dominguez Hills. ⁸ Her book on implementing far-left race ideology in schools, which also promotes the concept of “abolitionist teaching,” is included on the Michigan Governor’s Educator Advisor Council’s official list of “social justice” resources for teachers. ⁹¹⁰

In July 2021, the Biden administration endorsed the ATN’s “Guide for Racial Justice & Abolitionist Social and Emotional Learning,” including it in a list of post-COVID-19 school reopening reference materials compiled by the Department of Education. Following criticism from right-of-center media, the department retracted its endorsement of the guide, claiming that including it in the list had been an “error.” Some Republicans, such as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), voiced skepticism of the administration’s reversal. Cotton said that President Joe Biden (D) has supported far-left race ideology “since he took office” and that “no one believes this was an honest mistake.” ¹¹

In 2020, the ATN received just over $176,000 in revenue. ¹²

Leadership

All staff and board members of the ATN are listed by their first names only on the ATN website, along with their preferred pronouns—for example, “she,” “they,” or “el” [sic]. ¹³

Bettina Love is the board chair and co-founder of the ATN. At a June 2020 virtual speaking event, Love said that white people should have what she described as their “privileges” taken away from them because they “didn’t earn them,” and that they “need to go ahead and give them up.” ¹⁴

Brandelyn Tosolt is the board secretary and co-founder of the ATN. She is an associate professor of education at Northern Kentucky University. Tosolt says that she promotes far-left race ideology in order to “transform schools into places which celebrate Blackness.” ¹⁵

Board member Martha Allexsaht-Snider is an associate professor in the education department at the University of Georgia. In addition to her work on promoting far-left race ideology in schools, she has worked to advance the interests of Hispanic immigrants in the United States, rural communities in Mexico, and refugees in Turkey. ¹⁶¹⁷

Board member Cynthia Dillard, who also goes by the name Nana Mansa II, is a professor at the University of Georgia education department. Her academic writing discusses topics such as “the sacred nature of teaching and (re)search [sic]” and “(re)membering [sic] spirituality and global Black identity.” ¹⁸

Board member Farima Pour-Khorshid is a professor of education at the University of San Francisco. In addition to her position at ATN, she holds leadership roles in other left-progressive education activist groups such as Teachers 4 Social Justice, the People’s Education Movement, and the Education for Liberation Network. ¹⁹²⁰

1.    “Guide for Racial Justice & Abolitionist Social and Emotional Learning.” Abolitionist Teaching Network. August 2020. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://abolitionistteachingnetwork.org/guide
2.      “Guide for Racial Justice & Abolitionist Social and Emotional Learning.” Abolitionist Teaching Network. August 2020. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://abolitionistteachingnetwork.org/guide
3.        Activists in Residence. Abolitionist Teaching Network. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://abolitionistteachingnetwork.org/activists-in-residence
4.              Our Staff. Abolitionist Teaching Network. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://abolitionistteachingnetwork.org/our-people
5.      Stephen Sorace and Andrew Murray. “Who is Assata Shakur, convicted cop killer granted asylum in Cuba and praised by Black Lives Matter?” Fox News. July 15, 2021. Accessed August 3, 2021.https://www.foxnews.com/us/assata-shakur-cuba-black-lives-matte
6.        “The Ballot or the Bullet Speech Transcript – Malcolm X.” Rev. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/the-ballot-or-the-bullet-speech-transcript-malcolm-x
7.   ATN Virtual Freedom School. Abolitionist Teaching Network. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://abolitionistteachingnetwork.org/virtual-freedom-school
8. Michael Ruiz. “Abolitionist Teaching Network, far left group cited by Biden administration, has deep ties in US academia.” Fox News. July 21, 2021. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.foxnews.com/us/abolitionist-teaching-network-far-left-group-cited-by-biden-administration-deep-ties-us-academia
9.        Our Staff. Abolitionist Teaching Network. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://abolitionistteachingnetwork.org/our-people
10.        “Social Justice & Anti‑Racist Educator Resources.” Michigan Educator Advisory Council. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/GEAC_Resources_697529_7.pdf
11.             Michael Ruiz. “Abolitionist Teaching Network, far left group cited by Biden administration, has deep ties in US academia.” Fox News. July 21, 2021. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.foxnews.com/us/abolitionist-teaching-network-far-left-group-cited-by-biden-administration-deep-ties-us-academia
12.             Abolitionist Teaching Network. ProPublica. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=abolitionist+teaching+network&state%5Bid%5D=&ntee%5Bid%5D=&c_code%5Bid%5D=
13.    Our Staff. Abolitionist Teaching Network. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://abolitionistteachingnetwork.org/our-people
14.          Michael Ruiz. “Abolitionist Teaching Network, far left group cited by Biden administration, has deep ties in US academia.” Fox News. July 21, 2021. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.foxnews.com/us/abolitionist-teaching-network-far-left-group-cited-by-biden-administration-deep-ties-us-academia
15.        Our Staff. Abolitionist Teaching Network. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://abolitionistteachingnetwork.org/our-people
16.          Our Staff. Abolitionist Teaching Network. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://abolitionistteachingnetwork.org/our-people
17.        Michael Ruiz. “Abolitionist Teaching Network, far left group cited by Biden administration, has deep ties in US academia.” Fox News. July 21, 2021. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.foxnews.com/us/abolitionist-teaching-network-far-left-group-cited-by-biden-administration-deep-ties-us-academia
18.        Cynthia B. Dillard. Teachers College Press. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.tcpress.com/cynthia-b.-dillard
19.             Our Staff. Abolitionist Teaching Network. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://abolitionistteachingnetwork.org/our-people
20.        Michael Ruiz. “Abolitionist Teaching Network, far left group cited by Biden administration, has deep ties in US academia.” Fox News. July 21, 2021. Accessed August 3, 2021. https://www.foxnews.com/us/abolitionist-teaching-network-far-left-group-cited-by-biden-administration-deep-ties-us-academia