When we talk about keeping students safe, most of us picture caring teachers, dedicated counselors, and strong communities. But what happens when the systems meant to protect our children begin to harm them instead?
That’s the question at the heart of Survival Until Revolution: Mandatory Reporting, Anti-Blackness, and Education — a powerful conversation among educators, organizers, parents, and advocates exploring how mandatory reporting laws and school policing intersect to criminalize, rather than care for, Black and Brown families.
This document captures a roundtable discussion led by Erin Miles Cloud, Jasmine Wali, Shannon Perez-Darby, Erica Meiners, Charity Hope Tolliver, Shawn Koyano, Van Jordan, Ayla Gelsinger, and Alia Russell, featuring illustrations by Alexis (@pizzagirlllex). Together, these voices ask us to look deeper — to see how “counselors not cops” must also mean “care, not control.”
Who This Resource Is For
This piece is especially meaningful for:
- Educators and social workers who want to reimagine what real safety and support look like in schools
- Parents, caregivers, and youth organizers who are directly impacted by school policing and family surveillance
- Advocates and allies working to end racialized harm in education, child welfare, and beyond
What You’ll Find Inside
- A historical breakdown of how mandatory reporting laws grew out of anti-Black narratives, from the Battered Child Syndrome to the Moynihan Report
- Candid reflections from educators and parents who have seen firsthand how “helping professions” become extensions of the carceral state
- Real conversations about how to replace fear and compliance with community care, autonomy, and collective responsibility
- Visionary calls to action: ending school-based policing in all its forms, abolishing mandatory reporting, and investing in restorative, community-led safety
At its core, Survival Until Revolution challenges us to expand our idea of abolition — to see how true safety comes from connection, not control. Together, we can keep building a future where our schools nurture instead of punish, where care is never mistaken for surveillance, and where every child and family can simply exist — and thrive — without fear.
