Interrupting the Weaponization of Trauma-Informed Practice: “… Who Were You Really Doing the ‘Saving’ for?”

Abstract

We analyze tweets authored by educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, which Ibram Kendi has called a viral and a racial pandemic, and illustrate how Whiteness feeds the blaming of children and communities of color for trauma. We evaluate tweets that (1) misused trauma-informed teaching practice in ways characterized by White saviorism; (2) pushed back on these distortions by identifying and interrupting; and (3) proposed systemically trauma-informed teaching practice (SysTIP). We demonstrate the use of a set of tools for educators looking to identify and interrupt the weaponization of trauma-informed practice.