Holding Each Other Better: Discussing State Violence, Healing, and Community with BreakOUT!

Abstract

Research Article| February 01 2016 Holding Each Other Better: Discussing State Violence, Healing, and Community with BreakOUT! Bryan J. McCann Bryan J. McCann Bryan J. McCann is assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Louisiana State University. His scholarly interests and activist commitments largely focus on the intersectional politics of crime and public culture in the United States. His published work has appeared in journals such as Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, Critical Studies in Media Communication, and Communication, Culture, and Critique. Dr. McCann’s book project, currently under contract with the University of Alabama Press, explores the ways black criminality circulated in the 1980s and 1990s at the height of the “War on Crime” and the concurrent emergence of gangsta rap as a highly successful and polarizing musical genre. He is also a member of the writing collective PCARE, whose members work to promote communication scholarship and pedagogy that challenges the prison-industrial complex. During his time at LSU, Dr. McCann has taught classes on social movements, as well as a course on crime and public culture that includes a visit to the infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Over the past decade, McCann has also participated in community organizing focused on prison and death penalty abolition, as well as other related issues. A native of Lafayette, Louisiana, Nate Faulk has served as BreakOUT!’s Leadership Development and Healing Justice Coordinator since 2014. They graduated from the University of New Orleans (UNO) as an American history major, with a minor in environmental studies. In addition to their work with Break- OUT!, Nate was active in their campus community as president of the Student Activities Council, Leadership Recognitions Chair for the University Leadership Cabinet, Conference Chair for the UNO Orientation Leaders, Public Relations Chair for the University Service Coalition, and co-captain of the UNO Hip Hop Dance Team. According to Nate’s profile on the BreakOUT! website, two quotations best describe them: “Learn from every interaction” and “Don’t be afraid of your sexy.” Nate was recently named one of 100 National Black Justice Coalition’s Emerging LGBTQ Leaders. Kwaneesha Reagans is a New Orleans-based activist and makeup artist. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking (2016) 3 (1): 98–116. https://doi.org/10.14321/qed.3.1.0098 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Bryan J. McCann; Holding Each Other Better: Discussing State Violence, Healing, and Community with BreakOUT!. QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking 1 February 2016; 3 (1): 98–116. doi: https://doi.org/10.14321/qed.3.1.0098 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveMichigan State University PressQED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2016 Michigan State University2016 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal Issue Section: Queer Conversations You do not currently have access to this content.