Writers Who Run: An Interview with Dr. Eve L. Ewing
Dr. Eve L. Ewing. Credit Nolis Anderson.
By Malissa Rodenburg
Multi-talented author, educator, and activist Dr. Eve L. Ewing has a new project hot off the presses. “Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism” is a lesson in four parts, published on February 11. From Indian boarding schools to the Pledge of Allegiance, even the surprising history of IQ tests, Ewing examines the racist roots of the U.S. education system.
“As schools have served as the instrument for the United States to build and maintain the society it wants, schools have been instrumental in reinforcing the respective roles that men like [Thomas] Jefferson envisioned for its inhabitants,” she writes in the very first chapter. She goes on to boldly state the thesis of her book, that schools were designed to erase Native people and create a class of “subservient laborers” of Black people.
If you’re not familiar with Ewing’s other works of nonfiction (like “Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side”), you may be familiar with her young adult literature, poetry, or graphic novels. Books like “Maya and the Robot,” Marvel’s “Black Panther,” and “1919.” I mentioned she was multi-talented, right?
Make no mistake, though, “Original Sins” is a long, hard read. It’s a confrontation. An ugly reflection. A thorough, tightly-researched history lesson in a time when history is being brashly rewritten. You’ll learn a thing or two (or a lot more). You’ll learn more about things you already knew, but with greater depth. And you’ll wish things could be different.
But Ewing doesn’t end the book without offering us a breath; a conclusion that centers justice, collective care, and love. Take this poignant quote, that weaves together the harsh reality of the past with an empowering message for the present:
“... if I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see, as James Baldwin says. But also, if I love you, I want to take a walk with you, I want to bake your favorite thing, I want to tell you about a really good movie I just saw … And any teacher, any policymaker, any person in power who doesn’t regard kids with love doesn’t deserve to be near them. Love is the baseline, it’s not extra, and it’s not optional, and it’s not something you learn from a diversity and equity workshop …”
Keep reading to learn how Ewing came to write “Original Sins” and why running is a form of escape and self-preservation for her.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
When did you know you had to write this book?
I've been teaching education policy classes of various kinds for a decade, and I felt strongly that my students needed to understand these two strands of history—the history of schooling for Black people in this country, and the history of schooling for Native people—or they didn't really understand schools at all. I kept looking for a book that told that story succinctly, and eventually had to write it.
What has been the most gratifying moment in getting this book out into the world?
Well, as it's still new to the world, I'm excited to see people's reactions. But this book was so long and required so much in-depth work that sometimes I would think "okay, if something happened to me, who would finish this book? Have I left them enough to do it? Could they fill in the blanks?" And I got very satisfied once I got to the point where I felt like someone could finish it posthumously. But now they don't have to!
Has it spurred any ideas of what you’d like to write next?
I'm already halfway through my next book project. It has absolutely nothing to do with this one.
As a runner, do you use movement as a tool ever to help in your creative process?
Running helps me kind of clear out my mind. I think the best times for me to run are after I've just gotten done writing for a good long chunk of time. It helps me just shift into a mode of focusing on my body and getting out of my head a bit.
There is so much to take away from “Original Sins,” but one section that drew my attention as it pertains to this column was about the wellness industrial complex–how Black and Native people historically have been denied rest and how self-care has become a privilege in our capitalistic state. How would you characterize the role of running and other forms of movement in terms of self-care? What role has it played in your life?
It's funny, because running is certainly part of how I care for my body, but I also see it very much as a survival skill. I always hated running growing up. Part of why I got into it in my mid-twenties was because I needed to take care of my heart, and around that time I was also thinking a lot about the apocalypse, about Octavia Butler's work, about the need to run to get away from something and how important that could be in protecting yourself. So running is also a practice I see as a form of preparation in a dangerous world, and there have been times in my life when I've been very grateful for that conditioning.
Rapid Round:
If you could describe “Original Sins” in one word, what would it be?
Long!
Favorite place to run in Chicago?
The lakefront.
Favorite place to run outside your city?
The Mall in Washington, D.C., and the South End in Boston, MA.
If you could go for a run with any of your characters or research subjects, who would you choose?
Kitty Pryde [from “Exceptional X-Men”] or Monica Rambeau [from “Monica Rambeau: Photon] (someone roughly my same age).
What are you reading right now?
“Small Spaces” by Katherine Arden and “Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts” by Crystal Wilkinson.
Writers Who Run is a monthly column by Seattle-based reader, runner, writer, and bookseller Malissa Rodenburg.