Lessons Learned at CRT Camp.
By: Alisha Keig and Dr. Nicole Caridad Ralston
“Blaming CRT for dividing us is like blaming the black light for the hotel room being dirty.”-C.J. Hunt
For a week in August, the African American Policy Forum (a think tank headed up by one of the most influential antiracist educators and critical race theorists in the country, Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw) hosted CRT Summer School to help folx across sectors understand the politically-motivated, unwarranted attacks against truth-telling in K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. The summer school boasted a wide variety of legal, religious, education, and entertainment scholars, like Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, CJ Hunt, and Barbara Arnwine amongst others who provided us with knowledge during daily plenaries. The conference also included a robust offering of afternoon breakout sessions hosted by K-12 teachers, church leaders, business owners, law professors, and even Dr. Crenshaw herself. The 5-day opportunity was filled with wisdom and provided Beloved Community Royal Team Members with the fuel and energy we needed to carry on in our fight against White Supremacy.
At Beloved Community, we teach our clients to operationalize for equity in four ways:
The rhetoric denouncing critical race theory is dangerous because it is fueling wide-reaching legislation across 22 states attacking truth telling in schools (like this in Texas) and diversity, equity inclusion initiatives writ large. During the week, we were given tips, tricks and sage advice that we hope to use to operationalize our counter-attack:
Quick win: Ask the question, “Who benefits, who does not and why?” This question is all about interrogating neutrality and objectivity, both of which are tools of white supremacy. Whenever a policy, practice, or procedure is put in place that affects real people, we must ask the question, “Who benefits from this, who does not and why?” This question illustrates that there is an “in” group of people who are included and, as a result, receive benefits, privilege and accommodations. Meanwhile there is an “out” group of individuals who are excluded and, as a result, are harmed and marginalized.
Adjustments: Become Linguistic Sprinters. CJ Hunt, a writer for “The Daily Show” and producer of the film The Neutral Ground, explained the importance of succinct and powerful messaging that spotlights illogical and hypocritical messaging. “We need faster packages to talk about salient ideas,” he said, “like how the 1619 project immediately elicits a response” and triggers certain knowledge (e.g. enslavement and Nikole Hannah-Jones).Think about it. This is the same tactic used by right-wing political figures and problematic media outlets as they reproduce racist language like “welfare queens” and “super predators” to demonize Black Americans and Americans experiencing poverty. These phrases were intentionally pointed, “sticky”, and just descriptive enough to demonize whole groups of people.
New actions (current resources): Prepare for retrenchment. During our day 2 plenary, we were told that civil rights reform is never linear; there is unfortunately always retrenchment and it is always a battle from one generation to the next. The (white) response to reconstruction was oppressive Jim Crow legislation and segregation, the response to school integration was white flight and privatizing education, the response to historic voter turnout was increased gerrymandering, enhanced voter restrictions, and false claims that the election was stolen. It’s all moves and countermoves; two steps forward, one step back. One thing we can do to combat the exhaustion that comes from this constant ebb and flow is to intentionally create space and time for rhythms of rest and to find networks, communities, and co-conspirators willing to fight for what’s right.
Enduring Conversations (new resources): Invest in counter-narratives and counter-storytelling. Those of us on the right side of history must band together and create coalitions that fight back. We must gather, network, fundraise, propose our own bills, and center the practice of counter-narratives in our personal and professional spaces. Solorzano & Yosso (2002) define counter-storytelling as “a method of telling the stories of those people whose experiences are not often told” (p. 26). In short, this practice includes telling and listening to stories that do not center whiteness and the white-washed history that we are so often taught in schools. We recommend reviewing this article for some simple ways to embed counter-narratives/stories in your classroom practice. Also, think about how to use these same techniques to shift org-wide processes like infusing counter-narratives in your recruitment, hiring, and onboarding.
Because we are so filled up, we want to share the wealth and pour out what we’ve learned to those of you who may be feeling depleted. Here are some of the most notable quotes from CRT summer school 2021:
“It is also a responsibility to create sites of insurgency [within institutions that are oppressive] because it’s the only thing that can sustain us into the next phase of struggle; it’s guerrilla warfare.” Dr. Dylan Rodriguez
“We must recognize the power between knowledge production & organizing. It’s time for progressives to recognize this and build connections between the academy and grassroots. ‘Neutrality won’t solve our political free speech problems.’” -C. Harris
“The way of talking about things affects the way that people see the problem; to understand... the modern order you have to stop thinking about racism as a way of the majority imposing on minorities it's about the imposition of authority of a small set of people and how they’ve dominated.”-Dr. Glenn Adams
“We must make white supremacy strange because it’s job is mask-ability. And it’s trying to hide in the normal.” -CJ Hunt
“The attacks on Critical Race Theory is a deliberate process to disinform the general public to uphold the power of the 1%. There is a science to this process, and it's called agnotology” - Sumi Cho
“Human rights don’t exist in the United States, only property rights.”-Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings
In closing, we are fierce advocates of utilizing Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality in our own consulting practice and we encourage our partners and clients to continue the tradition of truth-telling that CRT challenges us to do. If we are ever to move forward as a country in racially equitable and economically equitable ways, there must be a reckoning and re-telling of the American story. We must reconfigure our organizations, schools, and lives in ways that center the most marginalized communities. If you want to learn more about advocating for truth telling, we recommend reviewing our advocacy sheet and participating in the African American Policy Forum’s #TruthBeTold Campaign.