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Critical race theory is the school of thought that holds that race lies at the nexus of American life. It is an academic discipline that challenges its readers, whether proponents or dissenters, to consider the relationship that exists among race, the justice system, and society.
Thought and influence
Critical Race Theory has its roots in the more established fields of anthropology, sociology, history, philosophy, law, and politics. The notions of the social construction and reality of race and discrimination are ever-present in the writings of known contemporary critical race theorists, such as Derrick Bell, Mari Matsuda, Richard Delgado, Kimberle Crenshaw, Gloria Ladson-Billings, & William Tate, newly emerging CRT scholars Adrienne Dixson, Celia Rousseau, Thandeka Chpaman, as well as in the writings of pioneers in the field, including W.E.B. DuBois and Max Weber. Critical Race Theory is also linked to the development of African American thought in the post–civil rights era. CRT theorists and legal scholars such as Bell, Lawrence, Delgado, and Crenshaw challenged the traditional liberal civil rights philosophical position of endorsing a colorblind approach to social justice. This field has its roots firmly planted in American soil, mainly due to the racial makeup of the country. History & Origins The historical origins of Critical Race Theory provide a contextual understanding to contemporary legal debates concerning the effectiveness of past civil rights strategies in the current political climate. The earliest writings on Critical Race Theory can be traced to Derrick Bell and Alan Freeman in the mid-1970s. According to Delgado, both Bell and Freeman were deeply concerned with the ‘snail's pace’ progress of racial reform in the United States. Concerned and dismayed that any gains made by civil rights laws of the 1960s were quickly being eroded in the 1970s, Derrick Bell, a lawyer who served as the executive director of an NAACP branch, began to fashion arguments that were designed to change existing laws. CRT is a body of legal theory (stemming from Critical Legal Studies) which is based on at least six premises: Major Contributors Bell is arguably the most influential source of thoughts critical of traditional civil rights discourse. Bell’s critique represented a challenge on the dominant liberal and conservative position on civil rights, race, and the law. Derrick Bell employed three major arguments in his analyses of racial patterns in American law: Constitutional contradiction, the interest convergence principle, and the price of racial remedies. For instance, in The Constitutional Contradiction, Bell argued that the framers of the Constitution chose the rewards of property over justice. With regard to the interest convergence, he maintains that whites will promote racial advances for blacks only when they also promote white self-interest. Finally, in The Price of Racial Remedies, Bell argues that whites will not support civil rights policies that may threaten white social status. Each of the arguments presented sheds a different light to the traditional racial discourse. Critical Race Theory is philosophically connected to two other movements which share overlapping literature: Critical Legal Studies and Critical Theory. Other Contributors Other significant contributors to the Critical Race Theory discourse in the 1980s to the present are Delgado and Crenshaw. Delgado, in defense of Bell’s storytelling or narrative style, argues that people of color speak from an experience framed by racism. Delgado argues that the stories of people of color come from a different frame of reference, and therefore give them a voice that is different from the dominant culture and deserves to be heard. Critical race theorists believe that in order to appreciate their perspective, the voice of a particular contributor must be understood. Crenshaw argued that little difference existed between conservative and liberal discourse on race-related law and policy. Crenshaw identified two distinct properties in anti-discrimination law: expansive properties and restrictive properties. The former stresses equality as outcome relying on the courts to eliminate effects of racism. The latter treats equality as a process. Its focus is to prevent any future wrongdoing. Crenshaw argues that expansive and restrictive properties coexist in anti-discrimination law. The implication of Crenshaw's argument is that the failure of the restrictive property to address or correct the racial injustices of the past simply perpetuates the status quo. CRT has been explored in education most notably from Ladson-Billings, Tate, Lynn, Parker, Solorzano, Yosso, Dixson, Rousseau, and Chapman. Critical race scholarship in education has occurred in three waves. The first wave of studies emanated in the mid 1990s with the introduction of CRT to the field by Ladson-Billings and Tate. Parker and Solorzano's contributions followed soon thereafter. The second wave of scholarship occurred in the late 1990s and continued through about 2004. Younger scholars like Lynn, Duncan, Yosso became key players. Dixson and Rousseau represent the third wave of new scholars who are attempting to re-introduce CRT to the field and also create stricter standards for how CRT in Education is defined. Offshoot Fields
No longer content with accepting whiteness as the norm, critical scholars have turned their attention to whiteness itself. In the field of Critical White Studies, numerous thinkers, including Toni Morrison, Eric Foner, Peggy McIntosh, Andrew Hacker, Ruth Frankenberg, John Howard Griffin, David Roediger, Kathleen Neal Cleaver, Noel Ignatiev, Cherríe Moraga, Maurice Berger, and Reginald Horsman, attack such questions as: Within Critical Race Theory, culturally specific subdivisions began to develop, including: Conclusion Critical Race Theory is partly meaningful in its increasing application to scholarship in education in the 1990s. Tate employed Crenshaw’s view of expansive and restrictive properties in evaluating certain educational policies and concluded that the restrictive interpretation of anti-discrimination laws inhibited African American students. More generally, CRT is relevant to people who are looking for ways of dealing with questions regarding race and identity, in ways that move beyond civil rights era activism. Bibliography Further reading | ||||||||
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