An Evaluation and Comparison of American Buddhist and Catholic Racial Projects through the Lens of Critical Race Theory

Race and Social Policy, edited by Sandra Edmonds Crewe, views current-day racism toward Black Americans in the United States through the lens of critical race theory, the concept that systemic racism permeates laws, policies, and institutions. With its legal origins, critical race theory can also provide a framework for understanding social policy because it relates to racism. In the medical field, this theory may be a less well-known concept which readers can be introduced to integrate into their practice and understanding of the impact of policy decisions. This book includes 12 articles from a special edition of the journal Social Work in Public Health first published in 2019 (volume 34, issue 1). These articles were mostly written by social workers with a focus that would be most beneficial to social workers. Other disciplines involved in developmental and behavioral pediatric care may find them useful in understanding the social context around racial issues through the lens of critical race theory. These chapters investigate the bidirectional effects of social policy and racism in the United States beginning with the slave trade, emphasizing the importance of taking a historical perspective. Topics examined include poverty, the workplace, media, housing, elections, education, welfare, fatherhood, disability, justice, the elderly, and the Christian church. The first chapter provides an overview which most readers could find helpful in deciding which additional chapters may be most interesting and relevant to their practice. For example, as a pediatric clinician, the chapter on Black fathers was enlightening. Specifically, it connected current family structures with historical context, emphasizing the ways slavery devalued the family unit and led to mothers taking on the sole caregiving role. The book calls its readers to action and provides some suggested policy changes. For example, the welfare chapter recommends collecting racial demographic data, and the chapter on education highlights the importance of recruiting Black and Latinx teachers. However, some readers may expect and hope for more recommendations in all chapters. By including only, the original journal articles published in 2019, the authors have missed many opportunities for editing these articles to fit the audience of 2023 and beyond. Noting, for example, the racial disparities highlighted by COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd in 2020, a multitude of events since 2019 have made prominent the impact of systemic racism in the United States. Acknowledgement and analysis of these major incidents using a critical race theory frame would strengthen the text for readers in the present day. Furthermore, since the journal's publication in 2019, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of using equitable and inclusive language. In the past few years, many professional clinical organizations including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics have embraced and distributed guidelines for more equitable and inclusive language. However, this text does not acknowledge these language changes over time. Notably, chapter 9 “Inequities in Family Quality of Life for African American Families Raising Children with Disabilities” includes the use of the outdated term, “mental retardation,” which is now perceived as pejorative. While the data presented in the chapter were collected in 2011 before the publication of the DSM-5, it was unsettling to read the term in a book published in 2023 with no explicit acknowledgement of the way language has progressed over the past decade. A book emphasizing critical race theory and the marginalization of Black Americans should also be sensitive to the experiences of other marginalized groups. For health care professionals, critical race theory provides a framework for understanding the systemic racial inequities their patients continue to face. This book examines current social policy and provides some useful suggestions for improvements in policy to create a more equitable and racially sensitive society, but it could benefit from being updated to provide readers with more current information. Furthermore, for those affiliated with a university, these articles may be available in databases to which their universities subscribe. With limited modifications made since 2019, the book and journal articles are nearly the same.

The authors argue for a research and conceptual agenda that complicates and disrupts common narratives in teacher education that have serious implications for race. Building on the pivotal work of legal scholar Derrick Bell and through a critical race theory (CRT) lens, this article challenges researchers to broaden and complexify traditional ideologies related to: (1) characteristics of ideal teachers recruited into the field; (2) the amount of time teachers should be expected to remain in the field through alternative programs such as Teach for America; (3)weight placed on teacher entrance examinations; (4)racial diversity of P-12 teachers; (5)racial and ethnic makeup of teacher educators; and (6)over-reliance on subject matter knowledge in teacher preparation to the exclusion of other aspects of learning to teach. The authors argue given the present racial divide in schools between teachers and students it is imperative for teacher education programs to complicate and intensify the utility of race in their recruitment, retention, and support of teacher education practices and policies. The authors offer a counter narrative framework and agenda to advance policy and research through a CRT lens.

The frequent police killings during the COVID-19 pandemic forced a reckoning among Americans from all backgrounds and propelled the Black Lives Matter movement into a global force. This manuscript addresses major issues to aid practitioners in the effective treatment of African Americans via the lens of Critical Race Theory and the Bioecological Model. We place the impacts of racism on Black families in historical context and outline the sources of Black family resilience. We critique structural racism embedded in all aspects of psychology and allied fields. We provide an overview of racial socialization and related issues affecting the parenting decisions in Black families, as well as a detailed overview of impacts of structural racism on couple dynamics. Recommendations are made for engaging racial issues in therapy, providing emotional support and validation to couples and families experiencing discrimination and racial trauma, and using Black cultural strengths as therapeutic resources.

Racist hate speech on UK university campuses remains an increasing concern. This article examines the widespread problem of racist hate speech through a multilayered theoretical approach; and suggests that a fuller appreciation of the problem can only be gained through a race-centred analysis. Drawing on Fraser’s work on the problematics of misrecognition and identity-reification, the article extends Levine-Rasky’s theoreticisation of power dynamics in the intersectionality between whiteness and middle-classness to intersections of whiteness with both middle-classness and working-classness as a contributing factor to mobilisation of lad cultures which is termed as white-laddism. The article advances the understanding of racist hate speech through a conjoined analysis of these concepts through a Critical Race Theory (CRT) lens. The conjoined analysis is informed by the Deleuzian ‘rhizomatic’ approach in order to examine the process by which multiple, diverse and non-hierarchical lines of connection between the concepts shape, dislocate, modify each other in variable ways. The detail behind the bigger picture helps further our understanding of the inadequate nature of equality policies and strategies that often look at issues in isolation, and thus fail to address the inequality and injustice being perpetuated on campuses.

Teaching (Cooperative) Business: The “Bluefield Experiment” and the Future of Black Business Schools

Understanding systemic racism through a lens of critical race theory can help music educators to critically examine their own practices as teachers and consider how equitable teaching practices might look. This chapter describes the experience of four music educators who learn about CRT and how an understanding of systemic racism can expand the opportunity to emphasize care in the classroom. Critical race theory is a lens through which to understand how race and racism operates in our society. With an understanding of systemic racism through critical race theory, music education practitioners can gain a deeper awareness of power, oppression, and racism in order to transform our profession toward a more caring centered profession. Critical race theory critiques color-neutral ideology where different races and identity points are acknowledged and not ignored. Educators can expand their ability to see, celebrate, and care for students and their differences while simultaneously dismantling oppressive structures.

This autoethnographic account explores my experiences navigating identity, race, and academia through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT), radicalism, and social justice activism. Reflecting on my childhood in a predominantly white environment, I examine the internalised struggles of dual heritage identity and the systemic forces that perpetuate exclusion. Influenced by Malik El Shabazz’s (aka Malcolm X) teachings, I became committed to education, activism, and decolonisation. My academic journey, from social work to higher education, has reinforced my awareness of structural racism within the academy, a ‘white fortress’ that continues to marginalise minority voices. Using CRT, I analyse racial disparities in student outcomes, the underrepresentation of minority faculty, and the persistence of bias in institutional structures. I offer a potential way forward through co-creation with students, advocating for systemic change, fostering inclusive educational spaces that empower marginalised voices and challenge white supremacy. This article highlights co-creation working in unity with students as a form of activist scholarship, driven by CRT’s tenets of resistance, intersectionality, and storytelling. While CRT asserts the permanence of racism, I argue for transformative change within existing structures wherever possible, using regulatory frameworks and institutional incentives to advance racial equity within the premises of interest convergence. Ultimately, this work underscores the moral imperative for academia to dismantle systemic racism and foster a truly inclusive educational environment.

is not to reform students or amuse them or to make them expert technicians. It is to unsettle their minds, widen their horizons, and inflame them to think straight, if possible.--Robert M. Hutchens I signed up for Dr. Lisa Merriweather Hunn's Critical Race Theory course, expecting just another summer class with an enormous amount of reading crammed into five short weeks. I had no idea that this course, more than any other I have ever taken, would change my view of society, the world, and myself. The subject matter required a trip deep below the surface layers of my conscience, character, and worldview, to a place in my mind that even I am only vaguely aware. The course almost did not happen because only four people signed up for it. After some discussion within the department and insistence on the part of Dr. Merriweather Hunn, Critical Race Theory was allowed to continue on its maiden voyage, and I doubt if anyone realized how important it would be for the instructor and the students. In fact, by the end of the five-week course, we all agreed that it should become a requirement for graduate students in the Adult, Higher, and Community Education program. There Are No Innocents The first class hit the ground running with a racial autobiography assignment due the first week. I knew I had a lot to say about how race and racism affected my life, so I approached this assignment with interest and confidence. However, I soon realized that the experience of writing about my life and race was an emotional journey that would prepare me for the rest of the course. As I wrote, I began to remember experiences regarding race and racism that I had forgotten. These memories included racism I have experienced from individuals as well as instances of societal racism. I also remembered instances of my own racism. My memories raised questions for me about my life and how I formed my own views on race. This assignment should always be the first assignment in a course focused on Critical Race Theory because it gives students a place to start thinking about racism and oppression, both in society and in their personal lives. As many of the Baby-Boomer generation have done, I marched on Washington, DC for equal rights, participated in many protest demonstrations, and tried to live my life in a way that denounced racism and oppression. However, as I wrote about my encounters with racism, I remembered some of my own racism as well as that of my family. I began to realize that I was responsible for some of the racism in our society. This realization made me very uncomfortable and the discomfort led to some defensiveness and disappointment in myself. Later, as the class members read about and discussed whiteness, I began to feel anger more than any other emotion. For a white person, thinking about whiteness is something like thinking about breathing. It most certainly exists, but it is such a part of the fabric of everyday life in America that it is difficult to describe or analyze. Many times as I read the assigned articles, I found myself breathing a sigh of relief when I could say, That is awful, but I don't do Then, usually only a few paragraphs further, I read about a racist or an example of privileged behavior that I am guilty of doing or thinking. I had to put the readings down and walk away from my anger many times during this part of the course. We kept our thoughts in journals and this excerpt illustrates my pain and anger when confronting white privilege and oppression: I am still a member of the dominant race; I can't change that. I still get some privilege; therefore, I need to think seriously about what whiteness is. Some of the readings make me very uncomfortable and leave me feeling that it is hopeless. No matter what I do, it is wrong. Other readings made me feel like I was being put in a category; I am not a member just because I have that fish-belly white skin. …

Re-entry African American male high school dropouts through the lens of critical race theory with content analysis of the case studies Repository Citation RE-ENTRY AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS THROUGH THE LENS OF CRITICAL RACE THEORY WITH CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE CASE STUDIES

Latina/os experience some of the lowest academic outcomes and youth of Mexican-origin are among the most educationally disadvantaged of all Latina/o subgroups. These disparities impact many Latina/o students including our family. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Chicana/o Movement focused on fighting for equality and access to quality education for Chicana/o students. Our parents were among the students who participated in and benefited from this fight. This set their children on the path to educational success. This is the story of how they broke down the educational barriers and set their children up as projectiles that pelted against an inferior educational system and unequal access. Through the lens of critical race theory (CRT) and Latina/o CRT, we use counter storytelling and narratives to demonstrate the parallels between the barriers and facilitators to educational success we experienced and those of Latina/o students. Barriers include socioeconomic hardships and racial discrimination in school. Facilitators include access and opportunities provided through social activism in the Chicana/o Movement, participation in college pipeline programs, mentorship and authentic caring, culturally relevant curriculum, and familism. We provide recommendations for serving and supporting Latina/o students through the educational pipeline.

Multicultural and anti-racist education are pedagogies developed to include all students, despite their cultural and lingual backgrounds. As educative pedagogies, they recognize the importance of ethnic and cultural diversity in affecting people’s existence, social involvements, identities, and educational opportunities (Gay, 2004). This paper presents various approaches that encourage curriculum reform through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT). The paper highlights the efficacy of the different approaches in providing equal opportunities for students from diverse racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds to succeed academically.

ABSTRACTIn this article, we examine the experiences of Black presidents in rural community colleges through the lens of critical race theory (CRT) and critical discourse analysis (CDA). Understanding the experiences of Black community college presidents, particularly in rural areas, which remain primarily white, is essential when addressing systemic inequities. We analyzed oral history archived interviews with 11 Black community college presidents conducted in 2021. Through a CRT lens, the study examines how race intersects with institutional structures and dynamics, shaping the experiences of Black college presidents. We utilized CDA to analyze how discourse constructs and reinforces power and racial hierarchies for Black leaders within academic settings. The findings suggest the need for tailored support systems for Black leaders in rural community colleges, informed by CRT constructs and tenets of the centrality of racism and social justice. Findings highlight implications and recommendations for community college governing boards responsible for appointing community college presidents. Governing boards must understand how Black leaders experience the presidential role to know how to support them best. By centering the voices of Black leaders and applying CRT and CDA frameworks, this study contributes to how CRT is a tool for uncovering racism and racialization in community college leadership, particularly within rural settings.

The research aims to analyze the debate on Critical Race Theory in the United States and the conservative reaction, focusing on the anti-CRT campaign in schools and pending and approved federal and state legislations related to anti-racist education, among 2020 and 2022. To this end, the research answers what critical race theory is from the perspective of its theorists, contextualizes the advance of the extreme right and the CRT as its symbolic enemy representing resistance to anti-racist education, and analyzes the related changes to the subject at the federal and state legislative level. It is argued that the attacks on the CRT and the efforts surrounding race debate and anti-TCR legislation are part of an ideological effort to delegitimize the American nation's historical perspectives of race and racism, prevent marginalized groups from participating in civic life, and maintain the racial status quo and political power. This ideological effort is part of a broader and transnational movement articulated by conservative groups that use institutional mechanisms to block the advancement of progressive agendas, highlighting the strong polarization and division of North American society in the actions involved in combating racism. From the lens of Critical Race Theory, we analyzed and mapped anti-CRT legislation or legislation against education and the race debate. The research is based on federal and state legislation, such as Federal Executive Orders decreed by presidents and state Executive Orders decreed by governors, and state bills and laws. Through mapping and analysis, it is possible to identify the wave of legislation against the CRT, more specifically against the debate on race, which is being built as a movement against anti-racist education in schools, higher education institutions and public and private institutions.

Roma are faced with various levels of marginalization, discrimination, and even hostility throughout Europe. This poses a challenge at all levels of governance and is being remedied through a patchwork of law and policy measures facilitated – among others – by national equality bodies. However, the Roma-related efforts of equality bodies are rather uneven. Throughout their work, equality bodies interpret the law as it applies to the Roma, defining and clarifying grounds for discrimination such as ‘race’. In this context, this article seeks to investigate how equality bodies in a selected number of European states tackle the racialization of and racial discrimination against Roma. From a Critical Race Theory approach, the analysis highlights uneasiness towards discussing race in the context of discrimination faced by Roma. While some equality bodies show discomfort with using race and instead prefer ethnicity or other grounds, others are prevented by national legislation from using race altogether, attesting to a broader context of European colour-blindness. Critical Race Theory provides a lens through which such phenomena become visible. Even if there are no apparent consequences of grounding interpretation in ethnicity and not in race, the language used does perpetuate a feeling of discomfort and the avoidance of an important concern.

RésuméCet article étudie les problèmes liés au régime international encadrant le mouvement transfrontière de déchets dangereux. Il est souligné que d'importantes brèches existent dans ce régime car, historiquement, les intérêts des pays industrialisés ont prédominé les politiques au détriment des pays en développement qui sont le plus souvent destinataires des déchets. Afin de mieux comprendre pourquoi, ce régime est examiné sous l'angle de la théorie critique sur les races (Critical Race Theory – CRT), une théorie qui défend notamment la nécessité de tenir compte du contexte dans lequel le problème se situe, au-delà du cadre du juridique qui n'est guère défini et modifié par les affranchis. Une première partie du texte expose l'importance du problème ainsi que les principes deCRTqui serviront comme outils d'analyse. La deuxième partie aborde les mesures internationales, régionales et bilatérales et vise à identifier certaines brèches du régime dans la perspective deCRT.Enfin, trois sujets sont suggérés à considérer lors de futures négociations: l'amélioration du régime de consentement informé préalable; l'établissement d'un mécanisme pour créer un fonds international; et des instances judiciaires envisageables pour régler les litiges.