In the last two years, the anti-CRT backlash forged by the right has created a cacophony of socio-political discourse and racial discord resulting in a climate where US classrooms are the burgeoning battleground on discussions about race, equity and justice. The anti-critical race theory movement has gained both ideological and political support leading to bills and school district policies that limit the depth and breadth of teacher’s curricula. 

The 2022 Summer School plenary sessions are designed to address why Critical Race Theory (CRT) has been deployed as an entering wedge into dismantling the commons, public institutions, and racial and social progress since the mid 20th century. In its most simple form, CRT is about engaging how and why racial inequality is so visible and durable nearly 70 years after the elimination of Jim Crow and the announcement of formal equality.

This year’s sessions will explain why and how race and CRT are being deployed in current legislative assaults on honest and inclusive education and what advocates need to understand about the disinformation campaign. We will also analyze why the particular assaults on CRT and racial justice education land differently to even those whom we count as our allies. By carefully analyzing the series of distortions and misdirections about CRT, we hope to educate constituents about what CRT is and what it was before right-wing operatives distorted and defamed it.

Each day, a new plenary will analyze how CRT fits within the universe of both anti-racism and multi-racial democracy. We look forward to engaging Summer School 2022 participants in these plenaries to sharpen our collective understanding about CRT. We hope participants will leave with an enhanced understanding about how race and CRT are foundational to the attacks on multiracial democracy and a sense of why CRT and intersectional vision for action is indispensable to the fight for all our children’s future.

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