Kimberl茅 Crenshaw on Anti-Racism Education Bans
April 14, 2022
Lawmakers, parents, think tanks, and conservative pundits have waged a war over how to teach students about systemic racism. As a result, school board members have been ousted, and some educators have resigned over the death threats, social media bullying, and harassment they鈥檝e received from those who are adamant that teaching a more inclusive history harms students.
These activists and lawmakers have centered much of their anger on a framework called Critical Race Theory. Though they鈥檝e used it as a catchall for wokeness, political correctness, and leftist indoctrination, the term actually refers to a body of legal scholarship from the 70s and 80s that says racism is not just a result of individual prejudice, but something embedded in the legal system and in government policy.
Kimberl茅 Crenshaw was among the scholars who developed the theory. She also coined the term 鈥渋ntersectionality,鈥 a framework that takes into account how a person鈥檚 identities combine to create unique forms of discrimination or privilege. She is a Distinguished Professor of law at Columbia University and at UCLA, co-founder of the African American Policy Forum at Columbia, and host of the podcast 鈥淚ntersectionality Matters.鈥
Listener Note: We鈥檙e launching a three-week 鈥淎sk an Expert鈥 podcast series about all things free speech: online censorship and deplatforming, campus speech and cancel culture and education and book bans. So here鈥檚 where you come in. We want to answer your questions! What does the law say about social media companies deplatforming users? Does our constitution support cancel culture? If you have a question you鈥檇 like us to answer, call us and leave us a message at 212-549-2558 or email us at podcast@aclu.org.