Racial Failure Normalized as Correlational Racism: Critical Race Theory/LatCrit and the Education Policy Attack Against Latina/o and Latinx Populations

• In Event: Centering Critical Race Theory in Education: Provocations, Possibilities, and Praxis

Abstract

The purpose of our presentation of our chapter in this session is to point out the importance of the racist ideology of the normalization of failure for Black, Latina/o & Latinx, Tribal Nations, Pacific Islanders, etc. We argue that this normalization of failure has been built into the policy framework of what we term correlational racism. Coined by Perry (2011), she argues that public policy and law have been conceptualized and written in way that correlates racial and cultural traits to specific groups. To that perspective, we add a CRT/LatCrit critique to this in an analysis of education policy to unpack how its rhetoric and reality impact Latina/o and Latinx populations. Our paper presentation covers areas including “working identity” and how that concept from Carbado and Gulati (2013), shapes Latina/o and Latinx identity as they face racial scrutiny of failure and compromise in schools, college and the workplace; border walls and immigration, English only laws and citizenship rights regarding open attacks against them through the combination of the normalization of failure and correlational racism in education policy.

Authors

• Judith Perez

• Nereida Camacho Oliva, University of Utah

• Laurence Parker, University of Utah