We Fight for You, but Do You Fight for Us? Centering Black Women in Antiracism

• In Event: Run Dat Back: Situating the Race for Theory and Antiblackness in Education Through Black Women Theorizing

Abstract

Objectives/Purpose:
In 2020, a combination of the global pandemic and racial uprising, has created the perfect storm. Anti-racism, a term that has been in the discourse for decades, has now become popularized in mainstream discussions of race and the “reenvisioning” of education in the United States. Influenced by the scholarly work of Ibram Kendi (2017, 2019), P-12 schools and universities have embraced and promoted this “framework” in their mission statements, policies, and curricula. While this is encouraging, we caution against any action by educational institutions that do not engage in intersectional approaches to addressing and dismantling racism. Fighting anti racism is not new, Black women have developed strategies and practices to combat white supremacy and patriarchy. As teacher educators, we theorize how Black women who have long engaged in the fight for racial justice should serve as the blueprint for how to authentically implement anti-racist work.

Perspective/Theoretical Framework:
We situate our work within the theoretical framework of Black feminist thought (Collins, 2009). To fully understand the impact of racism, the racialized experiences of Black women must be explored and analyzed. The sentiments of Angela Davis guide our work, “Black women have had to develop a larger vision of our society than perhaps any other group. They have had to understand white men, white women, and Black men. And they have had to understand themselves. When Black women win victories, it is a boost for virtually every segment of society”. A Black feminist thought critiques the heterosexual, patriarchal classist, and racist structures that are oppressive. Through this framework, we identify Black women whose stories serve as the roadmap for anti-racist education (Crenshaw, 1989).

Methods:
This paper is theoretical in nature thus we do not have a methodology section.

Scholarly Significance:
As educational institutions begin to center anti-racism, it is also their responsibility to include the antiracist legacies of the Black women who have come before us. We must take on an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach to situate their past work in our current racial climate. While anti-racism has become mainstream, it is not new. Thus, it is incumbent upon all of us in education who do this work not to co-opt the term anti-racism, but to carefully study, acknowledge, and teach it authentically. The experience of Black women provides a lens to do this.

References
Collins, P. H. (2009). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of
empowerment. Routledge.

Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique
of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1(8), 139-167.

Kendi, I. X (2019). How to be an antiracist. One World.

Kendi, I. X (2016). Stamped from the beginning: The definitive history of racist ideas in
America. Nation Books.

Authors

• Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, District of Columbia Public Schools

• Natasha C. Murray-Everett, West Virginia University

• Crystal G Simmons, SUNY - College at Geneseo