All Education Is Political: Critical Race Theory, White Power, and the Killing of Black Academic Freedom

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Abstract

Politicians across every level of government have recently proposed/passed legislation that prohibits the teaching of Critical Race Theory and other ‘divisive topics’ in K-20 classrooms. This paper seeks to reframe mainstream, scholarly narratives and suggests that a more precise term be developed to describe white violence towards non-white people. Using public assaults on Critical Race Theory by conservative policymakers as evidence, I argue that these assaults represent examples of white Power killing Black academic freedom. These assaults are analyzed through Bell’s (1992) articulation of the permanence of racism, and Wilson’s (1998) typology of power used in the subordination of Black people.

Author

• Jimmy Caldwell, Xavier University of Louisiana