Fugitive Strategies: Rac(e)ing to Recruit for Racial Equity in an Anti-Woke/DEI Era

• In Event: Conducting Race-Focused Survey Research in the P–20 System During the Anti-Woke Political Revolt

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss complexities and challenges we as researchers encounter in the recruitment phase given the anti-work movement. The questions framing our discussion include: What are lessons and implications of conducting racial justice research in states and districts with anti-justice policies and practices? What are challenges and complexities of recruitment in anti-DEI/Woke states? We consider how we needed to think about recruitment differently in our recruitment practices because we understand and acknowledge that educators could be harmed through their participation. What racialized additional layers of complexity must we consider when working with districts, school leaders, and educators?
Indeed, our team is endeavoring to recruit public school educators willing to talk about race in an era in which race talk is being censored and criminalized in schools as a result of being politicized and demonized by right-wing lawmakers and evangelical interests. In 2023, the social climate of the U.S. is sweltering in a heatwave of anti-CRT, anti-DEI, anti-woke, and anti-social justice brouhaha. Recent policy pushes and disinformation campaigns filled with hot air and anchored in “white rage,” “white fear,” and “white fragility” are triggering a variety of reactions amongst the “American” public reminiscent of the Red Scare of the 1950s--when public intimidation and legal processes were weaponized by politicians to suppress and oppress those seeking justice.
In short, we discuss recruitment design and implementation efforts in the face of this anti-DEI/Woke atmosphere. As researchers, we recognize that we are working to recruit real people whose livelihoods could be in jeopardy in the research process. We share our recruitment strategies of anonymity, confidentiality, compassion, care, and precaution.

Authors

• Dena Lane-Bonds, Princeton University

• Jawanza Kalonji Rand, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Lonnie D. Manns, North Carolina State University

• Rich Milner, Vanderbilt University