Conservatives have created an uproar over critical race theory by misrepresenting every aspect of the movement. This channel will present an accurate picture of what CRT is all about. CRT 101 is a step-by-step introduction to the foundational ideas of CRT. The sessions are designed for those who may have little or no background in critical race theory and who want to learn the basics in an accessible, no-pressure presentation. Each session will focus on a distinct branch of CRT analysis, including the notion of identity as intersectional, the shortcomings of colorblindness as an ideal of racial justice, the analysis of how anti-discrimination law helps to legitimate rather than criticize existing social practices, the ways that the affirmative action debate demonstrated the limits of liberal reform by reinforcing false ideas of meritocracy, and how racial and other identities can be conceived in a dynamic, non-fundamentalist way.

A recently published book entitled, "Critical Race Judgments" asks, "Is it possible to be both a judge and a Critical Race Theorist?" It is a provocative question, and one that prompted a group of Critical Race Theorists to engage the question. CRT critics have answered “no,” as they contend that Critical Race Theory is "beyond all reason." Under this view, CRT can be neither translated into nor substantively shape the development of legal doctrine in the United States. On another view, and the one that informs this project, the answer is unequivocally "yes." The very project of Critical Race Theory is to highlight, contest, reimagine, and rearticulate "the vexed bond between law and racial power." This channel will highlight authors from this new volume addressing how CRT can be used to allow us to rethink canonical legal opinions and expand our legal imagination about the power of law.

These classes present an overview of CRT's classic interventions, providing a sharp prism to from which to understand contemporary legal and cultural debates about white supremacy. For the first time in our history, the term “systemic racism” has made its way into mainstream public discourse.  But what exactly is systemic racism, and how exactly can we recognize it in action? CRT 201 offers concrete ways to understand systemic racism and spotlights some of the different contexts in which it routinely operates.  In addition to showing how systemic racism functions across different areas of law, this channel will show how it is implicated in conservative “reverse discrimination” frameworks and embedded in some of the most critical institutions of social life, including the media, the criminal legal system, and education.

For more than three decades, academics, lawyers, community organizers, and social policy makers have been mobilizing intersectionality to advance various racial and gender  justice projects.  As the scope of such engagements has grown to take on multiple axis of subordination, intersectionality has now entered popular culture as a commonly referenced term. Yet, all too often the structural and historical dynamics that it seeks to capture are sidelined by an overarching focus on non-structural expressions of identitarianism. In this channel, discussants will work through the intersectional dimensions of contemporary inequalities, ranging from police violence and forced pregnancies to the assaults on affirmative action and the global rise of
neo-fascism.  

Although Critical Race Theory originates in the United States, scholars and activists around the globe have been engaging CRT frameworks to address the related ways in which racial subordination is replicated in the post-civil rights, post-colonial era. Panelists will trace the continuities and discontinuities of white supremacy as an ideology, the operation of colorblind racism, and the mythology of “neutral principles” across borders. This channel will explore the specificity of how systemic racism and attacks on Critical Race Theory are being reproduced in local contexts, and how CRT is being deployed to challenge structures of subordination.

This channel will examine the history, background, theory and practice of indigenous peoples’ contemporary decolonization efforts, focusing specifically on the Land Back movement, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit People, decolonizing philanthropy, the tribal disenrollment epidemic and implementation of the

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Channel classes will explore and analyze the relevance and usefulness of Critical Race Theory in developing the tactics, strategies and practices employed by indigenous human rights defenders. The

racial dynamics and institutions targeted by these racial justice campaigns will also be

considered.

Meaningful racial equity in education is essential to the future of Black Americans and the health of our multiracial democracy. For some 40 years the Supreme Court has affirmed the use of race as a factor in admission to institutions of higher education in colleges, graduate and professional schools; and enabled  academic institutions to work toward reducing the barriers created by systemic forms of racism.  But, with the Harvard and UNC cases coming before the Supreme Court this fall, the future of affirmative action looks dim despite the strong lower court opinions vindicating current policies at both schools. This channel will explore the manifestations of white supremacy that fuel the legal attacks and shape the dominant conceptual framing of the affirmative action debate. In so doing, it will present ways to reimagine legal arguments, messaging and activism to support  meaningful forms of racial equity in institutions of higher education.

This channel is designed to look across the  broad spectrum of education and how aspects of race (particularly CRT) intersect with it. We will explore the following in our daily sessions: K-12, Higher Education, Legislative Actions, Teaching, Advocacy/Activism.

The vicious attacks on critical race theory and public education we've witnessed over the past two years have not been incubated in a vacuum. The past six years of acute democratic decline have made it painfully clear that a media ecosystem devoted to noncommittal both-sides-ism works to empower forces of antidemocratic reaction that are openly hostile to the truth and the preservation of our multiracial democracy. And the social mediasphere compounds this baseline derangement in countless ways, by erecting self-insulating and customized feedback loops of disinformation, driven by algorithmic stimulation of outrage, petulant and performative online confrontation and free-floating rancor, racial grievance, and titillation. This channel features a series of discussions highlighting how the failures in public discourse have produced failures of intersectional justice on the ground—and how outlets like AAPF’s The Forum are dedicated to creating a new and better discourse.

Across the week we will examine the growing threat of organized, right-wing racism. Monday will feature veteran organizers from Western States Center, an organization on the front lines of fighting white supremacy, reproductive justice, and lgbtq rights and freedoms. On Tuesday, we will look at how democracy itself has been put under grave threat by a growing racist right-wing. On Wednesday we will look at the mobilization of “parents rights” as a way to advance racist, heteropatriarchal policies in schools. On Thursday we will examine the past, present, and future of white Christian nationalism as an authoritarian threat. Finally on Friday we will analyze the central role of masculine violence and oppression on the right. 

Not all American students are exposed to the same topics. In some states, a school aged child can learn about Rosa Parks.  In others, students can not. This channel delves into forbidden knowledge and provides teachers with practical tools to provide instruction.

Banning Books. Firing teachers. Censoring curricula. In the shadow of a devastating pandemic, these and other attacks on K-12 teachers have instilled a growing climate of fear and repression in public schools. The vital work of anti-racist teaching and learning has increasingly become attacked as divisive and autocratic.

The Educators Take Action channel focuses on concrete examples of educators, teachers unions, teacher educators and schools taking proactive, collective action to expand anti-racist teaching and learning. Moving past the defensive and reactive climate fomented by opponents of public education, we focus on building our capacity to engage in collaborative, sustaining work that puts our principles into practice.

After George Floyd and the reckoning of 2020, philanthropic support for antiracist organizations and advocacy expanded.  However two years later, there are significant doubts that this moment heralded a new era of sustainable investment in antiracism.  The tentative steps towards broadening this work have taken place against a backdrop of increased resistance to race-conscious activism, much of it funded by conservative philanthropy.  In this channel, we look at how US philanthropy has been situated on an increasingly divided fault line in American society, and consider how critical race theory serves as a prism to understand and expand philanthropy’s role in deepening democratic aspirations.

Students are on the frontlines of the attacks on Critical Race Theory – and also some of the best messengers for why we need to have access to honest and inclusive curriculum in our classrooms. This youth activation channel will cover everything from anti-racism itself to creative practices of resistance to safety in direct actions. Courses include creative approaches to abolitionist organizing, stories of youth empowerment, and much more! This channel is primarily geared towards our “next-gen” activists – current K-12, college, and graduate students. Students will graduate from this channel with the hard and soft skills necessary to be effective advocates and activists for CRT and anti-racist curriculum in their classrooms and communities.

Those in the “helping professions” are responsible for understanding how systems, institutions, and policies influence the life outcomes of individuals and communities. Social workers, school counselors, psychologists, sociologists, wellness practitioners, and other professionals play a crucial role in alleviating and mediating inequality by making sure that people have access to healthcare, education, and social welfare services to improve their quality of life. This course introduces students to (1) key readings and theories of critical race theory (CRT), (2) how to engage practice from a CRT prism, and (3) CRT’s implications in various fields tasked with serving and protecting individual and collective social welfare. Critical reflection and dialogue are expected and promoted to prompt ideas for practice and improve scholarly advocacy efforts and endeavors expected of experienced theorists, leaders, and practitioners.

We now find ourselves in the midst of a full-on war against racial and social justice, equity, and inclusion, as state after state signs on to CRT and protest bans. Such censure laws create a chilling effect everywhere--from higher education and the government to  the private sector. The sessions in this channel explore how DEI professionals might approach their work using a CRT lens. Panelists will address how CRT can be applied in health delivery and education, in university administration, the corporate world, and public sector. Participants will learn skills and strategies to address the backlash environment confronting DEI practitioners on the ground and how they can “manage up” as needed to promote DEI objectives and demand institutional accountability.

In every school house and school district, educational leadership bears the responsibility of navigating external policies and legislation that govern the institutions while simultaneously cultivating school culture. Oftentimes the two– adhering to school district policy and inclusively meeting the needs of the students– are in conflict. Principals and superintendents, however, are fighting back. This channel provides guidance, exemplars, and discourse around building schools where the curriculum and practice reflect the analytic practices that are truly necessary to move toward a multiracial democracy. 

For over a year,  #TruthBeTold has staged  public education and networking efforts to expose and push back against a broad backlash movement to unravel the unfinished gains of the civil rights movement. The time for agonizing about these retrenchments is over. What’s needed now is action. Accordingly,  this channel  will be laser-focused on the range of right-wing activism that is seeking to normalize exclusion. To that end, the session will strategize about how to organize  national, collective actions that can be replicated across the states to take back our school curriculum from the hands of white nationalists, school privatization architects, and anti-gay and transphobic activists seeking to normalize exclusion. If you are ready to roll up your sleeves and fight back, this is your channel.

Since the weaponization of CRT as “boogeyman” to foster a narrow “school choice” agenda emerged and gained momentum over the past year and half, progressives who reject that agenda have nonetheless left the right-wing disinformation campaign largely intact, mostly issuing mild denials that seek to distance from CRT to avoid scrutiny. This disavowal strategy that proclaims that “CRT is not taught in public schools,” is not only morally compromised, but also ineffective, as we saw in the 2021 Virginia Governor’s race, where Glenn Youngkin unseated the Democratic incumbent. To get to the bottom of what messaging is needed to secure electoral victories in the upcoming midterms, AAPF has been conducting original research to see whether a race-aversive or robust racial justice message resonated most with base voters. This session will unpack that research and its implications for proactive messaging that galvanizes.

Many parents and community members have identified that they need to do SOMETHING to push back against anti-CRT efforts, but have no idea where to start. This development series will teach you how to step into leadership with confidence and a basic plan for success.  Utilizing the knowledge and advice of individuals who have successfully created movements and/or organizations that advocated for equity-based causes or have assumed leadership in successful organizing efforts, participants will learn what they need to do to step into the activism roles that create the most impact.

The Voting Rights Act has long been regarded as the crowning achievement of the Civil Rights Movement, born of a long and bloody struggle to secure a meaningfully inclusive democracy.  Yet, the gutting of the Act has opened the door to a wave of anti-democratic measures ranging from vote suppression and gerrymandering to other measures designed to burden voters of color “with surgical precision.” In this channel, participants will not only learn about how the current threats to democracy are unfolding through traditional and innovative tactics of racial repression, but also how the attack on democracy is linked to the attack on antiracism, protest, and voters of color. At AAPF, we’ve been saying that there is no daylight between racial justice and democracy. Come to this channel to hear experts and activists explain why that is so.

Critical race theory is under attack from evangelical conservatives who are framing CRT as anti-Christian. Denominational statements and bans at leading seminaries are fueling the current racial retrenchment. In a sense, White evangelicalism has been the grassroots of the anti-CRT movement. Yet CRT’s roots in the abolitionist and civil rights tradition reflect deep investments in faith-based values, honoring both the human family and power of redemption. The deep and profound historical connections between racial justice advocacy and religion invites us to ask: Why have evangelicals demonized CRT? What longer histories lie  behind White evangelicalism's hostility to CRT’s objectives? Can people of Christian faith embrace CRT as a coherent part of their spiritual, intellectual and political lives? These are just some of the questions this channel will explore.