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From Racial Liberalism to Racial Literacy: Brown V. Board of Education and the Interest-Divergence Dilemma
TL;DR: Brown v. Board of Education no longer enjoys the unbridled admiration it once earned from academic commentators as discussed by the authors, and the will to support public education from kindergarten through twelfth grade appears to be eroding despite growing awareness of education's importance in a knowledge-based society.
Abstract: On its fiftieth anniversary, Brown v. Board of Education no longer enjoys the unbridled admiration it once earned from academic commentators. Early on, the conventional wisdom was that the courageous social engineers from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense and Educational Fund (NAACP LDEF), whose inventive lawyering brought the case to fruition, had caused a social revolution. Legal academics and lawyers still widely acclaim the Brown decision as one of the most important Supreme Court cases in the twentieth century, if not since the founding of our constitutional republic. Brown's exalted status in the constitutional canon is unimpeachable, yet over time its legacy has become complicated and ambiguous. The fact is that fifty years later, many of the social, political, and economic problems that the legally trained social engineers thought the Court had addressed through Brown are still deeply embedded in our society. Blacks lag behind whites in multiple measures of educational achievement, and within the black community, boys are falling further behind than girls. In addition, the will to support public education from kindergarten through twelfth grade appears to be eroding despite growing awareness of education's importance in a knowledge-based society. In the Boston metropolitan area in 2003, poor people of color were at least three times more likely than poor whites to live in severely distressed, racially stratified urban neighborhoods. Whereas poor, working-class, and middle-income whites often lived together in economically stable suburban communities, black families with incomes above $50,000 were twice as likely as white households earning less than $20,000 to live in neighborhoods with high rates of crime and concentrations of poverty. Even in the so-called liberal North, race still segregates more than class.
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TL;DR: The authors examined teacher attitudes towards race, racism, and white privilege in response to anti-bias in-service trainings in two major U.S. urban school districts through the theoretical lens of Critical Race Theory.
Abstract: This article is an ethnographic examination of teacher attitudes towards race, racism, and White privilege in response to anti‐bias in‐service trainings in two major U.S. urban school districts through the theoretical lens of Critical Race Theory. We employ the analytic tools of Whiteness as property to make sense of the messages teachers perceived and developed about race and racism. Further, we examine what teacher attitudes reveal about the structural dimensions of racial inequity in schooling and achievement. We argue that the racial attitudes expressed by teachers in this study are illustrative of larger structural racism that both informs and is reinforced by these attitudes and their manifestation in practice.
291 citations
Cites background from "From Racial Liberalism to Racial Li..."
...However, this right did not include the structural changes to these institutions which would have been necessary for providing equitable educational experiences for these Black children (Bell 1995, 2004; Guinier 2004)....
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...This reflects the district’s liberal interest (Guinier 2004) in promoting a discursively moral critique of racism, but maintaining the larger structures that fail to promote true equity for children of color....
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TL;DR: Using a reconstructed framework for analyzing white talk, this paper showed that young white children can and do talk about race, racism, and antiracism within the context of the literacy curriculum and illustrated the instability of racial identity formation and the implications for teachers and students when race is addressed in primary classrooms.
Abstract: There is a pervasive silence in literacy research around matters of race, especially with both young people and white people. In this article we illustrate that young white children can and do talk about race, racism, and antiracism within the context of the literacy curriculum. Using a reconstructed framework for analyzing “white talk,” one that relies on literature in whiteness studies and critical race theory and draws on critical discourse analytic frameworks, we illustrate what talk around race sounds like for white second-grade students and their teachers. This research makes several contributions to the literature. We provide a detailed method for coding interactional data using critical discourse analysis and a lens from critical race theory and whiteness studies. We also illustrate the instability of racial-identity formation and the implications for teachers and students when race is addressed in primary classrooms. Ultimately, we argue that racial-literacy development, like other literate process in the classroom, must be guided.
Existe un silencio persistente en la investigacion en alfabetizacion en cuanto a las cuestiones de raza, especialmente con jovenes y con blancos. En este articulo mostramos que los ninos blancos hablan de raza, racismo y anti-racismo en el contexto del curriculo de alfabetizacion. Mediante un marco reconstruido para analizar el “habla de los blancos” basado en la literatura sobre los estudios de la “blancura”, la teoria critica de la raza y el analisis critico del discurso, ilustramos como se percibe el hablar sobre la raza entre estudiantes blancos de segundo grado y sus docentes. Esta investigacion hace varias contribuciones a la literatura. Proporcionamos un metodo detallado para codificar los datos de la interaccion usando el analisis critico del discurso y una perspectiva de la teoria critica de la raza y los estudios de la “blancura”. Tambien ilustramos la inestabilidad de la formacion de la identidad racial y las implicancias para docentes y estudiantes cuando se toca el tema de la raza en la escuela primaria. Por ultimo argumentamos que el desarrollo racial de la alfabetizacion, como otros procesos educativos en el aula, debe ser guiado.
Es besteht ein hartnackiges Schweigen in der Schreib- und Leseforschung uber Rassenangelegenheiten, besonders sowohl bei jungen Leuten als auch unter Weisen. In diesem Artikel zeichnen wir auf, dass junge weise Kinder uber Rasse, Rassismus und Anti-Rassismus innerhalb des Schreib- und Leselehrplankontextes sprechen konnen und auch sprechen. Durch Anwendung eines rekonstruierten Rahmenwerkes zum Analysieren von „weisem Gerede”, welches aufs Schreiben und Lesen von Studien daruber weis zu sein und auf einer kritischen Rassentheorie beruht und sich auf den kritischen Diskurs analytischer Rahmenbedingungen beruft, illustrieren wir wie Gesprache um Rassenzugehorigkeit unter weisen Schulern der zweiten Klasse und ihren Lehrern klingen. Diese Untersuchung besteht aus verschiedenen Beitragen zur Literatur. Wir vermitteln eine detaillierte Methode zum Kodieren von wechselwirksamen Daten unter Nutzung der kritischen Diskursanalyse und einem Bereich kritischer Rassentheorie und der Studien des Weisseins. Ebenfalls illustrieren wir die Instabilitat in der rassenzugehorigen Identitatsformation und die Auswirkungen fur Lehrer und Schuler, sobald die Rasse in Klassenraumen der Unterstufen angesprochen wird. Schlieslich argumentieren wir, dass rassisch bedingte Schreib- und Leseentwicklung, wie andere Bildungsprozesse, im Klassenraum anleitend gesteuert werden mussen.
Il y a un silence pesant dans la recherche en lecture-ecriture au sujet des questions de race, notamment quand il s'agit de jeunes et de blancs. Dans cet article nous montrons que de jeunes enfants blancs peuvent parler et parlent effectivement de race, de racisme, et d'anti-racisme dans le contexte du programme de lecture-ecriture. En utilisant une structure reconstruite pour analyser le « parler blanc », en relation avec la litterature des etudes blanches et la theorie critique de la race et qui s'inspire des structures analytiques du discours critique, nous montrons a quoi ressemble ce que disent de la race des enfants blancs de seconde annee et leurs maitres. Cette recherche fournit plusieurs contributions a la litterature. Nous apportons une methode detaillee de codage de donnees interactives utilisant une analyse critique du discours et une loupe provenant de la theorie critique de la race et des etudes blanches. Nous montrons egalement l'instabilite de la formation de l'identite raciale et l'implication des maitres et des eleves quand il est question de race a l'ecole primaire. Enfin, nous soutenons que le developpement de la lecturee-criture raciale, comme tout autre processus de lecture-ecriture a l'ecole, doit etre dirige.
234 citations
Cites background from "From Racial Liberalism to Racial Li..."
...Critical race theory and whiteness studies Critical race theory (CRT) is an intellectual tradition derived from a set of frameworks from critical legal studies (Bell, 1992; Delgado & Stefanic, 2001; Guinier, 2003, 2004; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Matsuda, Lawrence, Delgado, & Crenshaw, 1993)....
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...As Guinier (2004) wrote, racism normalizes racialized hierarchies; it diverts attention from the unequal distribution of resources and power they perpetuate....
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...The theory of interest convergence is that remedies for the negative effects of discrimination are implemented only when the remedy is in the interest of white people (Bell, 1992; Guinier, 2004; Tate, 2003)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the ways in which high achieving African American male undergraduates gain, negotiate, and benefit from access to powerful social networks on predominantly white campuses, and found a clear nexus between campus leadership, active out-of-class engagement, and the acquisition of social capital.
Abstract: Equitable access to social mobility and advancement through education were among the intended outcomes of the Brown v. Board of Education case and related legislation. Despite this, scholars have illuminated the ways in which colleges, universities, and schools continually disadvantage African American male students. Although the evidence overwhelmingly confirms that many of the goals and promises of Brown remain unfulfilled, a different perspective is offered in this article. Specifically, ways in which high-achieving African American male undergraduates gain, negotiate, and benefit from access to powerful social networks on predominantly White campuses are presented herein. Findings from interviews with 32 high achievers at six large public research universities show a clear nexus between campus leadership, active out-of-class engagement, and the acquisition of social capital. The ways in which the participants leveraged their access to social networks and activated their social capital for goal actuali...
167 citations
Cites background from "From Racial Liberalism to Racial Li..."
...…mentioned, discourse on the effectiveness of Brown has been lopsided and disproportionately focused on unfulfilled promises of the case and related legislation (Bell, 1996, 2004; Carson, 2004; Days, 2001; Donelan et al., 1994; Eckes, 2004; Green, 2004; Guinier, 2004; Klarman, 1994; Tushnet, 1991)....
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...As previously mentioned, discourse on the effectiveness of Brown has been lopsided and disproportionately focused on unfulfilled promises of the case and related legislation (Bell, 1996, 2004; Carson, 2004; Days, 2001; Donelan et al., 1994; Eckes, 2004; Green, 2004; Guinier, 2004; Klarman, 1994; Tushnet, 1991)....
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...Trends such as these support the perspective that the promise of Brown remains unfulfilled (Bell, 1996, 2004; Carson, 2004; Days, 2001; Donelan et al., 1994; Eckes, 2004; Green, 2004; Guinier, 2004; Klarman, 1994; Tushnet, 1991)....
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...Similarly, Guinier (2004) offered the following critique of Brown: The fact is that fifty years later, many of the social, political, and economic problems that the legally trained social engineers thought the Court had addressed through Brown are still deeply embedded in our society....
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TL;DR: The authors examines one university's policies regarding Native mascots and ethnic fraud through a Tribal Critical Race Theory analytic lens, arguing that institutions of higher education allow and even work actively towards a particular form or level of diversity, but they do not extend it far enough.
Abstract: This article examines one university's policies regarding Native mascots and ethnic fraud through a Tribal Critical Race Theory analytic lens. Using the principle of interest convergence, we argue that institutions of higher education allow and even work actively towards a particular form or level of diversity, but they do not extend it far enough. Once racial remedies no longer hold value or benefit the institution itself, the status quo is maintained. Ultimately, the university has an interest in “celebrating” diversity and supporting superficial multiculturalism, but it does not have an interest in critical, social justice-oriented policies that challenge the status quo, the current racial order, or the institution's privilege and power.
114 citations
Cites background from "From Racial Liberalism to Racial Li..."
...More recently, Guinier (2004) has argued that interest convergence is limited in its ability to explain the partial progress towards racial equity because of its sole focus on the interests of powerful white elites and Blacks....
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TL;DR: The authors examined how elementary level and middle school level social studies textbooks represent the history of racial violence directed toward African Americans and resistance to this violence in the U.S. Using a literary analysis method, they found that these narratives often presented these acts as detached from the larger structural and institutional ties that supported and subsequently benefited from these actions.
Abstract: Drawing from the theoretical lenses of cultural memory and critical race theory, we examined how elementary level and middle school level social studies textbooks represent the history of racial violence directed toward African Americans and resistance to this violence in the U.S. Using a literary analysis method, we found that textbooks often presented vivid accounts; however, these narratives often presented these acts as detached from the larger structural and institutional ties that supported and subsequently benefited from these actions. We contend that this limited representation of racial violence has an adverse effect on the larger sociocultural memory and sociocultural knowledge available to students, thus limiting the extent to which students can fully understand the legacy of racism and racial inequity in the U.S.
109 citations
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