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