A Critical Race Confession

Does CRT recognize and analyze contemporary racial issues, or does it permanently promote an overstated case of racism?

Photo by Shalone Cason on Unsplash

Recently, Dr. Cornel West, a philosopher and progressive activist, resigned from Harvard because he was denied a tenured position. West posted his resignation letter to his social media account for the public to read. More people are probably aware of his resignation letter than they are aware of the forward he wrote in the 1995 book — Critical Race Theory: The key writings that formed a movement.

West stated, CRT compels us to confront the most explosive issue in American civilization: The historical centrality and complicity of law in upholding white supremacy.

West also highlighted the writings of Derrick Bell. Bell was born in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1930 and became the first tenured African-American professor of law at Harvard Law School in 1971. Bell is considered one of the founders of CRT. In 1992 Bell published the CRT classic — Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism.

Now, if anyone bothers to look for Faces at the Bottom of the Well online, they might think the book is miscategorized because it’s under the genre — political fiction.