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What is Critical Race Theory (CRT)? It developed as a critique of color blindness within Critical Legal Studies (Crenshaw, 2002; Delgado, 1989; Delgado & Stefancic, 2001, 2012), was adapted to education research (Ladson-Billings, 1998; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995), and is increasingly applied by higher education scholars (e.g., Harper, Patton, & Wooden, 2009; Jayakumar, Howard, Allen, & Han, 2009; Patton, McEwen, Rendón, & Howard-Hamilton, 2007). While CRT is not a dominant paradigm in social science research as some of its critics argue (e.g., Horowitz, 2006), it is emerging as a frequent method of framing higher education scholarship (Harper, 2012). Those who engage in this anti-racist, oppositional form of research are sometimes referred to as Crits,1 and they intentionally blur the line between activism and scholarship because they believe social science should be conducted at the service of radically challenging and transforming systemic racism (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012, p. 27).
The name CRT implies that this scholar/activist line of inquiry would include a critical theory of racism as a central component, but this is not a safe assumption as I will later demonstrate. I am aware that CRT has several detractors who are ideologically opposed to the critical study of race and racism (e.g., Horowitz, 2006; McWhorter, 2000), and it would be easy for them to use my thesis as a means of reinforcing their myopic viewpoints (e.g., "See, CRT is not even theory"). Additionally, CRT can be extremely controversial in the public discourse. In 2012, Breitbart.com published a video of then law student Barack Obama introducing and hugging CRT founding father Derrick Bell at a rally. The subsequently coverage of the video promised to expose the "extremist and destructive" nature of CRT, and how "the clear footprint of CRT [is] all over the Obama Administration" (Shapiro, 2012, March 11).
Additionally, I am aware of the controversy surrounding Kennedy's (1989) critique of CRT in the Harvard Law Review. He took issue with CRT's focus on finding truth within voices of color because he, as a Black man, did not agree with many of CRT's premises and analyses. In the colloquy rebuttal in the Harvard Law Review, Brewer (1990) posed a provocative question, "[I]s the social and political circumstance in which Kennedy wrote his article...