Kimberlé Crenshaw, an author, civil rights advocate, and critical race theory scholar outlines the danger of co-opting ‘woke’ terminology, book bans, and the Trump administration’s attempts at cultural erasure.
Demonstrators protest Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to eliminate AP African American Studies courses in high schools as they stand outside the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Florida, on Feb. 15, 2023. Credit:Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images
The so-called “anti-woke” movement is the latest racist tactic to preserve White, conservative, patriarchal power structures under the guise of “neutrality.” It is a disingenuous excuse to curtail Black and Brown people’s legal rights and protections and threatens to upend the very architecture of democracy.
The Emancipator spoke with Kimberlé Crenshaw, an author, civil rights advocate, and critical race theorist about the co-opting of “woke” terminology and conservatives’ nefarious attempts at erasing the tools, histories, and voices essential to a multiracial democracy. The “anti-woke” movement is part of an authoritarian playbook: rewriting history, scapegoating marginalized groups, and dismantling the infrastructure of racial equity to consolidate power.
Crenshaw offers that studying previous attempts to rob communities of rights could offer valuable lessons in resistance. The Reconstruction era’s abrupt end in 1877, only 12 years after the 13th Amendment — which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude — was ratified, is an example of the backlash that follows when there is racial equity progress.
“The retrenchment, the reaction to Reconstruction, lasted over 70 years. We can see the same model happening right now. We had a moment of racial reckoning in 2020. Some people say it lasted a summer. … But that period was followed by four years of massive retrenchment, such that most institutions like the media, like corporate America, even politicians who made promises are now backing away from those promises, are pretending as though they were never made. This, of course, is not new. This is what the rise and fall of Reconstruction was all about.”
Book bans are a stark example of that backlash and are among the most fundamental tactics in the “anti-woke” playbook.
“It is why they are trying to ban books. It’s why they’re trying to attack the Smithsonian,” Crenshaw said. “If we are not reading the books, we’re not collecting the artifacts. If we are not telling the story that they are trying to take away from us, we are doing their work for them. … People don’t try to steal things from you that aren’t valuable. They’re not coming after your garbage. They’re coming after your treasure. And our history is our treasure.”
Her organization, the African American Policy Forum, has been giving away both censored books and those likely to face bans. The group has held book talks and worked with racial justice organizations to push back against DOGE attacks against such museums as the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The organization has also been offering summer classes, in the spirit of freedom schools, that include workshops on racial justice and understanding critical race theory.
“These are the moments in the spaces that we need to curate in order to build an effective counterinsurgency against the deterioration of our democracy,” Crenshaw said.
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Why ‘anti-woke’ ideology threatens everyone
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The so-called “anti-woke” movement is the latest racist tactic to preserve White, conservative, patriarchal power structures under the guise of “neutrality.” It is a disingenuous excuse to curtail Black and Brown people’s legal rights and protections and threatens to upend the very architecture of democracy.
The Emancipator spoke with Kimberlé Crenshaw, an author, civil rights advocate, and critical race theorist about the co-opting of “woke” terminology and conservatives’ nefarious attempts at erasing the tools, histories, and voices essential to a multiracial democracy. The “anti-woke” movement is part of an authoritarian playbook: rewriting history, scapegoating marginalized groups, and dismantling the infrastructure of racial equity to consolidate power.
Crenshaw offers that studying previous attempts to rob communities of rights could offer valuable lessons in resistance. The Reconstruction era’s abrupt end in 1877, only 12 years after the 13th Amendment — which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude — was ratified, is an example of the backlash that follows when there is racial equity progress.
“The retrenchment, the reaction to Reconstruction, lasted over 70 years. We can see the same model happening right now. We had a moment of racial reckoning in 2020. Some people say it lasted a summer. … But that period was followed by four years of massive retrenchment, such that most institutions like the media, like corporate America, even politicians who made promises are now backing away from those promises, are pretending as though they were never made. This, of course, is not new. This is what the rise and fall of Reconstruction was all about.”
Book bans are a stark example of that backlash and are among the most fundamental tactics in the “anti-woke” playbook.
“It is why they are trying to ban books. It’s why they’re trying to attack the Smithsonian,” Crenshaw said. “If we are not reading the books, we’re not collecting the artifacts. If we are not telling the story that they are trying to take away from us, we are doing their work for them. … People don’t try to steal things from you that aren’t valuable. They’re not coming after your garbage. They’re coming after your treasure. And our history is our treasure.”
Her organization, the African American Policy Forum, has been giving away both censored books and those likely to face bans. The group has held book talks and worked with racial justice organizations to push back against DOGE attacks against such museums as the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The organization has also been offering summer classes, in the spirit of freedom schools, that include workshops on racial justice and understanding critical race theory.
“These are the moments in the spaces that we need to curate in order to build an effective counterinsurgency against the deterioration of our democracy,” Crenshaw said.
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