One last try: Will a critical race theorist step up?
We have one more panel slot to fill. Deadline is Thursday. Who will respond?
Before I issue another invitation to Canadian critical race theorists, let me first explain why I believe it’s important to have an honest conversation about CRT.
American critical race theorist Uju Anya made international headlines last week with a callous take: “I heard the chief monarch of a thieving and raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.”
Anya's employer, Carnegie Mellon University, distanced themselves from the professor. "The views she shared absolutely do not represent the values of the institution, nor the standards of discourse we seek to foster."
But the truth is that Carnegie Mellon should not be surprised. Anya's comments are entirely consistent with the ideology she teaches on their campus.
According to Anya herself, CRT argues that "racism and white supremacy are baked into laws, policies, practices, institutions (eg, education), literally everything."
It seems plausible that the cynicism and resentment that Anya expressed toward the Queen on the day of her passing are the consequences of an ideology that insists racism and white supremacy are part of “literally everything.”
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s event on October 5 is important because CRT is very much an influential ideology in universities, schools, human resource departments and media newsrooms. We ought to consider if that’s a good thing or not.
One pro-CRT voice has stepped up to join MLI’s panel discussion: a progressive activist from Toronto, Dave Meslin. Meslin has authored a best-selling book and delivered a viral TED talk about democracy. Meslin was also profiled by The Canadian Jewish News and had a Jewish upbringing, which is especially valuable following the Trudeau administration's Laith Marouf antisemitism scandal.
We have one more spot open on the panel and we’re setting the deadline of Thursday, September 15 for responses. Our criteria is that the panelist must be (1) Canadian, (2) willing to defend CRT, (3) hold a position that influences policies impacting black communities.
Interested parties should contact the Macdonald-Laurier Institute at speakforourselves@macdonaldlaurier.ca.
You can register for MLI’s event on critical race theory here.
Reminder: If you are a reader of this newsletter and planning to attend the Canada Strong and Free Network conference on September 24 in Red Deer, AB, please let me know. I’ll be there and look forward to meeting you. Tickets available here.
Thank you for doing this, we need to expose what is being taught in our schools. Here in Waterloo Region it permeates classrooms from jk through highschool and any parent or teacher who speaks against it is silenced. CRT divides and silences our children instead of giving them the courage to learn about one another and ask questions.
Jamil [please excuse the familiarity], I would attend the Red Deer conference but my hearing is such that being in a big room with speakers would leave me smiling or frowning but unable to hear the commentary. Ah, such is life!
I am very interested in hearing the CRT discussion; whether it will be a debate, a collegial discussion or some other descriptive will be interesting. [Hearing: headphones do assist, particularly when I can stop, reverse and replay a comment or nineteen that I didn't initially understand.]
Thank you for your thoughtful commentary, both verbal and (particularly, given my handicap) written. And, as one final thought, I have found Samuel and Noah to be interesting interlocutors in your videos (again, listen, stop, reverse and replay) but, please, more written commentary! [Easier for me - I'm lazy.]