As you know, unless you have been living under a rock (!), a war on something being named ‘critical race theory’ has been waged since the end of 2020. There are many explanations for the meaning of this, some of which I hope to be able to shed light on in my new book project for Pluto Press, A Drop of Poison.
But I need your help!
I am asking anyone interested to help me crowd-source resources on the ‘War on Critical Race Theory’. The reason I am crowd-sourcing is because I am unable to access funding at short notice and I have realised that the sheer volume of ‘noise’ being made about something being called ‘critical race theory’ (often very little to do with the actual body of knowledge that comes under that name in the academy), is too much for me to handle alone.
I want to make it very clear that I am NOT asking for money for this project. Apparently this needs to be said. The reason I mentioned the lack of funds was to brig to light the fact, which many of us are aware of, that doing radical antiracist research is not generally supported by the academy.
What I AM asking for is your energy, if you are willing to share!
If you are interested in participating, simply visit this Google spreadsheet and request access to it. The reason I am asking you to request access is to protect the database from those who might want to use it for nefarious purposes, so please be mindful about sharing it. So please let me know who you are when you request access.
I have included a number of categories for you to use, but you can add more if you feel they are not sufficiently extensive. Each category has its own sheet, so please toggle across to see them. Information can come in the form of weblinks, articles, scholarly work, screenshots, or anything else of use. Please include the date of the resource. You can also provide commentary if you wish.
I thank you in advance for your participation and I invite you to use the information for your own projects, being sure to credit this as a collective effort. Everyone who contributes will be acknowledged by name in my book (if you so wish; if you do not, please keep the name column blank). If you want to receive a personalised update on the project, please also include your email.
In the spirit of knowledge as a collective endeavour, I hope this idea is useful for you, as I am sure it will be invaluable for me.
With love and solidarity,
Alana Lentin