Activism

COMMENTARY: Critical Race Theory: An Academic Concept, Not a Threat to Children

CRT has become a catch-all for all topics regarding race, inequality, White privilege, and oppression. Opposition to the law graduate theory has been distorted into a movement that created outrage and evolved into attempts to justify banning books about anti-racism in K-12 schools. This movement began with one right-wing PR person who spread misinformation through outlets like Fox News and galvanized White parents to protest.

Published

2 years ago

May 4, 2022

Oakland Post

A major aspect of CRT is that it rejects the idea of “color-blindness,” acknowledging that racism is more than individual prejudice and is instead systemic.

By Daisha Williams, The Oakland Post

Since late 2020, Critical Race Theory (CRT) has been at the center of furious controversies. Despite all the heated arguments, many people still do not understand what Critical Race Theory is.

Sometimes, viewing it as part of vast conspiracy, right wing politicians and parents have often claimed CRT teaches children to hate White people.

Today, CRT is still an important topic of discussion. The theory was brought up in Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Senate confirmation hearings when Republican senators attempted to discredit Jackson claiming she was a proponent of CRT being taught in K-12 schools.

Critical Race Theory was first developed in the 1970s and ’80s, soon after the Civil Rights Movement. The phrase was coined by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, an activist and professor at UCLA Law and Columbia Law school. As an academic and legal framework, CRT was intended for graduate students. The subject is more multifaceted than most in the media have made it out to be and is far too complex to be taught in K-12 schools.

A major aspect of CRT is that it rejects the idea of “color-blindness,” acknowledging that racism is more than individual prejudice and is instead systemic. CRT teaches that racism is something deeply embedded in the United States legal system due to centuries of race-based oppression. According to the New York Times, Crenshaw said, “[CRT] is a way of seeing, attending to, accounting for, tracing and analyzing the ways that race is produced, the ways that racial inequality is facilitated, and the ways that our history has created these inequalities that now can be almost effortlessly reproduced unless we attend to the existence of these inequalities.”

Many parents reacted similarly to one parent who wrote an essay about an all-girls private school named Brearley, which had created discussions surrounding anti-racism. In the essay the parent wrote, “Brearley, by adopting critical race theory, is advocating the abhorrent viewpoint that Blacks should forever be regarded as helpless victims, and are incapable of success regardless of their skills, talents, or hard work. What Brearley is teaching our children is precisely the true and correct definition of racism.”

Brearley, and other schools in this country are not adopting CRT in their curriculums. They are bringing conversations about race into the classroom, straying away from White-washed versions of history that has neglected true American history for decades. Unfortunately, to people who aren’t educated on these matters, the Brearly parent’s arguments and fears seem justified. Many of the “concerned parents” that were featured on Fox News were people manipulating the facts for their own political agendas.

Grievances like these were dramatized by Fox News and are magnified through social media until they became a part of mainstream media.

Oakland Post

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WOMEN IMPACTING THE CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

Published

8 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Juanita Matthews

Sister Juanita Matthews

55 Years with Oakland Public School District

The Teacher, Mother, Community Outreach Champion, And Child of God

Juanita Matthews, better known as “Sister Teacher,” is a walking Bible scholar. She moved to California from the great state of Arkansas in 1971. Sister Teacher has a passion for teaching. She has been a member of Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church since 1971. She followed her passion for teaching, and in 1977 became the lead teacher for Adult Class #6. Her motto still today is “Once My Student, Always My Student”.

Beyond her remarkable love for the Lord, Sister Teacher has showcased her love for teaching by working for the Oakland Unified School District for 55 years, all but four of those years spent at Emerson Elementary and Child Development School. She truly cares about her students, making sure they have the tools/supplies needed to learn either at OUSD or Bible Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

She’s also had a “Clothes Closet Ministry” for 51 years, making sure her students have sufficient clothing for school. The Clothes Closet Ministry extends past her students, she has been clothing the community for over 50 years as well. She loves the Lord and is a servant on a mission. She is a loving mother to two beautiful children, Sandra and Andre. This is the impact this woman of God has on her church and the community.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland’s ‘Green the Church,’ Others, Host a Climate Revival

On April 20, Oakland’s Green The Church California (GTC) and the Center For Food, Faith and Justice will celebrate Earth Day and present a Climate Revival event titled “Growing Healthy Communities From Soil To The Soul” at McGee Avenue Baptist Church at 1640 Stuart St, Berkeley, CA. The day will include inspiring talks, interactive workshops, networking opportunities, and a special panel on Food Sovereignty and Global Food Resilience.

Published

11 hours ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

The revival will take place at McGee Avenue Baptist Church in Berkeley on April 20. Courtesy image.

Growing Healthy Communities from Soil to the Soul in Berkeley

By Y’Anad Burrell

The day will include inspiring talks, interactive workshops, networking opportunities, and a special panel on Food Sovereignty and Global Food Resilience.

The keynote speaker is Rev. Danté R. Quick, PhD, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, N.J. Quick is well known in the Bay Area, having served for more than 10 years as pastor of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Vallejo, CA.

Green The Church, founded in 2010 by Rev. Dr. Ambrose Carroll, Sr., and headquartered in Oakland, helps galvanize Black churches and their local communities and leaders to address issues critical to populations historically disengaged from conversations around pollution and health, climate change, and sustainability and energy efficiency.

The organization collaborates with major environmental, sustainability, food security, faith, and community-based non-profit organizations, and is committed to “creation justice”—care and justice for God’s people and the planet—and building the Beloved Community.

Environmental justice has long been a pressing concern for communities of color who bear the brunt of pollution and ecological degradation. Climate change exacerbates these issues, disproportionately impacting vulnerable communities. Recognizing this urgency, Black churches across the country are taking action.

With deep roots in the African American community and its commitment to social justice, the Black Church has become an essential advocate for sustainable practices and policies.

Over the past 14 years, in a powerful collaboration with significant environmental, sustainability, food security, faith, and community-based non-profit organizations, GTC has created a cadre of Black churches engaging in the environmental justice, climate, and sustainability movement.

GTC presently works with more than 1,000 pastors and congregations across the U.S., and groups in the Bahamas, Ghana, Nigeria, and the UK, showing that we can make a difference together.

The partnership between environmental justice advocates and the Black Church extends beyond individual congregations. Green The Church provides resources and support for faith communities seeking to address climate change and promote environmental justice.

Through collaboration, initiatives such as energy efficiency programs, solar installations, and environmental education have been implemented in Black churches nationwide. These efforts reduce the carbon footprint and save money on energy bills, benefiting the congregations and their communities.

The involvement of the Black Church in the fight against climate change is not just a participation, it’s a powerful message that galvanizes action across communities.

By integrating environmental justice into their ministry, Black churches are demonstrating that addressing climate change is not only a matter of science but also of social and moral responsibility, inspiring change at a grassroots level.

For more information, go to: www.greenthechurch.org.