CRT Summer School Kicks Off, Honoring 60th Anniversary of Freedom Summer

Racial justice advocates are turning out for the Fifth Annual Critical Race Theory Summer School hosted by the African American Policy Forum.

The social justice think tank opened its July 28-Aug. 2 summit with a plenary titled “Tip of the Spear: Tennessee on the Frontlines of the War on Woke.”

Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw“Racism is the Achilles heel of our democracy, a deeply rooted weakness in this country used to forge a war against ‘wokeness,’ or what many of us simply call education and advocacy,” said African American Policy Forum Executive Director Kimberlé Crenshaw, who will take part in the plenary.

The conversation also features Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville; Nashville lunch counter sit-in organizer and Freedom Rider Dr. Bernard Lafayette; professor of African American and public history at Tennessee State University, Dr. Learotha Williams; anti-racist writer and educator Tim Wise; and Tennessee youth organizer, Adrianne Gott.

This year’s CRT Summer School honors the 60th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement’s Freedom Summer of 1964.

Part of the forum’s “Freedom to Learn “academic inquiry and practical activism, CRT Summer School underscores how the fight for the freedom to learn and the fight for racial justice are connected as demonstrated by attacks on public education through anti-CRT; so-called “stop woke” laws that prohibit diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts; book bans; anti-affirmative action lawsuits; and so on.

Crenshaw said she expects the event will help to “empower participants with the essential knowledge and tools needed to confront systemic racism and advocate for transformative change in their communities.”

The CRT Summer School Program, Freedom Summer 2024: No U-Turn on Racial Justice, is being held in Nashville through Aug. 2, and is available virtually.