Fighting Racism Denial; Becoming a Mother-Scholar-Activist

Abstract

Using autoethnography and a Critical Race Theory framework, I recount how I experienced racism denial in my son's school district during 2019–2020 (his kindergarten year). To build this counternarrative, I analyzed multiple data sources (e.g., field notes, personal journal entries, public documents) and, across three chapters, describe my interactions with key school district gatekeepers while advocating for racial equity-oriented school policies. These policies included: a school desegregation program (Chapter 1), a plan to incorporate critical race education into one school's curriculum (Chapter 2), and a district-level endorsement of critical race and ethnic studies K-12 curriculum in California schools (Chapter 3). In responding to this advocacy, the district professed surface-level support for racial equity, but I saw this form of support as racism denial merely masquerading as support for racial equity. I explain why I interpreted the district's responses in this way, and how I experienced these responses from my perspective as a mixed Black mother, scholar, and activist. I end by reflecting on how these experiences forced me to integrate my mother-scholar-activist identities in uncomfortable and productive ways, and with recommendations for how psychological researchers and K-12 schools can support racial equity.