The African American Policy Forum (AAPF) will hold its fourth annual Critical Race Theory (CRT) Summer School this year.
Under the theme, Fighting Back to Move Forward: Defending the Freedom to Learn, the AAPF will bring together some of the country’s top experts on race and racism to discuss the growing concerns posed by ongoing issues such as book bans, the censorship of Black history and Supreme Court decisions impacting crucial tools for racial justice, like affirmative action.
“When the instruction of Black history itself is at stake, we need to be activated and energized in order to preserve our truth and advocate for our future,” said AAPF co-founder Professor Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in a release shared with ESSENCE.
The five-day hybrid event series, which begins on July 30, will include notable speakers such as NAACP Legal Defense Fund President and Director-Counsel, Janai Nelson, American Civil Liberties Union President Deborah Archer, new Rainbow/PUSH president Rev. Dr. Frederick Haynes, and host of United Shades of America W. Kamau Bell, among others.
According to an event description, the aim of this year’s CRT Summer School is “not only to fight back against the ‘war on woke,’ but also to move forward with a campaign that centers Black history, intellectual traditions, and civil rights organizing as essential to progressive efforts to create a robust, multiracial democracy.”
Since its founding in 1996 by Crenshaw and Luke Charles Harris, the think tank has been “connecting academics, activists and policymakers to promote efforts to identify and confront the structural inequalities hindering multiracial democracy.”
This year, the CRT Summer School will begin with a live panel discussion on Martha’s Vineyard, hosted by Professor Crenshaw, which will examine how the “anti-woke” laws being pursued all around the nation are impacting democracy and civil rights.