Fighting Racism Denial; Becoming a Mother‐Scholar‐Activist

Abstract

AbstractUsing 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.