The Lure of Disempowerment: Reclaiming Agency in the Age of CRT

First, I would like to thank my co-author, Matthew Abraham, for being brave enough to take on this endeavor with me. His intelligence and viewpoint provide significant motivation for this work. Like me, he believes that academia and social justice groups in general are moving in a divisive and detrimental direction, and he is as motivated as I am to reverse this trend. Many thanks to those at Kendall Hunt (Lindsey Wynne, Michele Bahr, and Deepthi Mohan) for believing in this book and being patient and accommodating throughout the process. Thanks, also, to my colleagues at York College of Pennsylvania for their tolerance and civility amidst the disciplinary drama that has ensued as a result of my criticism of anti-racist endeavors in the field of rhetoric and composition. I want to express appreciation to the organizations and communities of like-minded scholars, writers, parents, and students who want to see a better methodology for diversity, equity, and inclusion than the divisive and often irrational trainings and pedagogies currently done in the name of anti-racism. I would like to thank Erin Strine for her unending support as I researched, wrote, and spoke for the benefits of empowerment theory and against the detriments of contemporary anti-racist pedagogy and activism. I also want to thank Erin for providing a quiet and welcoming place to write and research. I would like to thank proponents of CRT and CRT-inspired methodologies; your incivility and hyper-emotionality gave me the drive necessary to write a book critiquing such methodologies in a relatively short time with a relatively full schedule. Lastly, I would like to thank my mother for being my biggest cheerleader even though she has to use a dictionary to understand my work.

I would like to thank Erec Smith for his scholarly example and courage in inserting himself into difficult debates about anti-racism in the field of Rhetoric and Writing Studies (Rhet/Comp) and in discussions about race and equity beyond the academy. This book would not have been conceived if Erec had not fearlessly contributed to the March 2019 WPA-L discussion about Asao Inoue’s College Composition and Communication chair address. Erec has paid a professional price for articulating a set of necessary truths about minority agency that no one wishes to acknowledge publicly. The field will thank him for this contribution in improving and refining the discipline’s discourse about race, equity, agency, and educational access in the years to come. It’s been an honor thinking through the ideas in this book with Erec and supporting him as he pushes us toward uncomfortable realizations about anti-racism initiatives. Erec Smith is a scholar in the truest sense because he speaks truth to power even when it has put him at odds with colleagues who are committed to silencing and vilifying him. At the University of Arizona, I would like to thank Professors Homer Pettey and Fred Kiefer for being reliable sounding boards. Thanks for your examples. Sincere thanks to Lindsey Wynne, Michelle Bahr, and Deepthi Mohan at Kendall Hunt for supporting this project from the beginning.