Conferencing toward Racial Literacies from the Post-White Orientation

Marcus Croom Briolearning.com

Philosophy: An Introduction to the Post-White Orientation

Article Citation to Guide Following Subsection: Croom, M. (2020). If "black lives matter in literacy research," then take this racial turn: developing racial literacies. Journal of Literacy Research, 52(4), 530–552.

Three Orientations to Race (Croom, 2020b)

1. White, Anti-Black Orientation (Deficiency Philosophy)
2. Post Racial Orientation (Deficiency Philosophy)
3. Post-White Orientation (Post-White, Vindicationist Philosophy)

Alternative naming amid racialization (Paris, 2019):

• Hyperraced = non-Whiteness, Blackness
  • Indigenousness and People of Colorness or BIPOCness
  • Hyporaced= Whiteness

from Reading: “The Crisis in Black Education” from a Post-White Orientation (Croom, 2016)

• “Whatever the current (raced as) Black education crisis may be, we [as Black folks] should face it on human terms, rather than on racially White superordinate terms--terms that make Whiteness normative” (p. 21).
• In other words, reject in every way the false notion of White(ness) [hyporaced] as above BIPOC(ness) [hyperraced].

Applied to conference gatherings:

• How is the White, Anti-Black Orientation operating in ourselves--across racial groups? Our conference design?
  • What patterns and barriers are hostile to the humanity of our hyperraced conference participants?

Theory: An Introduction to Practice of Race Theory (PRT)

Article for Practice: Croom, M. (2020). Meet Me at the Corner: The Intersection of Literacy Instruction and Race for Urban Education. Urban Education, 55(2), 267–298. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085918805807

Not race evasion, rather: “racial literacies...means developing those ways of thinking and doing [race] that support human well-being amid the various processes that racially situate our lives, and some of these race practices and racial experiences are violence and trauma(tic)” (Croom, Flores, & Kamberelis, 2019, p. 17).

Applied to conference gatherings:

• When are we (not) practicing race?
  • When is race (not) practiced in conference documents [written form] and discussions [unwritten form]?

Practice: So What Do We Do Now?

Begin Developing Racial Literacies (race practices that support human well-being)

• How is the White, Anti-Black Orientation operating in ourselves--across racial groups? Our conference design?
  • What patterns and barriers are hostile to the humanity of our hyperraced conference participants?
  • When are we (not) practicing race?
  • When is race (not) practiced in conference documents [written form] and discussions [unwritten form]?

Begin Practicing Post-White Conference Design

• Identify and reject all forms of the Deficiency Philosophy, the White, Anti-Black Orientation, and Post-Racialism.
  • Identify forms of race practice (unwritten, written, symbolic, material, individual, institutional, etc).
  • De/Reconstruct processes and practices that perpetuate the Deficiency Philosophy, the White, Anti-Black Orientation, and Post-Racialism.
  • Establish processes that perpetuate the Post-White Orientation (Croom, 2020b; Croom, 2016, p. 18): “By post-White orientation, I mean racial understanding and practice characterized by (a) unequivocal regard for ‘non-White’ humanity, particularly ‘Black’ humanity; (b) demotion of ‘White’ standing (i.e., position status); (c) rejection of post-racial notions; (d) non-hierarchical racialization; and (e) anticipation of a post-Whitet sociopolitical norm”.
  • Designate paid or unpaid roles for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to co-design conference gatherings.

Post-White Conference Design Template

1. Identifying
   1. Identify and reject all forms of the Deficiency Philosophy, White, Anti-Black Orientation, and Post-Racialism
      1. Confirmed?
         1. Identify forms of Race Practice (unwritten, written, symbolic, material, individual, institutional, etc.
         2. Re/Designing
            1. De/Reconstruct processes and practices that perpetuate the Deficiency Philosophy, White, Anti-Black Orientation, and Post-Racialism
               1. Confirmed?
2. Establish processes and practices that perpetuate the Post-White Orientation
   1. Designate paid or unpaid roles for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to co-design conference gatherings

Resources and Further Reading

Croom, M. (2020c). A case study from Barracoon: The story of the last “Black Cargo” with practice of race theory (PRT). Journal of Negro Education. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7709/jnegroeducation.89.4.0385

Croom, M. (2020b). If “Black Lives Matter in Literacy Research,” then take this racial turn: Developing racial literacies. Journal of Literacy Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085918805807

Croom, M. (2020a). Meet me at the corner: The intersection of literacy instruction and race for urban education. Urban Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085918805807

Croom, M., T. Flores and G. Kamberelis (2019). Literacies of interrogation and vulnerability: Reimagining preservice teacher preparation designed to promote social justice in education. Springer Handbook on Promoting Social Justice in Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3- 319-74078-2

Irby, D., E. Drame, C. Clough and M. Croom (2019) “Sometimes things get worse before they get better”: A counter-narrative of White suburban school leadership for racial equity. Leadership and Policy in Schools. https://doi.org/10.1080/15700763.2019.1611869

Croom, M. (2016). Reading: “The crisis in Black education” from a post-White orientation. Black History Bulletin, 79(2), 18–26. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5323/blachistbull.79.2.0018