Multi-Culture Education:
Issues and Perspectives
TCH 409
Critical Race Theory (CTR)
Critical race theory (CRT), the view that race, instead of being
biologically grounded and natural, is socially constructed and
that race, as a socially constructed concept, functions as a means
to maintain the interests of the white population that constructed
it. According to CRT, racial inequality emerges from the social,
economic, and legal differences that white people create between
“races” to maintain elite white interest in labour markets and
politics and as such create the circumstances that give rise to
poverty and criminality in many minority communities. Though
the intellectual origins of the movement go back much further,
the CRT movement officially organized itself in July 1989.
Despite the relatively recent appearance of CRT in academia,
some scholars have found it a valuable perspective on race and
racism in America. CRT launched what many race scholars now
take as a commonsense view. CRT scholars hold that the laws
and policies in the United States are biasedagainst people of
colour, and they have focused their scholarship on demonstrating
the ways in which the legal institutions support that bias.
The left-right political spectrum Immigration Act of 1924 (example of Immigration
exclusion acts)
The left–right political spectrum is a system of classifying
political positions, ideologies and parties, from equality A US federal law that set quotas on the number of
on the left to social hierarchy on the right. immigrants from certain countries while banning other non-
white immigrants.
The law was primarily aimed at further decreasing
Left-wing politics immigration of specific groups of Europeans, including
Left-wing politics supports social equality and Italians, Greeks, Poles, Slavs, and Eastern European Jews.
egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. It The law affirmed the longstanding ban on the immigration of
typically involves a concern for those in society whom its other non-white persons, with the exception of black African
adherents perceive as disadvantaged relative to others as immigrants (who had long been exempt from the ban).
well as a belief that there are unjustified inequalities that
need to be reduced or abolished. Thus, virtually all Asians were forbidden from immigrating
to America under the Act.
Black Power Movement The Asian American Movement
“Black Power” refers to a militant ideology that The Asian American Movement was a social movement for racial
aimed not at integration and accommodation with justice, most active during the late 1960s through the mid-1970s,
which brought together people of various Asian ancestries in the
white America, but rather preached black self-
United States who protested against racism and U.S. neo-imperialism,
reliance, self-defense, and racial pride.
demanded changes in institutions such as colleges and universities,
Malcolm X was the most influential thinker of organized workers, and sought to provide social services such as
what became known as the Black Power housing, food, and healthcare to poor people.
movement, and inspired others like Stokely
Carmichael of the Student Nonviolent As one of its signal achievements, the Movement created the category
Coordinating Committee and Huey P. “Asian American,” (coined by historian and activist Yuji Ichioka),
Newton and Bobby Seale of the Black Panther which encompasses the multiple Asian ethnic groups who have
Party. migrated to the United States.
The Black Power movement emphasized racial
Its founding principle of coalitional politics emphasizes solidarity
pride, economic empowerment, and the creation
among Asians of all ethnicities, multiracial solidarity among Asian
of political and cultural institutions for black
Americans as well as with African, Latino, and Native Americans in
people in the United States. the United States, and transnational solidarity with peoples around the
It occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. globe impacted by U.S. militarism.
Pan-ethnicity
Pan-ethnicity is a political neologism used to group various ethnic groups together based on their related cultural origins;
geographic, linguistic, religious, or 'racial' similarities are often used alone or in combination to draw pan-ethnic boundaries.
The body politic Naturalization
the people of a nation, state, or society considered collectively as The legal act or process by which a non-citizen in a country
an organized group of citizens. may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country.
Proletariat
The class of ordinary people who earn money by working, esp.
those who do not own any property
• Marx wrote of the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and
the proletariat.
Bourgeoisie
The capitalist class; the middle classes in society
Ethnic/racial disidentification
Ethnic/racial disidentification is defined as psychological
distancing from a threatened social identity to preserve a positive
sense of self.
