Lorenzo Bowman

Critical Race Theory and HRD: Moving Race Front and Center

The Problem The problem is that racism, sexism, and discrimination exist. Critical race theory (CRT) is concerned with equity in terms of a person’s complete identity, which may begin with race and include gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and/or some other characteristic. The Solution CRT advocates radical change in systems and organizations. CRT critiques power structures in an attempt to provide guidance to those who maintain inequitable and racialized structures. Corporate policies and programs should be scrutinized to see how they affect all workers. The assumption that policies and programs are neutral should be abandoned. The acknowledgment of race (including Whiteness as a race) and racism is central. Change should embrace all people and provide equivalent opportunities to all employees. Change means breaking the glass ceiling, erasing salary differentials, and eliminating harassment and discrimination. The Stakeholders The power structures that support societal-level stakeholders create policy and law. These policies and legal mandates are implemented by Human Resource Development (HRD) practitioners and rarely questioned. Stakeholders include employees, staff, and clients. Individuals at all ranks within organizations, clients, consumers, and suppliers uphold the racism inherent in society by ignoring it or being blind to it. We all have a stake in seeing racism and all bias so we can work as a community of stakeholders to eliminate it.

Toward a Race Pedagogy for Black Faculty

Educators are consciously or unconsciously guided by pedagogy and make critical decisions about praxis—content, strategy, structure—based on their pedagogical beliefs. The intentional use of pedagogy is often advanced as a key to being an effective educator. A wealth of literature is directed toward helping White educators develop a race pedagogy, but the authors argue Black educators who teach courses about race face unique challenges and should develop a pedagogical stance consistent with that reality. In this article, the authors analyze different strategies as evidence that Black faculty struggle to develop a pedagogy for teaching race. The authors argue for a purposeful, engaged pedagogy, and contextually informed pedagogy that sets conditions wherein both the educator and student take risks in exposing their authentic self and positionality.