On April 13, The Smith College Office of Multicultural Affairs, supported by the Mwangi Fund, hosted a lecture by Dr. Crystal Marie Fleming on critical race theory and white supremacy for Smith’s inaugural Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture as a part of its annual series.
Smith has stated that the Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture Series “promotes an awareness and appreciation of racial and ethnic diversity.”
Dr. Fleming, an author and Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies and an associate faculty in the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department at SUNY Stony Brook, gave a presentation on her work and research on anti-racism, using the framework of critical race theory and discussing Martin Luther King, Jr.’s contribution to this field.
She opened the lecture recalling the recent siege on the U.S Capitol Building and stating this event’s display of the white supremacist history at the foundation of the United States. “The problem of white supremacy … has been built into the fabric of our culture,” she said.
Fleming reminded participants of the recent murder of Daunte Wright, which she said serves as yet another example of this deep-rooted system of racism and anti-Blackness. She warned of the dangers in the “denial of structural racism and white supremacy that maintains the system and death cult of white supremacy.”
Fleming also made mention of the rise in anti-Asian hate in the United States and its tie to an ongoing history of white supremacy and xenophobia, something which has been exacerbated in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As an educator, it was important to her to underscore the role education has in racial justice work and in using critical race theory toward a goal of collective action. “Ignorance is a decision we make when we allow for our schools to not teach the truth about our histories and the ongoing realities of racial injustice,” said Fleming. She added however that it is also not enough to simply be educated on racism, “The sad reality is that too many people think that they can buy one book and that’s the case closed.”
She made specific reference to “diversity and inclusion” initiatives, saying that she believes them to be academia’s version of “thoughts and prayers,” often being very performative and lacking in actionable change. This comes over a year after Smith’s first “Day of Diversity and Inclusion,” which took place around the same time that students protested the college’s hiring of a police chief who had voiced public support for Donald Trump and liked several anti-immigrant tweets.
In her presentation on Dr. King, Dr. Fleming emphasized the importance of remembering that he was a radical who spoke of white supremacy as embedded in the structure of our culture. She said that the version of him that is taught in schools is often watered down and pacified. “He was one of the most hated men in America,” she said, additionally stating the importance of remembering that he was murdered for his beliefs and activism.
Her latest book, “How to be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy and the Racial Divide,” uses humor, critical race theory and memoir to uncover everything wrong with our “national conversation about race.” Her next book, “Rise Up: How You Can Join the Fight Against White Supremacy,” a young adult book, will come out on Oct 21.
“Knowledge on its own is not power,” she said, “we have to actually turn to collective action and activism, as Dr. King demonstrated to transform that knowledge into concrete change.”
Dr. Fleming can be found at crystalfleming.com or on Twitter @alwaystheself.
(Photo via Smith College)
