- 1. It is said that the arrow of progress is as often backward as forward. Which of the scenarios described in this chapter—or yet some other—do you see as most likely for America’s racial future?
- 2. What role do you see for leftist political theory, such as CRT, in the years ahead? What role do you see for yourself?
- 3. The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once said that we are doomed to lead life forward but only to understand it backward, that is, in retrospect. Is this more or less true of relations among the races? (See chapter 2, discussing the “empathic fallacy.”)
- 4. Critical race theory is expanding into other countries and academic disciplines, such as ethnic studies, political science, women’s studies, and American studies. It is also beginning to change how we approach crime, policing, and sentencing policy. Will the same happen, after a time, in other societies such as China and Indonesia and other disciplines such as medicine?
- 5. Two crits (Devon Carbado and Mitu Gulati) point out that minority workers often find themselves performing “extra work” when they devote much time and energy to reassuring white fellow workers that they are just like them, that is, are not threats, inscrutable, or seething under the surface and have the same range of interests as they do and so on. Suppose the balance tips, so that whites are in a minority in the workplace. Will whites have to engage in “performative identity,” perhaps in order to reassure their colleagues of color that they are hip, cool, and musical, too?