Despite being more than 40 years old, Critical Race Theory exploded in the public arena last year. As widespread awareness around racial disparities and injustice continues to increase – Critical Race Theory has been suggested as an educational tool to unpack the root causes of many of these issues.

Critical Race Theory is an academic concept that outlines how racism in America is not only the product of individual biases, but is also deeply embedded in public policy, the criminal justice system, education, the labor and housing markets as well as healthcare systems. In the past year, numerous state legislatures have worked vigorously to enact bills banning Critical Race Theory in the classroom – especially at the K-12 levels. Much of this resistance to CRT is due to those who strongly oppose the idea that racism is intentionally woven into laws, regulations, rules and procedures that lead to disparate outcomes for racially marginalized groups.

Recent events have increased public awareness about disparities specifically in the quality of education and criminal justice policy. Randi Weingarten and Cherri Branson will lead a candid conversation on Critical Race Theory and its impact on education in our schools and equitable criminal justice and policing policies.

Randi is the president of the 1.7 million-member American Federation of Teachers, ALF-CIO, and leads the effort to strengthen public education for all children.

Cherri currently serves on Montgomery County’s Policing Advisory Commission and is the 3rd VP of the NAACP-Montgomery County Branch whose mission is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of rights for all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.