A love letter to educational leaders of Color: "CREWing UP" with critical whiteness studies

ABSTRACT

This essay applies Critical Race Theory and Critical Whiteness Studies towards affirming the collective existence, experience, and humanity of educational leaders of Color, who tend to experience systemic dismissing and invisibilizing within educational institutions. Like racial commentators such as James Baldwin and Ta-Nehisi Coates, this essay uses the genre of letter writing—specifically a love letter—as a way to cultivate intimacy and relationality with readers. The piece intentionally does so because whiteness, white supremacy, and racism enact violence in ways that require intentional healing rooted in humanizing, revolutionary, and decolonial love. Ultimately, this love letter urges scholars, particularly race and whiteness scholars, to "CREW UP," or Catalyze Resistance & Emancipation With United Power, in such a way that provides the healing, collective coalition-building, and consciousness needed to eradicate whiteness, white supremacy, and racism. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE) is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)