Leadership is an extremely broad term. I think my parents are leaders; they’re the leaders of my family. My professors have all been leaders to me, my friends are leaders. But in terms of academic leaders, I love the work of Kimberle Crenshaw. She is one of the founders of Critical Race Theory and I have really adhered to critical theory when examining societal issues and I think that Critical Race Theory is a way forward. I also think calling out race for what it is (a social construct) is extremely important in dismantling the systemic racism in our country. Professor Crenshaw coined the terms intersectionality and CRT, which are very important in examining the problems in political systems and how to fix and dismantle racist systems. She and her other colleagues who coined the term CRT in the 80s are still working on it and many law schools have adopted it as a curriculum or added it as a part of their teachings.

I am writing my Human Rights Capstone on the opinions of the Conservative Right on Critical Race Theory. I feel that those in the conservative right who are in the news opposing the teachings of Critical Race Theory are simply uncomfortable with it because it dismantles the system, therefore they would (in an ideal world) have no privilege. They do not care for human rights and try to hide it with claims that CRT is divisive. Teaching about the division created by colonialism and slavery is not divisive: it is just addressing the divisive systems of oppressions that already exist. I am very excited to pursue this capstone paper because I hope to pursue CRT in law school. Let me know what you think about CRT if you have any opinions!

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