IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2020 - 21

racism as a system of advantage
based on race rather than as a
series of isolated acts based on
individual feelings. Critical Race
theorists focus on how race is built
into systems that then work to the
advantage of certain groups, poten-
tially without overt individual-level
malice. They argue that race and
racism are endemic in American life
and deeply ingrained, legally, cultur-
ally and even psychologically [10].
There are 6 main tenets of CRT:

venient [10, pp. 8-9]. How people
are categorized differently over
time as different races is an illus-
tration of race's socially con-
structed nature.
4) Differential racialization is the
argument that racial groups
have been racialized in different
ways in response to different
needs of the majority. For exam-
ple, the way that people with
ancestors from East Asia have
been racialized in the U.S. as
Asian-American through con-
necting them as " inconceivably
smart " in math and science, or
how Mexican nationals were
racialized in the U.S. as " dirty
immigrants " were different racial
projects than how Black people
were racialized as " lazy welfare-
recipients. " Each racialization
project was designed to support
the power structure that places
white people as a racialized group
at the top of the social hierarchy,
but in different ways, under
different circumstances, and for
particular purposes.
5) Intersectionality is the idea
that recognizes how race and
racism intersect with gender, class,
sexuality, language, nationality,
ethnicity, culture, and immigrant
status among others [10]. As Del-
gado and Stefancic have articu-
lated, " no person has a single,
easily stated, unitary identity "
[10, p. 10]. This tenet also acknowl-
edges that racism is not a binary
issue (e.g., Black versus white),
but that it affects everyone in
society because of the complex
system of social advantages and
disadvantages associated with
race and other social constructs
and identities.
6) Counterstory, is the commit-
ment to recognizing experiential
knowledge as legitimate, appro-
priate ways to critically theorize
systems, organizations, and

1) Racism is normal and a part of
daily American life. This des-
cribes how we see racism every
day through different discourses
and everyday conversations, all
levels of text and talk, visuals,
sounds, semantics, and interac-
tions among others [7]. We focus
on the descriptive claim of nor-
malcy - that it is an everyday
exper ience for millions of
people, produced through every-
day actions of millions more -
rather than the normative claim
that implies racism is accept-
able, an interpretation we dis-
agree with.
2) Interest convergence is the pro-
cess by which the interests of
people of color converge with
the self-interest of white people,
and which is considered neces-
sary for any apparent decrease
in structural racism while mostly
advancing the interests of white
people. This is heavily theorized
through the works of CRT scholar
Derrick Bell [9], [11]-[12].
3) Race is socially constructed,
meaning the concept of race and
the categories of specific races
are the product of social thought
that " invent[s and] manipulate[s] "
what can be cons i d e r e d
" p seudo - per ma nent charac-
teristics " for race when conve-
nient by the dominant race, and
are " retired " when no longer con-
DECEMBER 2020

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IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

structures [10]. CRT explicitly
acknowledges the lived experi-
ences of subordinate groups
through storytelling, family his-
tories, parables, and narratives.
CRT also disputes claims of objec-
tivity, meritocracy, color-blindness,
race neutrality, and equal opportu-
nity, asserting that these claims hide
the self-interest, power, and privi-
lege of dominant groups. Some of
the most prominent contributors to
this scholarship include Bell [8]-[11],
Freeman [12], Delgado [10], [15]-[17],
Williams [18]-[19], Crenshaw [20]-
[22], and Matsuda [24]-[25], among
others, and their scholarship cre-
ated a movement that was intended
to challenge the traditional legal cul-
ture to analyze the legal system and
expand the conversation about race,
ethnicity, and gender subordination.
CRT has a deep history in education-
al research, and we encourage the
interested reader to read the works
of Ladson-Billings and Tate [26]-[28]
or Valencia and Solórzano [29] as
starting places. We also describe it
more in our other work [30].

Color-Blind Racism Theory
A key theorist in CRT is scholar Eduar-
do Bonilla-Silva, whose book Racism
without Racists [31] we have found
particularly helpful for thinking about
racism in engineering education.
Based on an empirical study of white
university students and older work-
ers, Bonilla-Silva articulates a struc-
ture with four main frames: abstract
liberalism, cultural racism, naturaliza-
tion, and minimization of racism. We
have chosen to adopt Bonilla-Silva's
framing of color-blindness because
of its prominent usage throughout
CRT and because it was initially con-
ceived of through interviews with
undergraduates at university, allow-
ing us to maintain a connection with
higher education. We will describe
then illustrate each frame, providing

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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2020

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