Professor of Sociology at Hillyer College Woody Doane recently had his chapter “Critical Race Theory: The Latest Front in the Defense of White Supremacy,” published in Critical Race Theory and the American Media (S. Turner and S. Nilsen, eds., Routledge 2025).
In the chapter, Doane demonstrates that the debates over Critical Race Theory and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) are not another clash in the “culture wars,” but instead are part of the ongoing—400 years and counting—defense of white supremacy. From settler colonialism to racialized enslavement to systemic racism, white supremacy in the United States has been supported by legitimizing ideologies (biological racism, color-blindness) and political mobilization—including the current attacks on Critical Race Theory and DEI.