Introduction
Social justice and the critical race approach are synonymous to each other particularly to the north American regions where the populations are of mixed roots with the majority being white and having European background while the minorities being either Latin American, African American or native American. The link between these two has been established over many decades since the arrival of these groups in the Americas over a four hundred years ago (Zurcher, 2021 p1). The following colonial rule in most of the Americas also played a role in the cementing of the white dominance over minorities in the united states and other nations such as Canada particularly through slavery and policies that systematically segregated and discriminated against them (Zurcher, 2021 p1). The establishment of the critical race theory and the social justice approach are some of the more modern approaches to protestation by the oppressed in fighting for equality across all aspects of life in the region.
Lessons Learnt
In the video, the concept of critical race immediately emerges from the first few scenes and interviews where the white man who owns a coffee shop is asked about what he thinks about the place, he states that he is very comfortable and believes that nay man can make it the united states if they are both hardworking and ambitious (Blacker The Berry, 2:35). Another man when asked the same question after coming back from fighting for the united states is critical of the way he is received. He states that he doesn’t feel any different than before he left for war since he still treated like less of a man by being discriminated against and segregated simply because he is black (Blacker The Berry 3:35). These two interviews have taught men that the historical injustices that were propagated by the colonial masters of the United States and the inhuman slave trade have yet still to be eradicated for good. Critical race theory is an interdisciplinary social and intellectual movement of civil rights activists as well as civil rights scholars who strive to assess the connection between race and law in the United States as well as to change the conventional American liberal approaches to the concepts of racial justice (Zurcher, 2021 p1). Critical race theory is a relatively popular theory in the United States especially in the more recent times because of the emergence of civil rights movement groups similar to those that fought against racial inequalities and the enactment of the civil rights legislation. An example of such a group is the world-renowned black lives matter which was created to fight against police brutality and impunity against African American people in the United States.
Social justice struggle is also resonant in this video where the black people have this general feeling that they are constantly being held down by an unseen force. What this teaches me is that the system has been passed form the historical rulers of the colonial times which cemented their rule on the people through the development of rules and laws that systematically made it impossible for minority groups such as African Americans and native Americans to pursue and achieve social benefits as equals to their white country men.
In conclusion, social justice and critical race theory can be seen to be efforts to bring these systemic enablers of oppression that have been historically passed down from one government to another and have received minimum legislative change and hence enabling government agencies such as the police to brutalize and criminalize people on the basis of their race with impunity.
References
Blacker The Berry. (2019). The Black Power Mixtape [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_dCL2F571Q
Zurcher, A. (2021). Critical race theory: the concept dividing the US. BBC News.
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