Laura Flanders and Friends: Solutions-Focused Progressive Perspectives on Politics, News, and Culture

Kimberlé Crenshaw on the Legal System Cracking Up: Critical Race Theory & the Rollback of Civil Rights [full conversation]

Sep 19, 2025

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Synopsis: With attacks on Critical Race Theory gaining momentum, Columbia Law Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw joins Laura Flanders to dissect the fight for antiracism in America today.

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Description: Calling all white people: How many times in the last eight months have you heard the phrase “isn’t that illegal?” The problems with our legal system are more conspicuous than ever in 2025, but thought leaders like Kimberlé Crenshaw have been sounding the alarm for decades. Executive Director of the African American Policy Forum, Crenshaw is celebrating the organization's 30th anniversary and joining Laura Flanders in this episode to discuss the challenges ahead. For starters, the Supreme Court has recently legalized racial profiling for ICE deportations, the Trump administration is looking to remove so-called “improper ideology” from US institutions like the Smithsonian, and the president recently suggested domestic violence is not a real crime. Crenshaw is a leading scholar on Critical Race Theory, a Professor of Law at Columbia and UCLA Law Schools, and host of the podcast "Intersectionality Matters!" which is currently releasing a new episode of their series United States of Amnesia: The Real Histories of Critical Race Theory. Join Crenshaw and Flanders as they look at the AAPF’s role in advancing intersectional policies to address antiracism, and how they plan to continue that work in this critical moment. Plus, a commentary from Laura on rights and the Right.

“To really stand behind this idea of making America great again, you've got to erase the memory of what America was . . . He's going after the history of enslavement. He's going after the history of genocide. He's saying that this kind of history is no longer appropriate for the federal government to officially recognize and historicize.” - Kimberlé Crenshaw

“[Conservatives] believe race should not play a role in creating greater access to equality. They do believe race should play a role in deciding who should be surveilled. They do believe in race when it comes to who should be collected up, potentially put on buses and planes and sent out of this country.” - Kimberlé Crenshaw

Guest: Kimberlé Crenshaw, Professor of Law, Columbia & UCLA Law Schools; Executive Director, African American Policy Forum

Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters.

Watch the special report on YouTube; PBS World Channel September 21st, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio September 24th (check here to see if your station is airing the show) & available as a podcast.

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

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Music Credit: 'Dawn Smolders' by Bluedot Sessions, and original sound design by Jeannie Hopper

RESOURCES:

*Recommended book:

• On Intersectionality - Selected Writings by Kimberlé Crenshaw, Get the book

(*Bookshop is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. The LF Show is an affiliate of bookshop.org and will receive a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.)

Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:

• Kimberlé Crenshaw & Soledad O’Brien Call Out the Media on Critical Race Theory: Watch / Listen: Episode, Uncut Conversation

• Decades After Bloody Sunday, Is Trump Taking Civil Rights Back to Before Selma in ‘65?: Watch / Listen: Episode, Uncut Conversation

• Juneteenth Special: To Confront Fascism, We Must Learn About Slavery and Colonialism: Watch

Related Articles and Resources:

• Under the Blacklight Live 2025 AAPF Event: Preemptive Alliances: Black Attorneys General On The Frontlines For Civil Rights. Watch

• Intersectionality Matters! Podcast

• US Supreme Court ‘effectively legalized racial profiling’, immigration experts warn, by Lauren Gambino, September 9, 2025, The Guardian

• Supreme Court guts affirmative action, effectively ending race-conscious admissions, by Nina Totenberg, June 29, 2023, NPR

• Trump Says Having ‘a Little Fight With the Wife’ Should Not Be a Crime, by Luke Broadwater, September 8, 2025, New York Times

• ‘Critical thinking is the kryptonite to fascism’: Kimerlé Crenshaw on the Trumps’ erasure policies, by Ali Velshi, May 3, 2025, MSNBC

• Why Trump’s ‘anti-woke’ attack on the Smithsonian matters, by Kimberlé Crenshaw and Jason Stanley, August 27, 2025, Opinion- The Guardian

Chapters - Kimberlé Crenshaw - [Uncut Conversation]

Understanding Critical Race Theory and Current Attacks