Courtesy Jason Littlefield
Two academics are joining forces to challenge generally accepted beliefs and premises about race in the modern day with two events coming this summer.
Jason Littlefield, a Fort Worth native, and Erec Smith, a professor in Pennsylvania, will be sharing their research about a united culture of greater humanity at the Ridglea Theater in Fort Worth on July 16, and a one-day workshop in Arlington on July 18 — Progress4WARD — at the Sheraton Hotel, 1500 Convention Center Drive.
“It’s for all people who are wanting to understand what's going on right now, why everything feels so divided and chaotic right now, and what else we can do to help,” Littlefield says. “Maybe with these ideas, people will understand why that's happening and become more united, more aware, and more hopeful.”
Littlefield is a former teacher, in the classroom for 21 years before he began to question how the system was treating the issue of race in public education. He left the school system and traveled to China and Africa, returning to the states to be a social and emotional learning specialist for Austin ISD.
During the pandemic, he befriended Smith through social media, finding agreement with him on the issue of the approach to racism and healing in society. Smith is an associate professor of rhetoric and composition at York College of Pennsylvania. His A Critique of Anti-Racism in Rhetoric and Composition: The Semblance of Empowerment was published in 2019.
The two are united in their disagreement with the conventional approach of combating racism in the modern world.
At the invitation of Smith, Littlefield joined him in co-founding Free Black Thought and a leader of Empowered Pathways, organizations that reject ideology of Critical Race Theory, and they promote diversity of thought, particularly in institutions of learning. Through their organizations, they began to promote their research through education and corporate training.
“What I foresaw was ahead of society,” Littlefield says. “I also saw these practices as detrimental to our personal well-being. Not just within ourselves, but also an attack on societal and relational trust.
“I told Erec that I feel like I’ve been looking for him for a long time. Our main mission is the diversity of thought in black academia. They [the trainings] are well-intended practices but the approach is tearing us apart. We are on a mission to heal society and put some different ideas into the world.”
The event at the Ridglea Theater will include an hour-long conversation followed by a performance by Cadillac Muzik. In Arlington on July 18, there will be a one-day workshop, Progress4WARD, that is aimed at educators and community leaders. The workshop will cover the stigma of the “us vs. them” concept, and how to reverse the damage caused.
The workshop is dedicated to addressing their concept of Fourth-Wave Anti Racism and how to dismantle barriers, strengthen connections, and work to engage in mindfulness exercises. Empowered Pathways has made a Go Fund Me for any donations that could contribute to the workshop and scholarships.
“I hope that people walk away feeling a sense of calm and feeling like they are more grounded with more awareness of what is happening at this moment,” Littlefield says. “The tools and resources to A, not just cope and handle, but B, the tools and resources that can put forth some positive change.”
