‘You need to do love’: autoethnographic mother-writing in applying ParentCrit

Abstract

As the white (In an act of resistance to the maintenance and promotion of white supremacy, I do not capitalize ‘white’ or acknowledge it as a proper noun.) mother of biracial children who look white, navigating critical race conversations as a part of Critical Race Parenting (ParentCrit) is just that, navigation. In this article I offer ParentCrit approaches in alignment with CRT and Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS), but through my own ParentCrit experiences, using autoethnographic mother-writing. The title reflects one of my child’s initial interpretations of racial justice: ‘You need to do love,’ as elaborated through our discussions and my analyses.

Key words:

• Critical race parenting (ParentCrit)
• autoethnographic mother-writing
• critical race theory
• critical whiteness studies