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53 U. Miami L. Rev. 855 (1998-1999)
BlackCrit Theory and the Problem of Essentialism

handle is hein.journals/umialr53 and id is 869 raw text is: BlackCrit Theory and the Problem of Essentialism DOROTHY E. ROBERTS* Some critical scholars might object to a BlackCrit theory, which is focused on the identities, experiences, and aspirations of Black people, on the grounds that it is essentialist. BlackCrit theory, it could be argued, poses the danger of three forms of false universalism that are characteristic of essentialism.' It could erroneously imply that Blacks share a common, essential identity; it could erroneously attribute to all people of color the experiences of Black people; and it could reinforce the white-black paradigm as the only lens through which to view racial oppression. In this essay, I will use reproduction as a concrete substan- tive point of reference to explore the concern that a BlackCrit theory would be essentialist. I entitled my first major law review article, which discussed a reproductive rights issue, Punishing Drug Addicts Who Have Babies: Women of Color, Equality, and the Right of Privacy.2 In the years after publishing that article, I have asked myself why I used the words women of color in the title. The article concerns Black women in particular, not women of color in general. It focuses on the prosecutions of poor Black women who smoked crack during pregnancy. I think I put women of color in the title because I thought it would be essentialist to confine my attention to Black women. I was probably reacting to a criticism that I sometimes heard when I presented the paper before it was published: You didn't talk about Latinas, You didn't talk about Asian women, or You didn't talk about Native American women. I often found these comments distracting because I had not come to talk about those groups of women although I hoped my presentation was * Professor, Northwestern University School of Law. This essay is based on a transcription of my remarks presented during the Moderated Group Discussion, From RaceCrit to LatCrit to BlackCrit?: Exploring Critical Race Theory Beyond and Within the Black-White Paradigm, at the LatCritlIl Symposium, May 1998. I am grateful to the other participants for their comments on my presentation. 1. On the meaning of essentialism, see KATHARINE T. BARTLETT & ANGELA HARRIS, GENDER AND LAW: THEORY, DOCTRINE, COMMENTARY 1007-1009 (2d ed. 1998); CRITICAL RACE THEORY: THE CUTrING EDGE 281-343 (Richard Delgado, ed.1995); Angela P. Harris, Race and Essentialsim in Feminist Legal Theory, 42 Stan. L. Rev. 581 (1990). 2. Dorothy E. Roberts, Punishing Drug Addicts Who Have Babies: Women of Color, Equality, and the Right of Privacy, 104 HARV. L. REV. 1419 (1991).

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