Crystal Marie Fleming is Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies and Associate Faculty in the Department of Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies at SUNY Stony Brook. She is an author, public intellectual and expert on global racism and white supremacy.

Crystal holds a Ph.D. and a masters degree in sociology from Harvard University and graduated with honors in sociology and French from Wellesley College. Her scholarship appears in journals such as The Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Poetics, Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race and Mindfulness.

Crystal has conducted research on racism and anti-racism in multiple national contexts and collaborated on empirical projects in the United States, France, Brazil and Israel. Her first book, Resurrecting Slavery: Racial Legacies and White Supremacy in France (Temple University Press, 2017), uses critical race theory to significantly advance scholarship on racism in France and Europe. Based on her award-winning dissertation, the book marshals ethnographic data, archival research and in-depth interviews with French activists and descendants of slaves to examine how commemorations of enslavement and abolition both challenge and reproduce the racial order.

Her book, How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy and the Racial Divide (Beacon Press), is a critically acclaimed primer on systemic racism that combines memoir, critical race theory, social commentary and satire to debunk common misconceptions about race.

And her latest book, RISE UP! How You Can Join the Fight Against White Supremacy, is a YA nonfiction work that explores the roots of racism and its modern day legacies while empowering young people with actionable ways to create a more just and equitable world. It was published in October 2021 by Henry Holt for Young Readers. She co-edited a fourth book, Beyond White Mindfulness: Critical Perspectives on Racism, Health and Wellbeing, with Routledge and is completing a fifth project, Words to Remake the World: A People's Dictionary for Social Change, under contract with Beacon Press.

A public intellectual known for her frank talk and insouciant humor, Crystal's provocative writing and speaking engage a broad range of scholarly and personal topics, from racism and white supremacy to politics, spirituality, feminism, (bi)sexuality and philosophy. Her essays and op-eds can be found in popular venues like Newsweek, Vox, The Root, Everyday Feminism, Black Agenda Report, Black Perspectives and Huffington Post. Additionally, her writing on race and politics has been cited in media outlets such as The Nation, Hip Hop Wired, The New Republic, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Blavity, USA Today, BET and Buzzfeed.

Crystal is a powerful speaker and workshop facilitator as well as a bold and influential voice on Twitter with almost 70,000 followers and millions of readers.

Topics:

  • Bringing critical race theory from the Ivory Tower to the masses, Crystal explains how systemic racism exposes us all to racial ignorance and provides a road map for transforming our knowledge into anti-racist change. Racial stupidity–in the form of misconceptions, misrepresentations and denial—is clearly an epidemic. And this is not a coincidence or a mistake: living in a racist society means that we absorb harmful ideas, stereotypes and biases. When left unchallenged, racial stupidity fuels discriminatory behavior, devalues the lives of black and brown people and reproduces the white supremacist status quo from one generation to the next. This wide-ranging talk unveils the historical roots of racial stupidity and explores how racial non-sense manifests in pop culture, (mis)education, media, politics and personal relationships today. But recognizing racial stupidity is not enough—we have to actually do something about it. Crystal seeks to inspire and empower those of us committed to building a more just society by showing how to leverage our racial literacy for anti-racist activism.

  • In the wake of the brutal killings of George Floyd, Breanna Taylor and many other Black Americans, businesses and brands claim that they, too, believe that “Black Lives Matter”. But what will it take for corporate leaders to move beyond superficial slogans to face the hard truths of our racial divide? In this powerful talk, sociologist and antiracist educator, Crystal Fleming debunks common mistakes in “diversity and inclusion” work and confronts the ultimate corporate taboo—the intimate links between racial oppression, capitalism and inequality.

  • From the classrooms to the boardrooms and from school board meetings to the media, Critical Race Theory (CRT) is making headlines and has many people asking what exactly is this and why is it so controversial. In this talk, Crystal reveals the civil rights origins of CRT and debunks politicized attacks and disinformation about antiracist education. Drawing upon her work as a critical race sociologist, she shows how CRT challenges white supremacy and takes a deep dive into the many parallels between critical race learnings and the prophetic insights of activists and advocates like W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells and Martin Luther King, Jr.

  • How can we create antiracist change within our classrooms, universities and communities more broadly? In this interactive workshop, Crystal Fleming introduces participants to essential principles and praxis for challenging racism in higher education. The workshop will take into consideration the impact of current legislative efforts to criminalize antiracist education as well as resources for empowering faculty, staff and students to address and resist racist ideas and practices in academic contexts.