Using a proven racial justice model to improve race relations in organizations, schools, and institutions.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Racial Reconciliation and the Third Reconstruction
Racial Reconciliation and the Third Reconstruction offers a new racial justice policy framework for understanding and transforming racism in the United States. The book argues that reconciliation requires more than dialogue or symbolic inclusion; it demands a direct confrontation with white supremacy, unequal power, and the harms they produce in schools, communities, and society.
Drawing from education, history, and social justice movements, the book introduces a framework centered on Access, Accountability, and Transformation. It calls for institutions to expand who has decision-making power, listen to the experiences of communities most harmed by racism, and create meaningful change rooted in justice, repair, and collective healing.
At its heart, the book invites readers to imagine a “Third Reconstruction”—a renewed movement toward democracy, racial healing, and social transformation.
Table of Contents
00
Introduction: Challenges in Education: The Need for Racial Justice in the Third Reconstruction Era
01
Chapter 1: Understanding the Three Reconstruction Eras
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Chapter 2: Uncovering White Supremacy in and Beyond Education
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Chapter 3: The Rise and Demise of DEI: Representation and Power in the Third Reconstruction
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Chapter 4: Power, White Supremacy and the Perpetuation of Harm
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Chapter 5: Healing and the Racial Justice Model: Participatory Accountability and Collective Dialogue
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Conclusion: The Path Forward: Avoiding Apartheid with Truth and Reconciliation
About our Purpose
The purpose of Racial Reconciliation and the Third Reconstruction is to offer a racial justice model that moves people from awareness to action. The book argues that true reconciliation occurs when activism addresses the root causes of both subtle and obvious forms of white supremacy. This means moving beyond symbolic gestures or surface-level inclusion and working to transform the systems, beliefs, policies, and practices that continue to produce racial harm.
At the center of the book is the belief that racial justice must change how power operates. This means creating more democratic approaches to leadership, communication, and knowledge production. Leadership must include the voices of those most affected by racism. Communication must create honest dialogue about harm, responsibility, and repair. Knowledge production must value the lived experiences, histories, and wisdom of communities that have been marginalized.
By democratizing these three areas, the book provides a path toward transforming schools, institutions, families, communities, and society at large. Its purpose is not only to explain racism, but to help readers imagine and build new systems grounded in access, accountability, transformation, and collective liberation.
About the Authors
Rachel F. Gómez
Rachel F. Gómez is Assistant Professor of Foundations of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University and a scholar of Ethnic Studies. Her research examines race, power, and epistemic justice in U.S. education. Grounded in critical race theory and decolonial thought, her work interrogates how curriculum, policy, and historical narratives reproduce or challenge white supremacy.
Julio Cammarota
Julio Cammarota is a Professor of Education at the University of Arizona. His research focuses on participatory action research with Latinx youth, institutional factors in academic achievement, critical race theory, and liberatory pedagogy. He is the co-editor of two volumes in the Routledge Critical Youth Studies series.