2 Honoring TribalCrit in Higher Education: Survival and Sovereignty in the Wake of Anti-CRT Bills

This article positions anti-Critical Race Theory legislation as ongoing colonial violence against Indigenous Peoples. We consider how anti-CRT bills suppress TribalCrit initiatives and, therefore, tribal sovereignty of knowledge production. We examine one bill, Oklahoma’s HB1775, which prohibits mandatory trainings, courses, or orientations addressing gender, sex, and race in state institutions, including higher education. We contend all anti-CRT bills harm Indigenous Peoples, but HB1775 offers an extreme case based upon the state’s historical and cultural contexts. Oklahoma – (Oklahumma) Choctaw for “Red People” – is home for thirty-nine sovereign tribal nations and one of the largest Indigenous college student populations. HB1775 threatens Indigenous initiatives to (re)claim tribal land, histories, languages, and cultures, thereby supporting the multifaceted needs of Native students. We also discuss how TribalCrit can be harnessed to resist HB1775, among other tactics of erasure in higher education.