How and why do nominally open organizations remain racially segregated in the post-civil rights era? What role do interpersonal interactions play in the perpetuation of segregation? Using ethnographic data gathered from seven, majority white, evangelical churches across four states, we find that social actors (i.e., clergy and congregants) play a central role in continuing racial segregation by executing "race tests" on people of color who attempt to gain entry to these spaces. Race tests are performances by white individuals and groups, in the presence of incoming people of color. They utilize racial microaggressions, playing on persistent racist stereotypes and/or histories of racial violence, to preclude or precondition people of color's participation in predominantly white social spaces. White actors in white social spaces initiate utility-based race tests to determine whether people of color are willing to serve the interests of whites in the space, or execute exclusionary race tests to coerce people of color into leaving the space. We provide examples of both types of race tests and discuss the role of such microaggressions and the racialized emotions at play in the reproduction of segregation in historically white social spaces like white evangelical churches.

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This article uses Wendy Moore’s concept of White institutional space to explain why Black people experience ostracization, microaggressions, and other forms of othering in predominantly White institutions. More than five decades since the official end of Jim Crow, Black people report Whites treating them as though they do not belong in predominantly White institutions. It is as though Black people are still integrating White spaces, even when other Black people are members in those spaces. Drawing on sociology, psychology, and education literatures and our own ethnographic research, we argue that Black people feel like they are integrating White institutional spaces because they are. White people have constructed a three-part system to protect the Whiteness of spaces as people of color struggle for increased membership in historically White institutions. The first part of the system is physical segregation, accomplished primarily through residential segregation and institutional siloing. The second part is segregation via microaggressions that ensure that only a few people of color enter White institutional space, that the few who enter are unlikely to disturb White institutional space, and any people of color who no longer consent to White normativity are quickly discovered and excised. Finally, Whites use cognitive tricks like subtyping, which define colleagues of color as special exceptions to their otherwise undesirable racial groups. Through a fictional chronicle, the authors demonstrate how White colleagues use physical separation, microaggressions, and subtyping to maintain the Whiteness of their White institutional space.

An underappreciated aspect of critical race theory (CRT) is its analysis of the intersection of race, law, religion, and spirituality. These topics are of concern to critical race theorists because a complete critique of U.S. law must account for how religion is embedded in the nation’s founding documents and subsequent jurisprudence. Recently, leading scholars have called for a theory that accounts for the codefining quality of race, racism, and religion. I argue that CRT is an appropriate answer to these calls. I demonstrate CRT’s utility by renewing the religion and spirituality-based critique of race law that undergirds early CRT. Then, I discuss the spirituality of CRT, noting its founders’ reliance on Christian tradition and the spiritual claims in its tenets. Finally, I suggest future lines for research and show how CRT speaks to several debates among religious practitioners and academic researchers.