Deep-seated structural racism in the U.S. has been thrown into bold relief by the racially disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 and a series of highly visible police murders of Black Americans. Longstanding and intergenerational economic inequalities have been laid bare by the ensuing economic recession. This special issue's focus on how people critique, challenge, negotiate and change inequities is therefore particularly (and, unfortunately) relevant and timely. These three papers approach critical consciousness from three distinct angles. In this commentary, I will offer several points of praise for these three papers, along with a few suggestions on ways that the authors' lines of thinking could be extended or more nuanced. I will identify a few themes that cut across these three papers: (1) the importance of focusing on critical action, (2) how these papers advance our thinking on how, when, and for whom CC develops, with specific attention paid to the social identities, life phases, and events that impact CC, and (3) a deepening of our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of CC. In reviewing these three papers, I consider how each of them adds to the collective conversation about the ways that we might recognize, challenge, and work to change marginalizing systems and transform inequity to create a more just world.

中文翻译：

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挑战极限：批判意识的人、事、时间和原因

由于 COVID-19 的种族不成比例的影响和一系列高度可见的美国黑人警察谋杀案，美国根深蒂固的结构性种族主义得到了大胆的缓解。随后的经济衰退暴露了长期存在的代际经济不平等。因此，本期特刊关注人们如何批评、挑战、谈判和改变不公平现象，因此特别（而且不幸的是）具有相关性和及时性。这三篇论文从三个不同的角度探讨了批判意识。在这篇评论中，我将对这三篇论文提出几点赞誉，并就作者的思路可以扩展或更细微的方式提出一些建议。我将确定跨越这三篇论文的几个主题：(1) 关注关键行动的重要性，(2) 这些论文如何推进我们对 CC 发展的方式、时间和对象的思考，并特别关注影响 CC 的社会身份、生活阶段和事件，以及(3)加深我们对CC的前因后果的理解。在审阅这三篇论文时，我考虑了他们每篇论文如何加入关于我们可能认识、挑战和努力改变边缘化系统和改变不平等以创造更公正世界的方式的集体对话。