Critical Race Theory: The Collegiate Study That Took the Country by Storm
*Disclaimer: This OP-ED article expresses and reflects the author’s views — not affiliated with the apolitical values of VotingSmarter.
By Sean Duffy, Content Writer at VotingSmarter
Critical Race theory is one of the newest culture war flashpoints to dominate American politics as of late. Yet despite this theory dominating platforms like Fox News, CNN, or late-night talk shows, many people probably could not tell you a single thing about it. While Critical Race Theory is used as a catch-all today, the actual academic study has existed for decades. CRT is only taught at the graduate level for those pursuing law. But Critical Race Theory, as it is known to the average person is far from the legal classes you would see in graduate school. In the public zeitgeist, the theory is all-encompassing and an easy boogeyman to fearmonger. Why, though? Why did an academic study intended to explain the systemic racism within the judicial system during the ’70s and 80’s and beyond become a mainstay on cable news for hours a day?
First, let’s simply define what exactly CRT is, straight from the American Bar Association.
“CRT is not a diversity and inclusion ‘training’ but a practice of interrogating the role of race and racism in our society that emerged in the legal academy and spread to other fields of scholarship… It critiques how the social construction of race and institutionalized racism perpetuate a racial caste system that relegates people of color to the bottom tiers. CRT also recognizes that race intersects with other identities, including sexuality, gender identity, and others. CRT recognizes that racism is not a bygone relic of the past. Instead, it acknowledges that the legacy of slavery, segregation, and the imposition of second-class citizenship on Black Americans and other people of color continue to permeate the social fabric of this nation.”
That last part, that’s where the real crux of the issue lies. Conservatives want to believe that systemic racism no longer exists and that the past is the past and has no effect on the present. So, CRT is another angle to attack that line and ignore oppression. Polls show this issue is split between ideological and generational divides and that separation doesn’t seem to be easing up over time.
Saying systemic racism still exists and affects Black Americans is not an uncontroversial opinion to hold in the U.S. No number of studies, research, etc., will change those with such a hardline stance on this issue. One of the most recent examples, where the Beverly Hills police task force arrested 105 black people out of 106 arrests (over 99%), and one dark-skinned Latino person. The unit was established only a year ago in one of the richest municipalities in the U.S. with a black population of 2%. Yet the arrests were a supermajority of black. A lawsuit was filed alleging racial profiling, with one specific case being the viral incident where a VP for Versace was frisked and harassed by police while holding a Versace bag filled with his own designs. But again, all the examples in the world won’t change how the culture war is waged.
Another crux to this whole situation is the education system. Not the post-graduate, $50,000 in debt, depressed millennials, but the children. Think about the children and how they would understand law theory before they even develop object permanence. One of the main complaints towards CRT is that it is invading schools and that it is meant to indoctrinate children to have them believe they are oppressors. Simply put, it is not. School boards have been flooded with fiery rants, virulent spectators, and confused faculty. Many of these viral cases come from people attending outside their own district and, in some cases, don’t even have children in the school system. Yet they have made it a toxic wasteland for anyone sitting in, many meetings fully being derailed by their incoherent rants that have no basis in reality. These school districts are not teaching CRT, nor do they have any motive to. This is not law school. Elementary, middle, and high school are not a pipeline straight into the law profession. In many cases, the law isn’t even taught at K-12 unless you specifically enroll in a distinct class.
Again, it is not Critical Race Theory that is the problem. It is the ideas it permeates. It is the idea of racial equity, systemic racism, and white supremacy. Already states have put forth laws to ban Critical Race Theory from education. States like Texas have gone so far as to exclude any talk about current events, or encouraging civic engagement, or teaching the history of racism in America. Teachers in Texas are afraid this could derail education for everyone, and discourage any difficult yet necessary talks. The Texas bill is purposely kept vague as to paint broad strokes with the legislation and make educators wary of backlash to issues that are a necessary part of education. Martin Luther King III spoke out about how conservatives have twisted his father’s words to attack his own father’s ideals. “Yes, we should judge people by the content of the character and not the color of their skin — but that is when we have a true, just, humane society where there are no biases, where there is no racism, where there is no discrimination,” Martin Luther King III said. “Unfortunately, all of these things still exist.” You can’t even teach that white supremacy is morally wrong. How is anybody, let alone educators, supposed to teach U.S. history if the context of race and racism cannot be explored. Just try and think of a way. Think, how would one describe slavery in the U.S. without race. What happens when kids will inevitably question why someone would enslave another. These bills are aimed at deterring public thought, to retroactively instill that systemic racism not only doesn’t exist today but that the past was not rife with it.
Schools should teach controversial and upsetting topics. There needs to be an outlet to discuss such issues in an environment meant for learning. If you feel guilt simply by proxy of skin color, why? Don’t feel guilty about slavery or segregation. That’s not what these movements’ goals are; they are not aiming to make white people feel guilty to be white. But also, do not fully dismiss the idea that systemic racism or racial animosity still exists. Society is built upon generations of work, a snap of the finger does not solve the situation automatically. If we as a society cannot accept the faults in our past and aim to reconcile those fully, then we will be doomed to repeat them.
