Walk into a classroom anywhere around the United States; you are not likely to see a teacher say, “The United States is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist.” If anything, you are likely to see the opposite. Conversations critical of the United States do not happen often within history classes. We learn of our glorious past and tend to glance over our less pristine moments. Recently, due to the Black Lives Matter Movement and the national reckoning that came with it, many people have had to come to terms with our past and its systemic impacts on communities of color. These conversations have found their way into every facet of our society, including our schools. Many conservative groups believed that these discussions took a radical turn and began to pinpoint Critical Race Theory as the culprit. However, the theory isn’t even taught within our education system. In fact, just years ago, CRT was a niche legal framework utilized by academics in higher education. How and why, then, has it become a subject of such intense scrutiny by conservative media?
Critical race theory explains how racism is systemic, addressing how it is a significant part of the United States’s laws and institutions. Created by Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and other legal scholars, CRT stands on five tenets. First, race is a social construct, one that was created to oppress those of darker complexions. Second, individual racist actions are not unique events conducted by “bad apples;” they are the result of a system designed to oppress. Third, historical context is of the utmost importance: previous actions conducted by a racist government have led to racist institutions. The fourth tenet focuses on people of color and their experiences within this system, acknowledging that critical race theory is not only focused on race but also analyzes the world through interdisciplinary traditions such as feminism and Marxism. Finally, the fifth tenet encapsulates their goal that fighting racial oppression is only the first step towards ending oppression of all types.
Backlash against CRT began on Fox News when conservative activist Christopher Rufo stated that he would be “declaring a one-man war against critical race theory in the federal government.” He was energized by his personal vendetta against CRT, a legal theory he believed was rooted in Marxism. A couple of days after the segment was aired, former President Trump disallowed implicit bias and diversity training by government agencies. Since then, the issue has only been escalated by conservative media and Trump. The most dangerous aspect of this new “culture war” is that what was once a niche legal theory has become demonized and conflated with any measure of liberal reform that attempts to address systemic racism. This can be seen evidently through bills in state legislatures trying to outlaw critical race theory education in schools across the country.
After a summer of protests and confrontation with the results of centuries of oppression, many teachers sought to address the social realities unfolding across the country in their classrooms. However, the vast majority of these teachers did not expressly refer to nor completely follow the framework of critical race theory — they were just trying to have an honest conversation about race. Even still, the dangerous rhetoric identifying any type of racial education as a version of CRT led to legislation attempting to outlaw it. Taken to an extreme, CRT has been equated with racism against white people. Fox News has mentioned CRT in a negative light over 1000 times since March, and a segment from Newsmax warned that teaching critical race theory leads to white students being attacked and treated like Jewish people in Nazi Germany. In many states where bills have been proposed, like Kansas and Missouri, critical race theory is not even taught in school classrooms, as the framework itself was created and utilized by those in higher education and legal fields.
CRT has become a “catchall” to outlaw the education of anything related to systemic racism, white privilege, and even basic concepts of equity. Some of the proposed state bills specifically mention critical race theory, while others do not. But they all have similar wording that works to be extremely vague. Could explaining basic American history with references to race fall under “critical race theory” education? Teachers afraid of backlash may refuse to even come close to any race-related conversation. In the state of Oklahoma an anti-CRT bill was signed into law earlier this year. Oklahoma City teacher Telannia Norfar stated that she feared intense backlash if she were to teach about George Floyd’s murder — a chilling example of what is taking place around the country. Continuing to sign such bills into law could possbly even ensure widespread censorship of American struggles with racism, specifically conversations around slavery, Jim Crow, and other histories that include people of color and their oppression.
Conversations around the truth of our past are of the utmost importance. These do not seek to blame students and create division; rather, they intend to confront our national issues head on. It’s impossible to better ourselves if we don’t understand our previous mistakes and the impacts they have on our current national situation. As Fordham University professor Justin A. Coles has said, “It is sort of this almost escapism — it’s like, if we don’t have to talk about race, then not only as individuals but as a country, we never have to atone for or reckon with this history.”
All classroom conversations about race are not critical race theory, nor are they attempts to make students hate the United States — they are usually honest, good-faith efforts to pave a better path for our future. CRT itself is not a tool of communist indoctrination and racism towards white people, nor is it an attempt to divide the students that are being taught it — it is an important tool utilized in higher education to understand systemic racism. The conversation around critical race theory has been manufactured for the benefit of conservative activists and their ideals. It is a dangerous endeavor that will lead to censorship of true American history and further a narrative of American exceptionalism in classrooms and beyond. We must teach and educate students about our faults. These faults must be at the forefront of the conversation because we cannot ignore the entanglement between racism and American institutions if we are to fix its issues.
Image by NeONBRAND is licensed under the Unsplash License.
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