Prepare yourselves for America’s latest political buzz phrase and hot-button/divisive race issue: critical race theory.
Racism
In case you’re unaware, critical race theory examines social, cultural, and legal issues as they relate to race and racism, while exploring how white supremacy, white power, and structural racism permeates throughout American culture and society. Or, in other words, it is an “awakening” to the existence of systemic racism in America and an attempt to educate how white privilege affects perception, the law, and nearly every facet of our everyday lives.
However, white conservatives have begun to turn critical race theory into a political “boogeyman” and, recognizing the political consequences to Republicans, are urging whites from sea to shining sea to reject the theory and demand that it not be taught in schools or even mentioned. Or, in other words, whites are growing increasingly uncomfortable discussing their white privilege or admitting how systemic racism embedded in our norms is perpetuating continued inequality.
The videotaped murder of George Floyd at the hands of police and the Black Lives Matter marches that ensued were huge wake-up calls for much of America. So were the myriad videotapes of whites calling police to report that African-Americans were guilty of committing such crimes as walking, driving, riding, eating, or otherwise “being Black.” These actions turned a mirror onto White America and showed them that racism is not just the act of a few wayward individuals, but is systemic and commonplace throughout our society. Or, to put it bluntly, it forced some in White America to become “woke” to reality and to stand in solidarity against racism and inequality.
Not surprisingly, not everyone in White America wants themselves or anyone else to be “woke.” Some whites are extremely comfortable with systemic racism coupled with their white privilege and will fight to the deaths to keep it.
Such is the case with conservative mouthpiece Glenn Beck, who used his national radio program last week to warn his audience that critical race theory was coming for everything that defines American culture.
“Baseball: unwatchable because of critical race,” he said sarcastically, before teasing an upcoming segment on its attacks on another American institution: “Wait until you hear the critical race theory on apple pie that has just come out — it’s unbelievable.”
Christopher Rufo, a documentary filmmaker turned conservative activist, is another White American who wants everybody to shut up about critical race theory and simply leave things as they’ve always been.
During an appearance last summer on Fox News, Rufo claimed the theory “pervaded every institution in the federal government” and “has become, in essence, the default ideology of the federal bureaucracy and is now being weaponized against the American people.”
He added that critical race theory is a “cult indoctrination” which poses a “grave threat to the nation.” He then called on Donald Trump to sign an executive order dismantling all initiatives within the federal government related to the theory — and Trump (who was watching Fox at the time) actually did it!
Trump immediately invited Rufo to The White House for a meeting, then ordered the federal government to cancel all diversity training within its ranks. Thankfully, President Biden has since rescinded Trump’s orders and reinstated diversity training and equality awareness.
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“Critical Race Theory” has become the song of the summer for right-wing media and politicians, the one they’re playing on repeat, returning to it when they’ve got nothing else on tap. And while there’s nothing particularly novel about this particular moral panic, it is serving a useful political purpose: arguing about critical race theory shifts the conversation away from the continued consequences of structural racism. – CNN
So, exactly why are so many conservative White Americans emphatically against critical race theory? It’s because too many other White Americans are becoming “woke” to their own white privilege (which puts it at risk of disappearing) — and because it’s teaching children in early school training that the real “boogeyman” is systemic racism which must be abolished.
The slogan “Make America Great Again” became popular among White Americans because it was a dog-whistle to protect white control, white privilege, and white supremacy — and promised to take the country back to a time when Black Americans knew their place and didn’t “rock the boat.” Now comes this critical race theory thing, which awakens the nation to the uncomfortable truths of white control, white privilege, and white supremacy — and how it’s time to end it on our police forces, in our judicial systems, and in our societal coexistence.
Conservative politicians have taken note and taken the fight against critical race theory to their perspective statehouses as a “family” issue. Idaho, Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma have each passed bills banning the teaching of certain race-related issues in schools and elsewhere. Earlier this month, the Florida State Board of Education banned teaching that racism is “embedded in American society and its legal systems in order to uphold the supremacy of white persons.” Another bill is under consideration in South Carolina while legislation is currently pending in several other states.
Or, in other words, they are fighting with everything they’ve got to prevent the truth about America’s racist history from being taught to children in our schools.
Proponents of critical race theory want America to wake up to and eradicate its racial inequalities and divisiveness — while certain conservative White Americans are doing everything in their power to maintain the status quo and protect white control at all cost.
Which side will win?
MSNBC:
At the conservative Faith and Freedom Forum this past week, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, launched an attack on critical race theory. Such rants have become a staple for Republicans lately, but Cruz set himself apart by asserting that the legal theory was “every bit as racist as the Klansmen in white sheets.”
Cruz offered no evidence for these claims, because there is none. Far from arguing that individual white people are all racist, critical race theorists assert that focusing on the actions of individuals is meaningless because racism is more deeply rooted in larger structural and systemic problems.
While Cruz’s claim that critical race theorists are “every bit as racist” as Klansmen is laughable, it notably fits into a larger historical pattern in which white southerners asserted that the critics of white supremacy were just as bad — or worse — than the defenders of white supremacy.