It seems like Critical Race Theory (CRT for short) has become the new “BLM” or “Socialism” for certain political persuasions to rail against without really knowing what the are raging against. Where I live, it has become the new issue that drives random people to run for all kinds of political positions – everything from state level representatives to local school board positions. I am all for people getting involved n politics, but when a random local pool business owner decides to run for school board with no experience in schools (claiming his teacher wife as his “experience”), then I start to get concerned. When his platform is pretty much generic statements about “student and staff safety” and “reduce teacher shortages” with “against Critical Race Theory” tacked on at the end… well, you can sense that agenda a mile away.

Just bring up CRT in many places and you will be amazed at how many snowflakes need a safe space from such a dangerous idea (I say all of that ironically/not seriously, because those that rail against CRT are also often the ones that say such things against others). So what is this theory that will supposedly ruin our poor, defenseless children… the ones that always listen to us and never, ever think for themselves?

Let’s take a look at a neutral-ish source (or at least, something that strives for neutrality): CRT in the Encyclopedia Britannica. This article covers several tenets – so let’s focus on that. What are these foundations of CRT?

1. Race is a social construct, not a biological determination of superiority.
   (Okay, so CRT is against eugenics like we all should be, so nothing wrong with that.) 
2. Racism is a regular experience of most People of Color.
   (Which is true according to what I have heard any Person of Color say, so nothing wrong with acknowledging that.) 
3. Advances or set backs in legislation for People of Color tend to serve the interests of the dominant culture.
   (Okay, right – nothing really happens unless the people in control think it will benefit them.) 
4. There are negative stereotypes of People of Color in the news and media that are harmful.
   (Again, this is true – I see that myself every time I turn on the TV.) 
5. Due to “intersectionality,” we are all a product of the intersection of many different identities. We are not just one thing. I am not just a white person. I am a combination of white, male, Christian, educator, Texan, etc, etc, etc.
   (Another accurate tenet.) 
6. People of Color are uniquely qualified to speak about their own experiences with racism.
   (You would think this should be obvious… but apparently it isn’t or else it wouldn’t have to be said.)

So…. yeah… such dangerous ideas! (sarcasm alert for those not fluent)

The bigger question would be: what does someone mean by being “anti-CRT”? Does that mean they think that people are born inferior because of their skin color, that negative stereotypes are okay, that racism isn’t real, that white people can talk for People of Color about their experiences, etc? I mean, probably not (hopefully not?) – but without clarification of what they are FOR in regards to racism, they leave a lot that is open to interpretation.

And sure – I am summarizing the tenets of CRT to make them easier to understand. I did this for someone on Facebook last month (this post is an expansion of that comment) and they said “well, this makes sense – the media always tries to make it out to be about race.” Well… what I said above was all about race as well. Did they miss that because I didn’t point out that “dominant culture” means white people in the third point?

Probably. And that says a lot.

(And before anyone comes in with some “yeah, but that is not how it is applied! That is not what people really do with CRT!” and all of that… I would remind you that people also take the Bible and use it to justify all kinds of horrible things – stealing from the poor, raping children, abusive marriages, etc, etc, etc. If you don’t want people to hold misuses of the Bible against Christianity, then don’t hold misuses of CRT against the people that support the theory. As you can see, it holds a lot of excellent thoughts for how to understand our culture.)