Critical Race Theory

As I watch “the war on woke” being waged, I can’t help focusing on the portion that focuses on “Critical Race Theory”. All across the United States people are complaining about Critical Race Theory or CRT and the many people, especially some White people, are afraid it will be taught to their children, resulting in their children hating themselves and the United States; but what is Critical Race Theory?

In the mid-1970s, after the Civil Rights Era, many people held the belief that the United States had become a colorblind society. Legal scholars, including Derrick Bell, Alan Freeman, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Richard Delgado, Cheryl Harris, Charles R. Lawrence III, Mari Matsuda, and Patricia J. Williams created CRT in response to that errant theory.

It was their belief that racism had not been eradicated from the laws of the United States, our policies and institutions, and is woven into the fabric of our society including but not limited to education, housing, employment, and healthcare. Critical Race Theory recognizes and examines the fact that racism is more than the result of individual biases and prejudices and it is an academic response to the erroneous belief that the United States’ society, institutions, government and even corporations are colorblind. In truth, CRT is NOT taught to K-12 students, it is a college level elective taught in law school; meaning that even in law school, the only way a student is taught CRT is if they, as an adult, choose to take the course.

Why are so many White politicians trying so hard to ban Critical Race Theory from our K-12 children? They aren’t, they’re trying to erase the true history of the United States of America. The erasure of the true history of the United States does four things:

1. It removes the people of color, without whom the United States would not be the prosperous nation it has become

2. It creates the illusion that the United States is a nation of White people

3. It creates division among the citizens of the United States as many of the rapidly shrinking White majority refuses to accept the true history of the United States

4. Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it.

The citizens of the United States of America have been taught a bastardized version of United States history filled with lies, myths, fairytales and exclusions. Its citizens are asked to pledge allegiance to a flag and history created by imperfect people who not only committed monstrous crimes against humanity but also to ensure the citizens of the United States view those people as heroes to be admired and looked up to with reverence and respect; in so doing, it allows its citizens to knowingly or unknowingly align themselves with historical figures who committed a myriad of monstrous crimes against humanity while at the same time viewing their victims as villains.

From Christopher Columbus to the founding fathers to confederate soldiers to the various politicians, lawyers, corporate leaders, college and university leaders, bankers, doctors, etceteras of present date, the citizens of the United States have been brainwashed to not only believe a bastardized version of their history, but also to defend crimes against humanity and atrocities by saying it was a different time period to excuse horrific actions. But even in those “different times” there were many people both in the United States and around the world who believed crimes against humanity were being committed in and by the United States.

While CRT does look at the actual laws of the United States and the historic impact and ramifications those laws had regarding the race of non-White United States citizens, it is not the history children of the United States are taught.

Furthermore, despite the fact that CRT is not taught to the children of the United States, neither is the actual history of the minorities of this nation and the atrocities committed against those minorities by White citizens and the United States government.

Why do some people believe teaching “CRT” or more accurately the history of United States minorities is a bad thing? It’s difficult to get people, especially children, to revere and respect people who committed atrocities and crimes against humanity and they would find it difficult to admire the people who did such horrible things.

But maybe instead of lying about who those people actually were, maybe we, as a nation, should tell our children the truth, admit that they had some great ideas, like our constitution (which they borrowed from the Iroquois people) but some of their actions were horrific. Only then can we teach all American children to aspire to be better than the people of our past. If we as a nation move forward with the actual truth we can actually become a country of united states with united people.