Critical Race Theory Explainer

by MOSES Racial Equity | Jul 21, 2021 | Information, Racial Equity, Racial Equity Team, Schools

This was written in July 2021 by  Pam Oliver

MOSES members have expressed concern about the current controversy around critical race theory. Some people have heard things that sound quite upsetting, such as children being required to identify with a particular race or being told that they have to announce/denounce their privilege. Right-wing media, politicians, and clergy are claiming that “critical race theory” is a moral threat to the nation, and there have been bills introduced in many states trying to ban discussions of critical race theory.

Main take-aways

1. Those attacking “critical race theory” are actually attacking all programs designed to address racial inequalities or reduce bias or the effects of past or present discrimination. They claim that critical race theory is a dangerous doctrine underneath any discussion of culturally responsive teaching, antiracism, equity, implicit bias, diversity, cultural humility, or social justice. They assert that all attempts to address issues of racial inequality are, themselves, inherently biased. 
2. These attacks are being driven by right-wing organizations that are using White fears for political advantage. Schools at all levels, including universities, all over the country, are being required to report on their “critical race” teaching and practices. There is a lot of right-wing activism trying to demand that all such teaching (in the broad and distorted way they define it) be banned. Some teachers have been fired already.
3. Critical race theory itself is a legal studies tradition that is part of broader critical race studies. In general, this work examines structural institutional racism and the ways White supremacy is so baked into institutions that they can and do replicate racial hierarchy without naming race. Within critical race studies, there are lots of disagreements about how things work and what the possibilities are for change.
4. Debates about the history of the US are central. Most pre-college history textbooks in the US provide a biased ideological White-centered history that focuses on European immigrants and downplays the displacement and genocide of Native Americans, the importance of African slavery to the country’s economic development, and the White violence that reimposed White domination in the South and elsewhere after the US Civil War. Many people believe it is important to lift up American ideals and national unity around this White-centric story and are very upset at histories that center non-White perspectives or that challenge the idea that the United States is the best and most moral and most democratic country in the world.. Many White people truly believe that national unity requires suppressing the stories of non-White people in the nation, and that any telling of the “bad” parts of history hurts national unity. 
5. It is important to say that there are lots of honest debates about how to talk to children — and adults for that matter — about inequality and the bad parts of history. There are honest debates about how to balance finding common ground with other groups with recognizing differences. There have, for example, been lots of critiques of probably well-meaning but flawed ways teachers have sought to explain slavery or racism to children. There are genuine debates among people who believe in diversity and inclusion about whether White privilege exercises are helpful or not. People are right to pay attention to exactly how material is being taught. But that is different from trying to ban all discussions of racism from classrooms and labeling everything that seeks to address issues of racism as antidemocratic and dangerous. These attacks on CRT are not honest debates, they are “panics” that label any and all programs seeking to address inequality as all the same and all dangerous. 

Suggested readings. 

• TRUTH BE TOLD | AAPF African American Policy Forum has short videos about CRT and links to state bills, as well as other information. 
• Critical Race Theory – Purdue Online Writing Lab An introduction to the  ideas ofCritical Race Theory written from the perspective of literary studies. 
• Perspective | Trump calls critical race theory ‘un-American.’ Let’s review. By sociologist Victor Ray. Reviews the general tenets of CRT and notes that banning discussions of race as “divisive” is consistent with CRT claims that the baseline for institutions and power is White needs and comfort.
• Why are states banning critical race theory? (brookings.edu)  Rashawn Ray and Alexandra Gibbons Friday, July 2, 2021 A short explainer of what CRT is/is not and why it is being attacked.
• The War on Critical Race Theory A longer piece about the attack on CRT Written by David Theo Goldberg, a professor of literature and anthropology. He distinguishes the different threads in critical race studies and lays out the sources of attacks on any attempt to redress grievances. 
• A ten-page handout from Race Forward about how to counter-narrate the attacks on CRT. 
• Teaching Race and Racism A series of short (~5 min each) videos teaching concepts relevant to racism, by a top sociologist of race, Tanya Golash Boza.
• Trans-Disciplinary Guidelines For Researching “Race” :: Institute for the Study of “Race” and Social Justice | The University of New Mexico 
• Critical race theory is a gift to Christians Christian Century argues that critical race theory can be linked to a Christian understanding of atonement for sin.
• Critical Race Theory In Wisconsin K12 Education  Right-wing attack on CRT that gives examples of what they are against. A careful read of this document will show:
  • it asserts that CRT is dangerous but provides no specific examples
  • it asserts that CRT is hidden in programs that seem to be about good things like respecting children’s cultures and that programs in support of equity or diversity or antiracism or social justice are inherently dangerous
  • it brings up the statistics about lower educational performance among Black children but then asserts that any attempt to address those issues is, itself, racist
• Critical Race Theory: What It Is and How to Fight It – Imprimis  This is a more intelligent-sounding attack on CRT that is more subtle. It 
  • asserts that CRT is “really” Marxism (bringing back the anti-Communist warhorse)
  • discovers that there are Black anti-racists who are also anti-capitalist (and seems particularly to hate Ibrahim Kendhi)
  • gives some decontextualized examples of children being asked to write about their racial, ethnic, cultural, gender, etc. identities (as if this is obviously bad) and to inventory their levels of privilege (again as if this is obviously bad)
  • demands that all forms of diversity training or antiracist education be banned
  • asserts [incorrectly] that CRT says race determines everything
  • says that the facts of slavery etc. are undeniable but that it is “revolutionary” to say that racism is baked into the whole system

• The critical race theory panic has White people afraid that they might be complicit in racism  This CNN article reprinted in Madison365 includes interviews with opponents of CRT; the writer is clearly pro-CRT.
• Ibrahim Kendhi, author of How to be an Anti-Racist, and target of a lot of the anti-CRT people, says the anti-CRT people are arguing against something that does not exist Opponents of Critical Race Theory Are Arguing With Themselves  

• The race-based adjustment for kidney functioning that’s harming Black Americans. And, this is not about CRT at all but is an EXAMPLE of baked-in institutional racism. Throughout medicine, there are many formulas that “adjust” medical scores so that Black people have to be in medically worse condition to qualify for medical treatment. In this case, a biracial boy is denied a kidney transplant he would qualify for if he were classified as White.  
• Structural Racism Isn’t Wokeness, It’s Reality – by David French – The French Press  This essay is by a conservative Christian writer who cites examples from the Bible of God requiring intergenerational accountability for past national sins and gives clear examples of how racist structures from the past can be maintained in the present from nonracist motives.
• Podcast facilitated by Wisconsin’s Gloria Ladsen-Billings about teaching and what CRT is and is not, as well as what the core issues are.  Going to the Source 
• 10-minute YouTube video by Gloria Ladsen-Billings explaining CRT Gloria Ladson-Billings – Critical Race Theory 
• Podcast by Kimberlee Crenshaw, one of the “founders” of critical race theory, about why teaching truth is important. Kimberlé Crenshaw on Teaching the Truth about Race in America (ep. 168)
• Schools facing critical race theory battles are diversifying rapidly, analysis finds  This report by NBC news says that school districts facing anti-CRT protests have become markedly less White in recent years and also links the protests to partisan politics.
  • Critical race theory battle invades school boards — with help from conservative groups Another NBC report  
• A clear explainer from Teen Vogue Critical Race Theory Fights Resemble Anti-Integration Fights