Critical Race Theory – An ACTUAL Explanation

Published by Scotties Playtime

I am an older gay guy in a long-term wonderful relationship. My spouse and I are in our 34th year together. I love politics and news. I enjoy civil discussions and have no taboo subjects. My pronouns are he / him / his and my email is scottiesplaytime@gmail.com

28 thoughts on “Critical Race Theory – An ACTUAL Explanation”

    1. Hello Jeff. The comments have been lively haven’t they? I plan to post three more articles on the anti-gay and two on the anti-trans stuff and maybe one more on abortion if I get time tonight. I had a long day and a late start because of an eye appointment late morning.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  2. This is not an explanation of critical race theory and has zero to do with public backlash towards the anti-racism activism taught first to educators in teacher colleges who then import this ideology into the nation’s classrooms. This a performative exercise by Franken and uses Hill as his foil. Hill tries to give some background on the Marxist class ideology re-purposed by the Frankfurt group into what become postmodernism but his very poor ‘explanation’ of this gets the decades wrong and claims in error that the legal theory is what the ‘Republicans’ (read, parents) are ‘bitching’ about now when it is not. Nobody cares about the philosophical power hierarchy described by the whole ‘critical’ school of thinking in everyday life. What people care about is the anti-racism activism going on today and blank slate approval by education districts across the country… and now polluting education elsewhere (see Bill 67 in Ontario absolutely predicated not on education, not on necessary reading and writing and numeracy skills needed for life, but on anti-racism as the primary driver. Leave it to the Old Curmudgeon but ever-so articulate Rex Murphy to describe why it is so pernicious here).

    So these guys can wave away the concern and watching them do this one might be tempted to think, Yeah, it’s no big deal. But here’s the question – the critical question to ask yourself: why are Republicans using CRT as an effective electoral strategy if CRT isn’t really a thing? Why is the American Petroleum Industry Council using CRT strategy to smear climate activists and anyone who thinks renewables are the way forward? If CRT isn’t really a problem – and these clowns assure us it really isn’t – then why did 15% of white American mothers of school age children in Virginia in a matter of 10 days following a CRT defense by the poll-leading Democratic governor swing the election to the Republicans over exactly this issue?

    Yes, it’s a very big deal for educators to kowtow to the ideological framing of equity to determine racism and then indoctrinate children with this ideology.

    Something is deeply wrong about CRT as it is practiced in schools throughout the US and beyond. And that explanation is claimed in this video to be based only on some vast ignorance, some denial of racism, some threat to whiteness, some rewriting of history. That’s all bunk. In fact, I don’t think this is a good way for Democrats – a good strategy to wave away concerns over CRT – to go into the midterms by telling the electorate: I think you’re all idiots and dupes and your real life concerns about your kids’ education proves you’re a racist… so vote for me!

    Like

    Reply

    1. Hello Tildeb. It sure is an explanation of what CRT is and what people think it is in the US. the entire CRT issue is a made up boogieman by Republican operative Christopher Rufo.

      Rufo has played a key role in the national debate, defining diversity trainings and other programs as critical race theory, putting out examples that legislators and others then cite — though not all of Rufo’s details hold up to scrutiny.

      He continues to appear regularly on Fox News to discuss the issue and often offers strategic advice over how to win the political fight. In March, he wrote on Twitter that his goal was to conflate any number of topics into a new bucket called critical race theory.

      “We have successfully frozen their brand—’critical race theory’—into the public conversation and are steadily driving up negative perceptions. We will eventually turn it toxic, as we put all of the various cultural insanities under that brand category,” Rufo wrote. “The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory.’ We have decodified the term and will recodify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans.”

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/06/19/critical-race-theory-rufo-republicans/ Since you like long written stuff here is a great explanation of how this entire issue was made up for political purposes. https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/how-a-conservative-activist-invented-the-conflict-over-critical-race-theory

      The Republican propaganda plays into the hands of the racist bigots who also believe that whites are being replace and corporations that do not want to be forced to endorse diversity along with women’s rights by having to give anti-discrimination diversity training. Here is just one example but the article lists several and they are mostly the same, don’t make white people feel bad or uncomfortable.

      The language of these bills is anodyne and fuzzy—compel, for instance, is never defined in the Idaho legislation—and that ambiguity appears to be deliberate. According to Ammon, “using taxpayer funds to promote ideas such as ‘one race is inherently superior to another race or sex’ … only exacerbates our differences.” But critics of these efforts warn that the bills would effectively prevent public schools and universities from holding discussions about racism; the New Hampshire measure in particular would ban companies that do business with government entities from conducting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. “The vagueness of the language is really the point,” Leah Cohen, an organizer with Granite State Progress, a liberal nonprofit based in Concord, told me. “With this really broad brushstroke, we anticipate that that will be used more to censor conversations about race and equity.”

      Here is what CRT is and where it is taught.

      critical race theory (CRT), intellectual and social movement and loosely organized framework of legal analysis based on the premise that race is not a natural, biologically grounded feature of physically distinct subgroups of human beings but a socially constructed (culturally invented) category that is used to oppress and exploit people of colour. Critical race theorists hold that racism is inherent in the law and legal institutions of the United States insofar as they function to create and maintain social, economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites, especially African Americans. Critical race theorists are generally dedicated to applying their understanding of the institutional or structural nature of racism to the concrete (if distant) goal of eliminating all race-based and other unjust hierarchies.

      https://www.britannica.com/topic/critical-race-theory

      Critical Race Theory, or CRT, is an academic and legal framework that denotes that systemic racism is part of American society — from education and housing to employment and healthcare. Critical Race Theory recognizes that racism is more than the result of individual bias and prejudice. It is embedded in laws, policies and institutions that uphold and reproduce racial inequalities. According to CRT, societal issues like Black Americans’ higher mortality rate, outsized exposure to police violence, the school-to-prison pipeline, denial of affordable housing, and the rates of the death of Black women in childbirth are not unrelated anomalies.

      https://www.naacpldf.org/critical-race-theory-faq/

      Where is CRT taught.

      IS CRITICAL RACE THEORY BEING TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS?

      There is little to no evidence that critical race theory itself is being taught to K-12 public school students, though some ideas central to it, such as lingering consequences of slavery, have been. In Greenwich, Connecticut, some middle school students were given a “white bias” survey that parents viewed as part of the theory.

      Republicans in North Carolina point to the Wake County Public School System as an example, saying teachers participated in a professional development session on critical race theory. County education officials canceled a future study session once it was discovered but insist the theory is not part of its classroom curriculum.

      “Critical race theory is not something we teach to students,” said Lisa Luten, a spokeswoman for the school system. “It’s more of a theory in academia about race that adults use to discuss the context of their environment.”

      https://www.al.com/news/2021/06/what-is-critical-race-theory-is-it-really-taught-in-schools.html

      WHY IS CRITICAL RACE THEORY IMPORTANT IN K-12 EDUCATION?
      CRITICAL RACE THEORY ITSELF IS NOT BEING TAUGHT IN K-12 SCHOOLS! Critical race theory itself is not being taught in K-12 schools (unless you’re talking about some very advanced students!). However, the research and scholarship that inform CRT have greatly shifted how many education experts view our school systems.

      Critical race theory emerged in legal circles, but it has spread to other areas of scholarship and policymaking, including education. For instance, in our nation’s schools, we still have sizable and stubborn gaps in academic proficiency between white children and their Black, Latinx and Native American peers. CRT has been helpful to education leaders as they seek to disentangle the systems in our communities and schools that oppress students of color, and hinder their ability to thrive.

      By starting from the well-established fact that academic proficiency is not related to the color of one’s skin, critical race theory pushes policymakers to look beyond the individual students and instead look at the system around them. Shifting our language from “achievement gap” to “education debt” or “opportunity gap” is one step on the journey. In what ways have our systems of education, health and housing blocked opportunity for Black and brown children? How do we eliminate those barriers?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  3. Pingback: CRITICAL RACE THEORY – AN ACTUAL EXPLANATION. scottiesplaytime.com | | Ramblings of an Occupy Liberal

  4. Excellent interview … if only all those who are up in arms about CRT would take the time to actually understand it … But alas, that would require stopping and thinking on their own, something they seem to be incapable of these days. The mob mentality rules.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. If only CRT apologists would stop assuming critics don’t know they’re talking about, we wouldn’t be empowering the political right to take election after election after election enabled so many blind anti-liberals supposedly on the Left to feel ever so superior and virtuous.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I’m willing to bet that 90% of the people critical of CRT do not understand the concept. There is a bit more than CRT as to why the right wins elections, though … they do it by lying to people, by creating fear or building on the fear of “other” that people already have. I don’t think those of us who are liberal-minded or “on the Left” feel superior at all, but we do read, we do our own research when we hear a claim made, and we DO care more about people than profit and power.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

        1. Because election results often depend on a fairly small swing from the moderate center, it is the movement here away from the Democrats that I am saying is often caused by extreme left wing ideology brought forward (like CRT) and then endorsed by the leadership. This seems to happen over and over and over. So I’m saying the Left should not allow – should self correct- this ideological takeover of the entire party by the tiny fraction of members from this fringe BECAUSE it sways enough voters in this volatile middle to vote for an alternative no matter how bad the alternative might be. This is why I keep pointing to the Virginia governor’s race that demonstrated exactly this rapid shift BECAUSE CRT was endorsed by the Democrats and enough parents made aware of how this looked in classrooms during COVID that they were outraged and brought their concerns forward. In response, they magically became bigots. So the Republicans won… not because of anything other than THEY WERTE NOT DEMOCRATS. This is both why and how Democrats seem dedicated to losing elections, supporting extreme anti-liberal ideology over people. And this is what I hear over and over and over from my relatives living in different states who hold their nose and vote Republican BECAUSE the Democrats are far worse.

          Think about that. None are ill educated or stupid or partisan voters or motivated by bigotry, white supremacy, Fox News, or Trump. They are moderates who vote differently every election. One is gay, one is in a mixed marriage, two are religious, several with children, some are single, all have degrees or advanced degrees. All have voted Republican and tell me this is why: any alternative is ‘better’. Whether all are right or wrong doesn’t matter; what matter is that reasoning is the wake-up call too many Democrats simply are not hearing when they double down on being the best little ideologues they can be.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

            1. Hello Tildeb. That may be how they feel but it doesn’t fit the facts. The Democratic party has lurched to the right since the 1980s. In fact many of the things the progressive caucus is fighting for now were the standard positions of the entire party back in the 1970s. The situation is the Overton window has moved drastically right. Here is what happened. The right moved right, so to keep the center the left moved right. The right moved even more to the right, and so the left followed even more to the right. The right moved to the very far right and the left moved to follow so that they now are where the right started out. Ronald Reagan would be thought of as a conservative Democrat and far too liberal for the Republican party. So the party did not leave your relatives by moving left. The fact is the majority of the country is more liberal on the political spectrum. When polled on which unmarked polices they like and support, the ones pushed by the Democrats are the ones the majority picks. It is when you add a D or R to the policy that the people suddenly say they don’t like it. But that is changing. The extreme right pushed too hard too fast and used their gains to shove everything so far right the people hate it. A good example is the SCOTUS which is taking away rights that most of the people support. So it is not an extreme left problem, it is an extreme right problem. And the wishes and desires of the majority of the public are being ignored by Republicans on the far right to cater to the wealthy to make sure the government only works for the wealthy / large corporations but never serves the needs or works for the people. Corporations which are owned by the wealthy need a desperate work force willing to take jobs at any wage in any conditions to maximize profit. So the needs of the people go unmet. The system of legalized bribery called lobbying props up a minority right wing political class using right wing media and the people are convinced to vote against their interest by propaganda that talks about a fake extreme left taking over the country via the liberal Democrats. That is the truth.

              Liked by 1 person

              Reply

          2. Hello Tildeb. You seem really into and concerned about US politics and our political parties. I am especially interested in how often you slant things with far right phrases like “extreme left wing”. You have talked about that before during the conversation on military funding and peace dividends. I tried to explain then that we don’t have such a large demand to defund the military here in the US and I figured you were talking about Canada. I was under the assumption you were Canadian. However other than less than a dozen or so members of the US congress that wants to shift military funding to social programs there is not large scale push by the public. Except in the right wing media and the far right media hosts minds.

            There is no large scale hard left take over of the Democratic party. Again that is a right wing talking point. Trust me as a progressive I want a takeover of the Democratic party now control by corporate democrats that have been bought by the wealthy.

            I love when people point to Virginia and blame far left policies and candidates. The Democratic candidate for governor was a corporate democrat center leaning right. He was an American businessman and politician. He was co-chairman of President Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign, chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005 and chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. He was as far from the left side of the party as you could get without being a Republican. But i was reading a an interesting article on the loss in Virginia. Seems it may not had as much to do with the school issue and swing votes as you and others have assumed.

            More generally, TargetSmart took a look at the voter-file information recently made available by Virginia and drew attention to some rather dramatic turnout numbers that seemed to suggest parents of school-age children in the Washington and Richmond suburbs weren’t the keys to this election:

            Turnout among voters age 75 or older increased by 59%, relative to 2017 while turnout among voters under age 30 only increased by just 18%. Notably, turnout of all other age groups combined (18-74), which would likely include parents of school-aged children, only increased by 9% compared to 2017.

            These are massive changes in the electorate in an election that was far from a blowout: Youngkin won by just 2%.

            It’s common for seniors to turn out to vote significantly more than younger cohorts in non-presidential elections. But the figures for Virginia in 2021 were unusually large:

            Voters age 65 and older are an estimated 15.9% of Virginia’s population according to the census, yet accounted for 31.9% of all ballots cast in 2021.

            348,314 more seniors (ages 65+) voted in Virginia’s 2021 gubernatorial election than in the 2016 presidential election.

            TargetSmart calls it a “silver surge.” Whatever you call it, it seems to suggest that variable turnout patterns rather than swing voting was the biggest deal in Youngkin’s win. It’s also what a December analysis in FiveThirtyEight of precinct-level data showed, indicating that the big net gains by Youngkin were in Democratic- and Republican-base areas, not in highly competitive swing areas. And for that matter, that’s what the much-discounted exit polls suggested, as Ron Brownstein pointed out right after the election:

            Compared with the 2017 governor’s race, or the 2020 presidential contest in the state, the electorate Tuesday was older, whiter, less college-educated, and more Republican, the exit polls found. Census figures show that voters of color have increased as a share of the state’s eligible voter population since 2017, but in the exit polls nonwhite voters plummeted from about one-third of the electorate in both 2020 and 2017 to only a little over one-fourth this year. Voters under 30 fell from 20 percent of the vote in 2020 and 14 percent in 2017 to just 10 percent Tuesday. College graduates shrank from nearly three-in-five voters in 2017 to just under half. And although Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 11 percentage points in the 2017 electorate, the exit polls found that GOP voters almost exactly equaled them this year. 

            https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/03/democrats-learned-the-wrong-lessons-from-losing-virginia.html

            Liked by 1 person

            Reply

      2. Hello Tildeb. If the anti-CRT people would understand what they are really against it would help. Instead most jsut repeat the talking points pushed on right wing media by Christopher Rufo and those he has coached. Even he admits it was a created controversy to help republicans stir up their base. Accept the facts. The racist and the bigots in the US have adopted the Russian model of if it cannot be taught or seen it publicly then it can be used to attack your enemy and they cannot effectively fight back. People who say that CRT, which is a legal theory and higher education study, is taught in grade schools shows they do not know what they are talking about. They are dutifully repeating right wing talking points to attack the left, without understanding they are attack shadows that don’t exist.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

        1. CRT as it is demonstrated in classrooms. This is CRT in action. It is race essentialism – coined ‘anti-racist’ and it is racist to the core BECAUSE it frames the world in a power hierarchy BASED on race. Those who support the teaching of this framing in schools are in fact and practice racist and not those who criticize it.

          Following the ideologue’s script promoting race essentialism to be taught (the foundational principle of CRT), take the criticizer, question their morality and character, assign political partisanship, add a few derogatory descriptors, and then dismiss on this basis anything and everything such deplorable person from over there in that other despicable camp would say or write. Oh, and such people can be easily identified because they are ones raising the criticism! See how easy it is?

          Oh… okay, agrees the ideologue. That’s what you’ve regurgitated here: a tactic of denialism.

          So sure, dismiss Rufo. Fine. Now dismiss Michael DC Bowen who says, “the balance is tilting towards a toxic ‘anti-racism’ that is actually deeply racist.”

          My point exactly.

          But sure, dismiss it all. Those concerned parent switching their vote away from the Democrats over this very issue are somehow now all Republican scum and deplorable dupes of Fox News and Christopher Rufo. Sure. That’s rational. Do what cultists everywhere do: dismiss reality itself if it interferes with the claims made by your religious belief and substitute the charge of blasphemy. That’s what you’re doing, over and over again. Sure, quote the ‘sophisticated theologian’ to obfuscate the lies and deceit and empty claims by playing with words but never, ever, consider the actual criticisms raised. Just deny. Yup, no such thing as CRT is taught in classrooms below legal theory in post secondary. Sure. Let’s all pretend that’s true and remain mystified why there’s now a Republican governor in Virginia when the Democrat led in the polls almost up until election time. Let’s just vilify the popularity gained when anti-CRT laws are passed. They’re all bad people. Just go along with the righteous belief that all we have do is stay certain in our ideological beliefs to win out in the end, that whites are bad and POC are good and who cares about Asians and Jews. And you are making such equivalent faith-based claims by pretending anti-racism programs are magically and miraculously disassociated from its mother theory CRT from which they directly descend. Anti-racism policies are in reality race essential, and so race is the primary consideration. That defines racism. That defines the foundation of CRT. There is no CRT without race essentialism and there is no racism WITHOUT race essentialism!

          But never mind that uncomfortable connection and never mind that race essentialism called ‘anti-racism’ is being imposed on children. That’s something else, I guess. And it’s all good, because, you know, its anti-racism. Millions of people who dissent from this certainty that it is good, that it is somehow not quite racist when race is the defining concern, have no cause other than bigotry, white supremacy, intolerance, historical whitewashing, yada, yada, yada. So… when, not if, Republicans gain majority rule in all three branches of government running on this issue, you can go back to feeling like a persecuted minority and it’s all the fault of everyone else. Never the ideologue, never the rejected ideology, because these victimized champions – like fundamentalist religious believers – are always the virtuous ones.

          And you wonder why I as a liberal think you’re foolishness in supporting systemic racism inherent in race essentialism through the indoctrination of children of antiracism ideology costs us all? I’m doing the best I can to show you your foolishness and you’re just waving it away as another Rufo-inspired right wing bias. Utter foolishness.

          Like

          Reply

          1. Hello Tildeb. Hogwash. In the US the hierarchal power is based in race. That and being a cis male. It always has been. Look at the fight just to put a black women on the SCOTUS when she is more qualified than all the ones currently on the court. White Christian cis males ran the US for a long time. Even though the founders were not all Christians That has been the predominate religion in power in the US for most of its history. White Christian cis males had to accept the loss of slaves, but even Lincoln did not think blacks were equal to whites. First the White Christain cis males had to share power with the females and they hated that. Then in the 1960s they were forced to share their power and wealth with the blacks and they really hated that. Then in the last two decades they have had to share their power with the LGBTQ+ and that drove them over the edge. The white Christian cis male has felt under attack by being prevented from have an assumed authority / power over women, blacks, the other religions, and the non-cis. Everyone not like them was gaining what they felt was their place in the world. That is what the big fearmongering on the right is about. It is why the drives to limit blacks from voting and knowing the ways the white men tried to keep them oppressed, stopping women from positions of power and keeping them home subservient to men, removing books and affirmative messages about the LGBTQ+ from schools so children can be taught to hate and discriminate before they are exposed to the idea of tolerance of others and that being different is OK.

            Liked by 1 person

            Reply

    2. Hello Jill. I agree. It seems some on the right disagree and want to make issues. I will address them in a bit. I found the interview very informative and as you say those complaining about it in schools do not understand what CTY is. They are complaining about a made up boogieman and the teaching of real history. As the interview said the CRT issue was a made up controversy by a republican operative. Hugs

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Here’s your made-up boogeyman: Bill 67, which directs education policy and requirements for the K-12 population AND THEIR TEACHERS in Ontario.

        Claiming CRT exercised in classrooms is made up is a straight up denial of reality and replacing it with a lie. If you want to find CRT in classrooms across the country, there are THOUSANDS of disturbing examples. I recommend you start learning what’s really going on by subscribing to FAIR.

        Like

        Reply

          1. Hello Tildeb. Apples and oranges really. Here is the situation the right has taken a kernel of truth and made it the entire field of corn. The legal theory of CRT, the “critical” part of it, is not taught in any non-advanced education classes or facilities. It is not taught in K-12. What is taught is the information that CRT was based on, the discrimination faced by black people. And that is what the right and seemingly you want to stop being taught. Kids were being taught about the horrors of slavery (Texas passed rules that textbooks must referred to slaves as non-paid immigrant workers and Virgina textbooks talk about how slaves loved being slaves, it was better for them, and that the owners were so kind and loving. As if the slaves were pets and not humans) Kids were being taught age appropriate information about how black people are treated today and discriminated against. That caused white parents to feel guilt, not sure why unless they were doing discrimination against black people. The racist love the uproar and the passing of don’t teach that black people are discriminated against, and they want to make it seem black people are inferior. It is the same idea as the don’t say gay laws, stop people from talking or learning about it and it will stop to exist. In the case of mistreating black people it can continue as it has without any effort to stop it.

            CRT is an advanced critical look at laws and intuitions detailing how racism is built to the very structures of the US. What is being taught in US schools is history, and it is that history that makes the right wing upset. It interferes with the propaganda that the US never made a mistake, we are chosen by god, our way is always the best way, and white people are the greatest ever because we invented western civilization. Oh gods do not mention the US was built on salve labor please. The idea that white people were lazy and did not want to work doing hard labor in the hot sun so forced black people to do it claiming they were built for it is something the white supremacist don’t want kids to know.

            That is the entire issue sum up in a nutshell. Have fun

            Liked by 1 person

            Reply

            1. ” What is taught is the information that CRT was based on, the discrimination faced by black people. And that is what the right and seemingly you want to stop being taught.”

              As a teacher at all levels of education, my experiences and the curriculum I have taught does not align with your beliefs. That’s just a fact. You presume to ‘know’ what you do not know and remain oblivious to the discrepancy. And so I have tried to explain this difference. You refuse to grant the difference any merit. All of it, completely dismissed out of hand. What’s true doesn’t matter to the True Believer.

              This leads me to the conclusion that progressive ideologues like you are in effect the New Creationists. You’re going to believe what you want to believe and no amount of contrary evidence from any source matters. You are certain in your beliefs and all else is blasphemy to be dismissed accordingly.

              So, arguing with a creationist is crazy, I know. So I’ll stop.

              Like

              Reply

              1. Hello Tildeb. You say as a teacher you know I am wrong and CRT is being taught. OK then how to reconcile that with the many teachers that say it is not being taught? You can call me whatever you like as it doesn’t bother me. I try to evaluate everything based on fact, data, and reasoning. Anecdotal evidence is not real data. There are always outliers or those who do not agree with the majority. If the majority say 98% say climate change is real and that actions of humans has caused it to increase greatly do we accept it, or do we accept the denials of the 2% that disagree it is happening at all? I am a political junkie so do you think I did not read everything I could find on the entire CRT in Virginia political issue? The majority of people from school employees, teachers, administrators and advanced level professionals say CRT is not taught in US schools. I have shared with you the articles that say what is and is not shared of the information that CRT is developed from. I have shared with you that the word critical is used as a certain way of study or viewing a subject. Again that manner of study is advanced and done in higher education. But all these distinctions mean nothing to what you are convinced you have personally seen. And you call me the true believer. OK if that is the case, I accept gladly because I know my opinion is based on data and the facts that the majority of evidence has shown to be true. Best Wishes.

                Liked by 1 person

                Reply

        2. Hello Tildeb. I don’t care what is being taught up in Canada. I congratulate them if they are teaching advanced theories that the critical … are. Surely you know the history of the critical theory and why we call things critical theory. Critical race theory (CRT) was officially organized in 1989, at the first annual Workshop on Critical Race Theory, though its intellectual origins go back much farther, to the 1960s and ’70s. Its immediate precursor was the critical legal studies (CLS) movement, which dedicated itself to examining how the law and legal institutions serve the interests of the wealthy and powerful at the expense of the poor and marginalized. CLS is based on this.

          critical theory, Marxist-inspired movement in social and political philosophy originally associated with the work of the Frankfurt School. Drawing particularly on the thought of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, critical theorists maintain that a primary goal of philosophy is to understand and to help overcome the social structures through which people are dominated and oppressed. Believing that science, like other forms of knowledge, has been used as an instrument of oppression, they caution against a blind faith in scientific progress, arguing that scientific knowledge must not be pursued as an end in itself without reference to the goal of human emancipation. Since the 1970s, critical theory has been immensely influential in the study of history, law, literature, and the social sciences.

          Now that we understand what CRT is and its history what can we say about it being in K-12 school grades. Good teachers have advanced degrees. Advanced theories and critical thinking are taught in advanced education facilities. Hopefully a good student picked up some useful information in college / university. Are you a teacher Tildeb? You did mention that there were furry identifying kids in the school you worked at. So you went to some type of higher education if you are a teacher and I bet if you did you learned how history as set the present and how best to express the knowledge to your students.

          To be even more clear, CRT is a way of looking at the historical racism and prejudice in the US from our history. No one can argue that the US was not founded during a time when the country was deeply racist and we have struggled with that heritage unsuccessfully even to this day. The only way CRT is used in our schools is teachers using the information they learned to help their students understand the present as it is affected by our past.

          What the right wing maga crowd is really upset about is the changing demographics and the fact that after all this time the white majority along with its assumed authority / superiority is going away quickly. That not only scares the conservative whites but makes them want to “put those people back in their place. It is something the right in the south has been trying to do for a long time. Right now they are succeeding with voter restrictions and laws banning the teaching of the real tragedies of slavery. By glossing over slavery they can blame black people for all the institution system that have keep them oppressed and depressed economically. They can pretend the white and black people started off as mostly equal and the whites succeeded and improved, and the blacks did not. Even worse they can justify further abuse of the black population if they can whitewash out the abuse they suffered in the past. That is the real boogieman covered by the letters CRT

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

      2. Yep, they have to make one up so they have something at which to point their finger and proclaim it is the cause of all evil! Heck, if CRT WERE being taught in junior high or high school, I would have NO problem, no argument against it! Our young people need to understand that this nation has racist roots that persist even today! They need to learn about Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, Emmett Till and so many others. And they need to understand that this racism is … IS built into our systems from law enforcement, education, healthcare, employment, housing, and more. Sigh. Hugs!

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

  5. Hi Scottie;
    First… Inspired’ made me laugh.
    Do you recall a conversation you and I had regarding the manner in which certain religious traditions, etc., were all over the public and how that those Christian traditions and tropes were counter to the interests of those who were not Christian? At the time, I found it somewhat irrelevant and unimportant until I realized that there are those who are Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Native Spiritual, Atheist who are all forced to pay taxes and support a religion that is not theirs, a belief system that is not theirs, etc.
    The biggest problem with things is that people forget that there is more due to historical decisions and how WE ALL have trapped ourselves into a manner of thought and decision making. Being incapable of encountering one’s own mental traps forces a person to be in a rut and go no where. What I find myself asking, as was mentioned above, is why are there people who are so threatened by discovering how seemingly simple decisions, laws, etc., can actually be negatively affecting the public?
    Information, advancement, growth should all be good things. Ignorant traditionalism is a rut.
    Hugs

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.