What Critical Race Theory Really Means (and What It Doesn’t Mean)

When you first heard about critical race theory, you were probably told that it was under attack. Or maybe it’s being used to brainwash your kids at school. At least it’s anti-American, right? Local headlines from across the country continue to fuel debate over the term. But when you hear about “critical race theory” in the context of your children’s education, you only hear an inaccurate, armed version of the term.

What is Critical Race Theory (CRT)? Is it a lens for understanding American history and public policy, or, as sources like Fox News would like you to believe, is it a tool to radicalize our children against white people? While adversaries have successfully misrepresented the term, it is important to understand what CRT actually means, both in its origins and how it is now used as a weapon.

To end the CRT debate in the K-12 space, I spoke with two experts: Dr. Anjali Wats , Associate Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh Law School, and Dr. Saida Grandi , Associate Professor of Sociology. , African American Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies at Boston University. Whether you’re a parent, student, or concerned citizen, here’s what you need to know about what critical race theory means to you.

First, critical race theory originated for legal scholars.

Despite the current hype surrounding the term, the CRT has been around for decades. It emerged as the basis for a legal analysis pioneered by Harvard Law School’s Derrick Bell in response to the reversal of the civil rights movement in the 1970s and 1980s. As Grundy explains, CRT explains the fact that “the law is not inherently racially neutral.” Wats elaborates that the CRT is essentially saying, “ Hey America! These anti-discrimination laws, which were supposed to improve the financial situation of blacks in the United States, were not successful. The CRT is “no more racist than the demand for equal rights under slavery”, which is, according to Watts, not racist at all.

Unless they are geeks, your child is not learning CRT.

When asked what critical race theory looks like at the high school level, Wats told me she bristles at the question.

“CRT is dedicated to fixing legal flaws related to race…Politicians and pundits who talk about it at the high school level are trying to equate progressive talk about treating people with equal respect – or as I like to call it: treating people like people — with Critical Race Theory, — said Vats, — and I just don’t think it’s the same thing.

The true legal origin of the CRT has been crudely turned into a political weapon. But for whom is this weapon used and against what is it used?

Grandi also emphasizes the political expediency of turning the CRT into a universal scarecrow. It distracts from what the opponents are really afraid of: how our children will learn about their country. What’s more, story components that are diluted to “diverse” and “inclusive” (as I’ve done throughout this article) could be more accurately described as, well, accurate .

Silencing indigenous history, misrepresenting slavery, glorifying colonizers—the way we teach history to our children has never been truly neutral. Wats says that “if people want to criticize the idea that we shouldn’t teach our children stories of slavery or affirm their race, then they are denying what I consider basic respect, empathy and care.”

CRT is not “anti-American”; it’s for accuracy

Despite its origins as a strand of academic thought, CRT is now used as a generic term for any effort to make our understanding of America more inclusive, even if those efforts are misunderstood and feared by opponents. Wats explains how the conservative media went to great lengths to weaponize CRTs by “taking these words unfamiliar to most Americans and associating them with deep racial and economic concerns.” The conservative Heritage Foundation recently attributed a number of so-called “problems” to CRT , according to EdWeek; these “issues” include the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, LGBTQ clubs in schools, diversity education in federal agencies and organizations, and more.

Wats reiterates that the CRT is not “anti-American” or “anti-white”. In fact, “it is quintessentially pro-American in the sense that it is focused on ensuring that all Americans, regardless of their identity, have access to the American dream.”

If CRT is not taught in schools, then what is forbidden?

Going beyond CRT semantics – what are people fighting over? If CRT was never taught in K-12, then what are the opponents trying to ban?

In an article for Gawker on shame, Julia Clare writes that “the movement against Critical Race Theory is, at its core, a veiled refusal to engage in generational shame at apparently shameful historical events by excluding them from school curricula… How can one sincerely promise that wrongdoing is no longer repeated if it is not explicitly recognized as an offense from the very beginning?

Call it a CRT. Call it Diversity and Inclusion. Call it “radicalizing our children,” but the main question we’re discussing is how to properly shape and teach American history. Unfortunately, many people instinctively reject the idea that we should expose the racist fabric of this country, let alone confront it. When these people raise their voice against CRT, they are really fighting to protect the shiny, whitewashed version of history that makes them feel comfortable.

What to say to CRT opponents

According to Grandi, fighting for school programs has always been “a key point in white supremacy propaganda.” However, you can accept the fact that no story is truly neutral and use it as a test of hope. Grandi says that “we have the ability to stand up to history and do something new in the future” and that struggle can start with the stories we tell in our schools.

One place to start talking about a CRT is to try to go to the same page about the term itself. Wats says that “Ask people what they know about the definitions and history of CRT is often a very good way to point them to gaps in their own thinking.” Wats also recommends bringing others to the attention of “racial inequalities that persist even after the civil rights movement…helping them empathize, recognizing that they would not like to be treated the way we treat people of color in this country is a powerful path to persuasion. “.

The need for multiple points of view is a key part of this country’s values, which “patriots” like to uphold even if they don’t like to respect them in practice. Learning from all these points of view will be of great value to all of us if we are ready to show empathy and humility.

So… is my child being radicalized?

May be. If your child is being radicalized, it probably has something to do with witnessing the large-scale collapse of all their political institutions during an unprecedented global turmoil…not because they learned our Founding Fathers were wrong to enslave humans . What they were. So what if your child is being radicalized? Critical race theory is not to blame.