By Rob Meyne
- Feb. 2, 2022
- 4-min read
Critical Race Theory (CRT) may be the most contentious issue in America today. Worst case it is probably second just behind abortion. People who hadn’t heard of CRT five years ago now attend school board meetings to make sure it isn’t taught to their children. Nearly every day, we learn about another venue where it is being promoted, including governmental agencies, non-profits, and corporations.
People who oppose racism in all forms – often constitutional conservatives – object to CRT because its ideas are astonishingly racist and controversial. CRT holds that all white Americans are oppressors, all blacks are victims, and that racism is built into our society, government, and institutions. CRT adherents maintain the worst effects of racism come from that which is embedded into our social structure, rather than from individuals.
Supporters of CRT claim its critics misrepresent it. They claim the real goal of its opponents is to prevent discussion of race and slavery. But even a cursory look at the actual tenets of CRT reveals it to be, unquestionably, despicable, hateful, and racist. It is intended to divide us and promote racist policies with the excuse that they “right previous wrongs.”
The origins of CRT in Marxist Critical Theory have been scrubbed from many social media platforms and search engines. You have to look a little harder to find the connection today than you once did. For more, look at this discussion of the left’s attempts to push back on criticisms of CRT.
If your education in public schools was anything like mine, we learned about slavery, the civil war, and the battle for civil rights. It is possible all of that has been excised from the applicable curricula since my own matriculation in Vigo County, Indiana. But no discussion of our history can avoid the Civil War and slavery, nor should it.