By Rob Meyne
- Feb. 3, 2022
- 2 min read
Critical Race Theory is a controversial topic. If you’ve been hearing from “both sides” of the debate, you might benefit from just looking at what its advocates say about it. As a conservative constitutionalist, I’d recommend you do just that.
Looking at what its supporters say gives you all the information you need to combat it. When the truth is this damaging, you don’t need to make things up.
There is no shortage of information out there about CRT. If you’re looking for a place to start, here is one option. Another piece takes an interesting look at the issue against the background of Glenn Youngkin’s victory in the governor’s race in Virginia. Youngkin won partially because of his opposition to CRT.
It is good to understand that CRT is a strategy with specific goals, not a body of knowledge. It is more about persuading, not facts.
This piece from the Heritage Foundation goes into the key tenets of CRT and touches on some of the activities being undertaken to push back on it. Many explanations of CRT list different concepts, but these are fairly consistent across-the-board:
- CRT is a way to challenge and reform our government and economy, by viewing it all through the lens of race.
- CRT asserts that racism is pervasive and unavoidable in America, embedded in our institutions and government. The belief is that our nation, as constituted, cannot combat racism because it is racist.
- CRT puts a priority on examples and stories about racism conveyed by those who experienced it.
- CRT proponents believe America has a class system where all white people are part of an oppressive elite, and benefit from white privilege, while all black people are victims and unable to succeed. (The fact that examples of the falsity of these premises are abundant doesn’t seem to discourage them. Nor do CRT advocates ever explain why, if we are so racist, the cohort with the highest average income and arguably greatest success, Asians, is non-white.)
That is a quick summary, and many would challenge some of these generalizations, but the overall message is clear: America is run by racists, through racist institutions, and oppressed groups cannot succeed unless we replace it with a new system.
It should not be hard to understand why parents, and others, have a problem with these theories being promoted in public schools. More to come on the arguments each side makes on CRT.
