The Fear of Critical Race Theory

 Love God and then love people as if you were them (Mark 12:30-31)

Race is a human construct. It is not biological. This being the case, it means that all the bs we experience the social, political, legal, and economic echelons were intentionally designed and constructed by human beings. CRT exposes this. Those who oppose CRT are either ignorant of its value and power to advance equitable futures, or they are viciously intentional at keeping things the way they are and even worse.

So! What is CRT?

Well, CRT is the acronym for Critical Race Theory. It provides a way to think about the intersection of politics, law, racism, and religion - everything. It draws a map that connects the centrality of white supremacy to every facet of life. It presents a framework to understanding the way racism (human construct) is foundational to the systems that determine who are privileged and how this privilege is exercised in the judicial, political, social, cultural, religious, and theological arenas. Don’t miss that the theological arena is included on this list!

I am fascinated by how the distinguished professor of law at UCLA Kimberlé  Crenshaw puts it in an interview with the New York Times. She said, “C.R.T. is more of a verb than a noun…. It is a way of seeing, attending to, accounting for, tracing and analyzing the ways that race is produced… the ways that racial inequality is facilitated, and the ways that our history has created these inequalities that now can be almost effortlessly reproduced unless we attend to the existence of these inequalities.” Sounds like help to me!

Why then are some people acting out of their fear of truth revealed to CRT?

In my opinion (and as a reminder, this is MY blog), white supremacists are afraid of CRT because CRT exposes the danger and viciousness of racism, its embeddedness in Americanism, and offers options to expel its poison from society, leading to equality and equity for all.

The Governor of Florida recently bullied the spineless College Board into removing African Studies from its AP offerings in a malicious, anti-Blackness move to counter the truth of racism in all things American, AND to prevent the real American history to be taught in so-called institutions of learning. This looks very much like an attempt to repeal the gains of the Civil Rights Movement. Textbooks have been banned and diversity and inclusion policies are being discouraged and discontinued. If this is not domestic terrorism, I don’t know what it is. CRT is a diagnostic tool. The sick and infectious system of subjugation that currently informs the American way, would prefer to be sustained than healed. 

 

What CRT is NOT:

CRT is not a tool that disadvantages white people.

CRT is not a way of saying that white people are inherently racists.

CRT does not teach that any race (human construct) is inferior to another.

To recap:

CRT is a helpful, educational, diagnostic tool that reveals and challenges the American way of how people who have been racialized as Black, Native, Latino, and Asian are systematically and disproportionately harmed, while offering presenting options that lead to safe living for all. Don’t be fooled, legislation against CRT and the like is harmful to everyone. In other words, CRT is education for life. 

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