Critical Race Theory - Much Ado About Nothing?

I'm interested in reading our thoughts regarding Critical Race Theory.
At this point, I am thinking, too many wanna be Conservatives are making
much ado about nothing.

 

First CRT needs to be defined. But I would say based on some assumption about what it is depends on the approach.
Conservatives very concerned on this subject as the forces of the far Left in the US have never pushed as aggressively as they are today to achieve their goals.
In conservatives view these goals some are accepted and some are highly divisive.
The so-called critical race theory in US schools, businesses, and even the military.
Is the goal is to replace the US idea of equal individual rights with the revolutionary idea of unequal rights based on group identity?
These efforts, if successful, will dramatically affect day-to-day life in community and around the country.

If this is much ado about noting, then how would you explain to the conservatives that the CRT ideas are not destructive of liberty?
The CRT viewed as to undermine informed patriotism—especially among younger Americans—and bring about a radical transformation of American government and society.
So the supporters of CRT and those against need a dialog to educate each other on the subject.
Educate Conservatives why CRT is not “racial essentialism.” And why CRT is not “rooted in Marxism,” as “a social construct, enforced by those in power (white men).”as “identity-based Marxism.”

I see my self more as conservative then liberal and I support social justice, diversity and inclusion. But back to what I stated in the beginning, the approach, use and/or abuse of such.
In reality it appears in some instances that many on the Conservative side wanting to avoid certain feelings of discomfort or even shame about CRT.
By educating each other something good may come out of it.

 

They've taken a theory no one had heard about and turned it into a bogeyman to scare a certain racial segment of our society and appeal to their baser instincts. Because their audience isn't going to bother to find out what it is and how it is used, Certain leaders of a certain political party are free to say whatever they want about it.

It is a theory. That is, it is a description and explanation of a phenomenon based on observations and collected data and research. It is used to understand racism embedded into our social systems. Unlike an untested hypothesis, a theory is supported--some theories are better supported than others. I have no idea of the efficacy of this theory, only having heard of it when it became the latest thing used to scare people.

Ironically, its use holds blameless the very people demonizing it. But these are some very gullible people, as evidenced over more than 4 decades of supporting policies--and politicians--destructive to them.

 

I really don't know anything about the theory itself. From article headlines I've heard of parents opposing it's intro into government-run schools. I've seen people (online) promoting it and saying those who oppose it are just misinformed.

I'd be interested to hear what a "wanna be Conservative" is, and why you think it is much ado about nothing.

 

Just wow! I think we pretty much concur.
As a Constitutional Conservative, I never wish to shutdown conversation on any topic.

 

This reply was meant to reply to Rich Douglas.

 

haha, well, now I've also seen those people opposing it called a *wink, wink* certain racial segment whose base instincts are being appealed to, but they aren't going to bother to find out what it is, because they're gullible.

Yup, sounds like a pretty good way to foster conversation on a topic.

?!

 

As Rich said it is a concept that has been "kidnapped" by the right to create a new bogeyman to get the right base all worked up to donate money. At least that's my theory as to why it's been blown out of its original meaning.


This looks like a pretty good description of CRT. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/what-is-critical-race-theory-and-why-is-it-under-attack/2021/05

 

Which is mere posturing since it isn't something normally taught anywhere, and certainly not K-12.

 

I'll get worked up over CRT right after those caravans of Central American migrants arrive....

 

Thank you for your input on this one. Your response along with Bill's,, and the article, he shared, were helpful to me. Also, thank you to Lerner and SpoonyNix. We don't have to agree but, I value your thoughts.

 

It's also possible that the article headlines were intentionally misleading. Imagine such a thing!

 

I'll have to pull up the slides on this; I had a WebEx webinar on this (through UCLA Extension) just the other week, but got distracted by family chores and missed the lecture part.

The "revolutionary idea" part ignores so much of reality I don't know where to begin. For starters, Loving v. Virginia got decided in 1967, and a person who's famous for being jailed for marrying a person of opposite race in this country died in 2008 at the age of 67. "Revolutionary" stuff is an old "normal" that still casts the long shadow on virtually everything; from what I gather (not being any kind of expert on this), "CRT" is merely one (of several) technical way to say "maybe let's not pretend things are not what they are".

 

Well, I saw several videos of (mostly astroturf Con activist) parents proposing so called "introduction" of CRT in anything from K to 12. So yeah, it's a thing that happens now; Comrade First Secretary Abbott here in Texas rails against this CRT "threat" (when he's not too busy making sure kids are NOT protected from COVID at schools).

 

You think this country was founded on the idea of equal rights for everyone? LMAO! Black people weren't even seen as fully human; we had no rights under the Constitution. We didn't have full constitutional rights until the late 1960s.

CRT teaches that this country was not founded on the idea of equal rights for everyone. That is true. That is indisputable. No credible historian would say that the Founding Fathers believed in equality for everyone. They didn't believe in equality for women, they didn't believe in equality for non-White people, and they didn't even believe in equality for poor White men. I'm in my mid-30s, and my mother was born during the Jim Crow era. Maybe you have the luxury of forgetting very recent history, but my living relatives had to live through segregation and government-sanctioned discrimination. Plus, things didn't change overnight after the 1964 or 1968 Civil Rights Act was passed.

What is happening is that conservatives are too ashamed to have comprehensive, accurate history taught to young people. They want young people to learn a watered-down, sugarcoated version of history. Lying by omission with the goal of "promoting patriotism" is indoctrination and nationalism. Besides, they are not teaching CRT in K-12 schools. Conservatives are getting riled up over history lessons that have been taught for decades. This is a ploy to fire up their base and win back Congress and the White House because appealing to irrational white nationalist fears is what they think is the most effective tactic to increase voter turnout on their side.

 

CRT is not the issue. It is a trigger for the issues you mention.

 

CRT is a trigger the question is to what, and how it is applied.
Everything can be abused or mis-porpoised.
CRT is no longer simply an academic matter, critical race theory has become a tool of political power.
More and more, it is driving the vast machinery of the state and society.

I paste the following analysis and little rearrange it here:
Critical Race Theory: What It Is and How to Fight It


March 2021

Christopher F. Rufo

"
Americans across the political spectrum have failed to separate the premise of critical race theory from its conclusion. Its premise—that American history includes slavery and other injustices, and that we should examine and learn from that history—is undeniable.
But its revolutionary conclusion—that America was founded on and defined by racism and that our founding principles, our Constitution, and our way of life should be overthrown—does not rightly, much less necessarily, follow.
Conservatives view that CRT goal is to replace the US idea of equal individual rights with the revolutionary idea of unequal rights based on group identity.

In explaining critical race theory, it helps to begin with Marxism. Originally, the Marxist Left built its political program on the theory of class conflict with final goal
to overthrow the capitalist class, and usher in a new socialist society.
So Critical race theory is an academic discipline, formulated in the 1990s, built on the intellectual framework of identity-based Marxism.
Over the past decade it has increasingly become the default ideology in our public institutions.
It has been injected into government agencies, public school systems, teacher training programs, and corporate human resources departments in the form of diversity training programs, human resources modules, public policy frameworks, and school curricula.

But “neo-Marxism” is a hard sell. Equity, on the other hand, sounds non-threatening and is easily confused with the American principle of equality.
In contrast to equality, equity as defined and promoted by critical race theorists is little more than reformulated Marxism. In the name of equity, UCLA Law Professor and critical race theorist Cheryl Harris has proposed suspending private property rights, seizing land and wealth and redistributing them along racial lines.
According to Kendi, “In order to truly be antiracist, you also have to truly be anti-capitalist.” In other words, identity is the means and Marxism is the end.

An equity-based form of government would mean the end not only of private property, but also of individual rights, equality under the law, federalism, and freedom of speech. These would be replaced by race-based redistribution of wealth, group-based rights, active discrimination, and omnipotent bureaucratic authority. Historically, the accusation of “anti-Americanism” has been overused. But in this case, it’s not a matter of interpretation—critical race theory prescribes a revolutionary program that would overturn the principles of the Declaration and destroy the remaining structure of the Constitution.

Why fight it like a plague?
Critical race theorists have constructed their argument like a mousetrap.
Disagreement with their program becomes irrefutable evidence of a dissenter’s “white fragility,” “unconscious bias,” or “internalized white supremacy.”
77 percent of conservatives are afraid to share their political beliefs publicly. Worried about getting mobbed on social media, fired from their jobs, or worse, they remain quiet, largely ceding the public debate to those pushing these anti-American ideologies. Consequently, the institutions themselves become monocultures: dogmatic, suspicious, and hostile to a diversity of opinion. "

Critical race theorists must be confronted with and forced to speak to the facts. Do they support public schools separating first-graders into groups of “oppressors” and “oppressed”? Do they support mandatory curricula teaching that “all white people play a part in perpetuating systemic racism”? Do they support public schools instructing white parents to become “white traitors” and advocate for “white abolition”? Do they want those who work in government to be required to undergo this kind of reeducation? How about managers and workers in corporate America? How about the men and women in our military? How about every one of us? "

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Most Americans in 2019 survey – 92% – think their rights are under siege.

 

Ditto

 

Repackaged Neo Marxism.

 

I'm sure that is part of it, at least for the beginning of turning CRT into a bogeyman.

Based on the past money pandering ploys from the right like saving marriage. If same sex marriage is allowed then it will mean the end of family and marriage in this country! Donate now! And the money pandering scheme about donate to the Republican party to keep men out of ladies restrooms, anti-transgender scheme. The Republican CRT bogeyman seems like a similar ploy to fear monger against some minority to get their base to donate cash. I assume is now a big part of the reason? Or is the Republican thought process just so tilted toward fear of the minority destroying the American way of life they just naturally fall into that groove?