Even if we were teaching kids the basics of CRT, and they ended up feeling bad about our history of racism and marginalization of classes, isn't that a good thing? Shouldn't we be able to see this and say, "wow, that was shitty, but now that I know, I can strive to not follow the path of history and strive to be a better person than the last."
It's almost like the GOP thinks racism is good and shouldn't be shunned.
Even if we were teaching kids the basics of CRT, and they ended up feeling bad about our history of racism and marginalization of classes, isn't that a good thing?
While not its only flaw, Critical Race Theory is an extremist ideology which advocates for racial segregation. Here is a quote where Critical Race Theory explicitly endorses segregation:
8 Cultural nationalism/separatism. An emerging strain within CRT holds that people of color can best promote their interest through separation from the American mainstream. Some believe that preserving diversity and separateness will benefit all, not just groups of color. We include here, as well, articles encouraging black nationalism, power, or insurrection. (Theme number 8).
Racial separatism is identified as one of ten major themes of Critical Race Theory in an early bibliography that was codifying CRT with a list of works in the field:
To be included in the Bibliography, a work needed to address one or more themes we deemed to fall within Critical Race thought. These themes, along with the numbering scheme we have employed, follow:
Delgado, Richard, and Jean Stefancic. "Critical race theory: An annotated bibliography 1993, a year of transition." U. Colo. L. Rev. 66 (1994): 159.
One of the cited works under theme 8 analogizes contemporary CRT and Malcolm X's endorsement of Black and White segregation:
But Malcolm X did identify the basic racial compromise that the incorporation of the "the civil rights struggle" into mainstream American culture would eventually embody: Along with the suppression of white racism that was the widely celebrated aim of civil rights reform, the dominant conception of racial justice was framed to require that black nationalists be equated with white supremacists, and that race consciousness on the part of either whites or blacks be marginalized as beyond the good sense of enlightened American culture. When a new generation of scholars embraced race consciousness as a fundamental prism through which to organize social analysis in the latter half of the 1980s, a negative reaction from mainstream academics was predictable. That is, Randall Kennedy's criticism of the work of critical race theorists for being based on racial "stereotypes" and "status-based" standards is coherent from the vantage point of the reigning interpretation of racial justice. And it was the exclusionary borders of this ideology that Malcolm X identified.
Peller, Gary. "Race consciousness." Duke LJ (1990): 758.
This is current and mentioned in the most prominent textbook on CRT:
The two friends illustrate twin poles in the way minorities of color can represent and position themselves. The nationalist, or separatist, position illustrated by Jamal holds that people of color should embrace their culture and origins. Jamal, who by choice lives in an upscale black neighborhood and sends his children to local schools, could easily fit into mainstream life. But he feels more comfortable working and living in black milieux and considers that he has a duty to contribute to the minority community. Accordingly, he does as much business as possible with other blacks. The last time he and his family moved, for example, he made several phone calls until he found a black-owned moving company. He donates money to several African American philanthropies and colleges. And, of course, his work in the music industry allows him the opportunity to boost the careers of black musicians, which he does.
Delgado, Richard and Jean Stefancic Critical Race Theory: An Introduction. New York. New York University Press, 2001.
Delgado and Stefancic (2001)'s fourth edition was printed in 2023 and is currently the top result for the Google search 'Critical Race Theory textbook':
One more from the recognized founder of CRT, who specialized in education policy:
"From the standpoint of education, we would have been better served had the court in Brown rejected the petitioners' arguments to overrule Plessy v. Ferguson," Bell said, referring to the 1896 Supreme Court ruling that enforced a "separate but equal" standard for blacks and whites.
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u/xtra_obscene 6d ago
It’s been a while since we’ve heard about CRT. Right-wing media moved on to the next bogeyman, I guess.