Photo by Kat Smith.
Since 2020, when a City of Seattle employee documented an anti-racist training and handed it over to journalist Christopher F. Rufo, the controversy surrounding Critical Race Theory has been a thorn in the American people’s side. Yet, when one starts to sort through all of the noise, what you’ll discover is that the average person really does not understand what Critical Race Theory (CRT) even means and it is this ignorance that has given journalists, politicians and policymakers the leeway to “annex an entire range of cultural constructions because they are simply unpopular,” Christopher F. Rufo.
So what exactly is Critical Race Theory and how did a complicated legal framework that was developed in the 1980’s by several Black law professors become the center of controversy in the United States almost 40 years later? Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a framework of legal analysis that is based on the premise that race is a social construct used to oppress people of color through laws and the criminal justice system in America. Critical Race Theorists are scholars and researchers who study how race, racism, and power are interdependent of each other – also known as intersectionality. They believe that race was created to maintain social, economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites. CRT as it is sometimes referred to, questions the very foundations of liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law,” Delgado and Stefancic (2010).
Over the years CRT has evolved into a movement that “considers many of the same issues that conventional civil rights and ethnic studies discourses take up, but it places them in a broader perspective that includes economics, history, context group, self interest, and even feelings and the unconscious.” Delgado and Stefancic (2010).
So how did a non-divisive framework become a politicized controversy? The CRT controversy or should I say the smoke screen that has steadily grown over the last few years was fabricated by Christopher F. Rufo, whom I cited earlier. After receiving the anti-racists training materials from the City of Seattle employee, Rufo did a deep dive into the information – starting with the references cited for the training. From there, he helped to develop effective strategies that have since allowed white conservatives to take the ideas and language of what is known as CRT and misuse them against politicians, DEI practitioners, human right activists and ally’s, and underpaid teachers in a failing education system.
“The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think, “critical race theory.” We have decodified the term and will recodify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans,” Christopher F. Rufo.
Over time, the decoding and recoding of Critical Race Theory became easier for white conservatives when well intentioned activists and DEI practitioners begin to use Critical Race Theory incorrectly. According to Temple University professor, Charles A. Price, “some have used Critical Race Theory inappropriately – making generalizations and claims they probably shouldn’t be, and critics are pointing out the worst examples rather than the best, without considering the frameworks original purpose.”
What we are seeing unfold before our very eyes is known as a culture war, which Price reminds us that controversies of this nature have been around for decades. In the 90’s the hot topic among Americans was Afrocentrism, based on the book, Black Athena, which argued Greeks derived their understanding of the world from African philosophers and then added their own flavor to their findings. Then there was the big uproar regarding The Bell Curve, a book that justified a person’s occupation based on their intelligence.
So why has Critical Race Theory become the battle cry for white conservative America? Let’s face it, we are living in trying times that have been created and fostered by a small percentage of the population for two distinct reasons; wealth and power. This fabrication of division among the American people has allowed a tiny group of individuals who hold the majority of the wealth in this country to continue to maintain control, which includes controlling capitalism – the foundation of wealth and power in this country. So how does this work? To maintain this level of authority there must be some type of division among the people who sustain capitalism; that’s you, me and believe it our not – white conservatives. This division serves as a smoke screen that pits the unbeknownst against each other, which then allows those who hold the real wealth and power to continue to engage in the unorthodox and unethical activities that have helped to sustain their positions of privilege throughout the centuries.
Many tools of deception have been used throughout the years, and since 2020 their plan for division has included the incorporation of the complicated framework of Critical Race Theory. By having it serve as the foundation for their strategic plan to maintain control, the one percenters guarantee the continuation of capitalism. Yes, by eliminating resources that document the intricate history of this country and how race has been used to support the capitalistic gains of the privileged, keeps the rest of us submissive to the current power dynamics and socioeconomic structures. The elimination of certain books and courses based on the lie that they promote the hate of white people, allows for the removal of resources that encourage and promote self-thought, unity, equality and the truth about wealth and power (which isn’t a Black or white thing).
So what is the solution? How do we stop the spread of misinformation about CRT that has taken over this country like a fungus? How do we stop the banning of books and courses in K-12 schools that have absolutely nothing to do with critical race theory or the preconceived notion that this framework encourages the hate of people with non-melanated skin? How do we undo this fabricated controversy that is being carried out by conservative white America, but won’t benefit the majority of them?
First, we need to understand that Critical Race Theory is a framework that is rooted in many theories, including critical theory which “attempts to find the underlying assumptions in social life that keep people from fully and truly understanding how the world works,” Nickerson (2022) and marxism, which, in a nutshell, examines the flaws in capitalism and seeks to identify an alternative, utopian society. Secondly, everyone (white and non-white) needs to take a moment and do their own research, becoming informed about the intricate details and nuances of critical race theory and how race has been used by systems for centuries as a tool of oppression. Thirdly, we all need to sit down and read the books and curriculums that states are trying to ban, stop the miseducation, and open our eyes and see that unless we hold the one percent of wealth and power in this country, what we believe to be the oppression of others is really us participating in our own oppression and that of generations to come.
Then and only then will we begin to realize that a lot of what we are hearing in the media are politicized talking points that are highlighting keywords associated with Critical Race Theory, but are being taken out of context and/or offer no clear explanation whatsoever. Becoming aware will also help those of us who are caught in the crossfires of this ongoing culture war to better understand why Critical Race Theory could never be taught in a K-12 curriculum, let alone a one hour employee training, and see the smoke screen for what it really is.
It’s time we stop allowing a handful of people to bamboozle and manipulate an entire nation for personal gains that will not benefit the majority of citizens, including a lot of white folk who’s anger is deeply rooted in not being a part of the one percent of Americans who hold the wealth and power in this country, and instead have been relegated to the same low paying jobs, poverty living conditions and inequalities as the people of color they try to shun. Becoming educated will help many to realize that our anger is misplaced and has more to do with the policymakers, politicians and the economic systems that work to keep us all oppressed, but on different levels, and not just Black and Brown folk. To quote the words that are engraved on the urn that holds the ashes of Ozzie Davis and Ruby Dee, “we’re in this thing together!”
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Dr. Carey Yazeed is a behavioral scientist who specializes in psychological safety in the workplace. She is the author of Shut’em Down: Black Women, Racism, and Corporate America, Everyday Struggle: How Toxic Workplaces Impact Black Women (both were bestsellers on Amazon in the category of business conflict), and Unbreak My Soul: How Black Women Can Begin To Heal From Workplace Trauma. She is currently available for media interviews and to facilitate corporate trainings. Click here to learn more.
