Critical Race Theory is a body of legal scholarship based on racism being a social construct. It seeks to critically examine the intersection of race and US law. Racism is not a byproduct of individual bias or prejudice, when pinpointing critical race theory, or CRT, it's founded in the legal system and practices. Essentially, the framework has legal analysis from the late 1970s and 1980s. Several scholars were foundational with the design such as Derrick Bell, Kimberly Crenshaw and Richard Delgado. Essentially, one looks at how systems have excluded or limited access to others.
Critics claim that critical race theory has negative dynamics, by highlighting the “ group over universal” and identity. The focus on such “shared traits” divides people into groups such as “oppressed or oppressors” and promotes a shift towards partiality.
The theory is related to social science, sociology, humanities, and teacher education programs. There appears to be a great deal of confusion with the theory’s tenets and its relationships to social justice and discussions centered on what constitutes “anti-racism.”
CRT largely dismantles the ideals of our constitutional republic. Those who support the theory make the clarification that racism is part of everyday life. People make choices and those can provoke racism in various disciplines and aspects of society.
Legislation:
Eight states have passed legislation banning teachers from using the word race/racism, any orientation that the US is inherently racist, discussions on conscious and unconscious bias, privilege and discrimination. Mentioning gender and sexism in their classrooms is also denounced by states such as Iowa, Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arizona, New Hamphsire, Texas, and South Carolina earmarking the legislation. Local school boards in Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky have criticized CRT. State boards in Florida, and Georgia have introduced new guidelines for barring discussion.
In k-12 school policies, struggles exist to achieve education equity along racial inequalities which are persistently being challenged. Racial inequalities in education point to disproportionate disciplinary incidents for Black students, barriers to gifted and talented programs and underfunding of the majority Black and Latinx student school districts along with others.
One point of note is that culturally relevant teaching is not the same as critical race theory. Using culturally relevant pedagogy seeks to affirm students’ ethnic and racial lineage and strengths for enriching their experience with curriculum-often Eurocentric in nature.
This debate will continue as states seek legislation to protect against the theory (although, it’s not taught in k-12 classrooms).
Certain parental groups fear their children will feel shame or guilt when discussing certain topics which are based on history itself. By censoring certain topics and monitoring what teachers explicitly teach, they could in fact, ensure they’re children are “protected.”
How will our society frame this discussion for our youth with respect to social activism and the reality of historical exclusions of certain groups?