Critical race theory is a dangerous ideology that has infiltrated many areas of American life. The theory has roots in the Frankfurt School, which was eventually considered part of the Western Marxist schools of thought. A report by The Heritage Foundation explains:
From [Critical Legal Theory] it is a short step to Critical Race Theory. Unsurprisingly, given its name, CRT makes everything about race the prism through which its proponents analyze all aspects of American life—and do so with a degree of persistence that has helped CRT impact all aspects of American life.
Derrick Bell, referenced above, the widely-acknowledged “godfather” of CRT, explains in the essay cited earlier that the work of CRT authors “is often disruptive because its commitment to anti-racism goes well beyond civil rights, integration, affirmative action, and other liberal measures."
Bell quotes Angela P. Harris as explaining that CRT inherits from its Critical Legal Theory ancestor the commitment to dismantle all aspects of society through unremitting criticism—and at the same time eschews the wooly deconstructionist excesses of the postmodernists and adopts the practicality of the Civil Rights movement. Bell points to theorist and professor Charles Lawrence and says he “speaks for many critical race theory adherents when he disagrees with the notion that laws are or can be written from a neutral perspective.”
Because the law “systematically privileges subjects who are white,” CRT calls for a “transformative resistance strategy.” (citations omitted)
One of the largest, and most consequential, areas of American life where Critical Race Theory is taking hold is in the U.S. education system. Even the Department of Education is pushing it. The American Enterprise Institute's Max Eden wrote in the New York Post:
The American Rescue Plan requires districts to reserve 20 percent of funds for “evidence-based” interventions that “respond to students’ academic, social and emotional needs” — a very sensible charge. But the devil is in the definition, and Team Biden’s guidance booklet for spending ARP funds suggests that students’ social and emotional needs include the disruption of “whiteness” and the propagation of critical race theory.
The “Roadmap to Reopening Safely and Meeting All Students’ Needs” explains that “schools are microcosms of society,” and, therefore, “intentional conversations related to race and social-emotional learning . . . are the foundation for participating in a democracy and should be anchor tenets in building a school-wide system of educational opportunity.”
The guidance links to the Abolitionist Teaching Network’s “Guide for Racial Justice & Abolitionist Social and Emotional Learning.” Social and emotional learning (or SEL), the network maintains, is traditionally built around five key “competencies” or “standards”: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making. By contrast, the “abolitionist” approach contends that traditional “SEL can be a covert form of policing used to punish, criminalize and control black, brown and indigenous children and communities to adhere to white norms.” Abolitionist SEL is “not a lesson plan,” but rather a “way of being that informs all aspects of teaching, learning and relationship-building with students, families and communities."
Republican lawmakers are sounding the alarm on the dangerous ideology of critical race theory. Several states have already banned the teachings in public schools, and Republican lawmakers at the federal level are speaking out about the theory's dangerous consequences.
House Republicans Target Teaching of Critical Race Theory https://t.co/hMUCOeJcsd pic.twitter.com/0CopWARngQ
— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) May 19, 2021
To learn more about the threat that critical race theory poses to American society, join the RNLA's webinar on Friday, June 4, at 2:00 p.m. featuring the American Enterprise Institute's Max Eden and Ian Rowe.