Here’s a fair perspective on the CRT thing. Just because this issue is being leveraged by cynical right wing operators and too many people are happy to use it to excuse their racist impulses, it doesn’t mean there’s nothing to think about:
some observations on the CRT discourse..
when Republicans like Youngkin talk about banning teaching CRT, they are saying among other things that they won’t support teaching that America is fundamentally racist, that some people are inherently disadvantaged/oppressed, advantaged, oppressive.
note here he claims he supports teaching ‘dark parts’ of U.S. history. (does he mean it? devil’s in detail of vague intimidating statutes) but should be noted that many progressives have responded to CRT attacks precisely by saying GOP wants to avoid teaching dark history.
so if you’re a parent and you’re hearing activists say “they want us to stop teaching about slavery and lynching and redlining” and Youngkin goes “of course we will teach about those things” — it’s a different terrain.
many have said, “but CRT isn’t even taught in K-12! it’s a *law school* level concept!” …but that doesn’t really hold water. and who actually thinks younger students are not capable of learning about racism being systemically embedded in society? not me & probably not you
a lot of this obfuscates is the real debate over how we teach about systemic racism in schools, and how much and relatedly, the question of how fundamental racism is to America’s story, past and present. these are not settled questions in K12 or in academia
i spent time over the summer digging into messaging guides on the left being developed to counter CRT attacks. I was sympathetic to their task, it’s a hard challenge. And I’m no PR expert. But I am pretty good at detecting *avoidance* in talking points https://theintercept.com/2021/07/27/critical-race-theory-education-history/
multiple things can be true at the same time
‘CRT’ — yes it’s being used as a dog whistle, exploited as a wedge, oft misconstrued from its original scholars’ vision
there’s also this very real tension right now in defining how race and racism will be taught in schools
i’m tired so I’m going to stop tweeting for now, and I’m still thinking this stuff through, but feels necessary to discuss after Virginia and people are trying to figure out what was appealing. exit polls with grain of salt, but this is a lot of people:
going to clarify this since some have misconstrued. I don’t mean that law school CRT is being assigned. I’m saying that core tenets are taught (i.e. racism is not just prejudice) and many might argue should be taught more! (i.e social construction of race)
Originally tweeted by Rachel Cohen (@rmc031) on November 4, 2021.
Youngkin’s words could be the kind of speech that could lead to a better understanding. The fact that he weaponized this issue with that “Beloved” ad (and other racial dogwhistles) shows that he’s tring to have it both ways. While I think its understandable that a lot of people are just uncomfortable and confused by the cultural pressure to face the long overdue reckoning with racism in America, you simply cannot ignore the fact that this is also being manipulated by political actors to keep racism alive and well as an organizing principle — and that people who fall for it do have agency.
This has to be worked through regardless. The younger generation isn’t going to wait any longer. Racial minorities aren’t going to wait any longer either.