Over the course of the past year, we have witnessed an undue amount of reverence granted to critical race theory (CRT) by the political left in America.
CRT’s definition is quite simple. As is the case with other brainchildren of 1970s academia, the philosophy behind CRT is far from complex – all it does is suggest racism to be endemic in all of America’s institutions, and that most disparities and inequalities of outcome in American life can be chalked up to some variant of systemic discrimination.
This may read as a cynical summation of the issue, however, that is not the case. These are its key tenets, explicitly outlined by leading critical race theorists.
CRT leaves its adherents with the primary takeaway that America is a nation built on the backs of the oppressed for the purpose of propagating their oppression, and that all of its institutions are permanently tainted by this. In other words, CRT suggests that America is racist to its core and that in turn, its institutions ought to be viewed exclusively through the lens of race.
This notion – which characterizes the most prosperous, equitable, diverse, and moral nation that humanity has seen to date as something rooted in inherent evil – is reprehensible by nature.
Even more reprehensible is the fact that CRT has found itself inserted into the curricula of institutions of both higher and lower education. Public schools have begun teaching CRT under the guise of promoting supposed standards of equity and historical awareness.
However, a cursory glance at what is actually being taught – including New York City parents receiving school-sanctioned surveys on whiteness and the adaptation of the historically tone-deaf 1619 Project by some of the nation’s largest school districts – quickly tears away at that thin veneer of innocuity.
Several videos of parents confronting school boards over their curricula have gone viral – the most notable rebuttal came from Ty Smith, a father and conservative web personality from Illinois, who later told Fox News that he believes CRT-based curricula to be “a whole bunch of nonsense, virtue signaling, playing off people’s emotion.”
He continued, “the only race there is, is the human race.”
This sentiment, of course, is entirely correct.
Meanwhile, Loudoun County – a deep-blue Washington, D.C. exurb – has similarly found itself at the epicenter of the CRT debate as widespread discontentment with the county’s school board has made way for organized protests and airings of grievances before school administrators.
Given CRT’s inflammatory nature and basis in objective historical falsehood, community blowback was inevitable once the theory reared its head in the mainstream. However, the institutional blowback has been just as significant – most notable among these rebukes of the theory is the Florida state Board of Education’s recent decision to ban CRT from its public schools outright.
Other states that have taken either legislative or administrative action on the matter include Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
This has been met by critical race theorists coyly characterizing anyone who opposes CRT being shoehorned into every aspect of American discourse as being “too afraid” to confront and discuss the reality that is America’s checkered history at best, and motivated by outright racial animus at worst. To them, the fact that there is any discord over CRT at all is simply a product of a right-wing scare tactic, a nefarious political bogeyman seeking to undermine the discussion of racial issues.
This, naturally, is patent nonsense – a tired platitude sheathed in a false sense of moral superiority. Shutting down good-faith counterarguments under the assumption that any divergence from one’s backward worldview is indicative of the deep-seated racism of the masses and their desire to “go along to get along” is intellectual thuggery of the highest order and grants one no moral standing.
There exists no rational or moral foundation for the teaching of CRT – a racially divisive, historically illiterate set of untruths strung together by agenda-driven ideologues – in any facet of American life. As such, the resulting fallout is not only predictable, but understandable, and Americans are similarly justified in voicing their discontentment with CRT as its proponents nudge it towards becoming the status quo of our discourse.
Kyle Schmidbauer
Kyle Schmidbauer is a junior at Montclair State University studying political science and communications. Passionate about politics from a young age, he has worked on two campaigns for federal office and established a background in electoral politics and constitutional law.
The views expressed in this article are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Lone Conservative staff.
@kjschmidbauer
