C.R.T (trigger warning?)

Are we falling off a ledge or is it business as usual?

Reading a NYTimes article on the arguments over Critical Race Theory, I turned around and grabbed the copy that’s been on lying on a cabinet in my living room for a few years now. Is it so critical? Is it so racial? Is it so theoretical? 

I don’t intend to answer these questions in this brief blog post. I will only venture to propose that the book is getting a lot of hype from something that in 1995, when it was first published, was a compilation of essays, inspired in part by Kimberlé Crenshaw’s defense of Anita Hill (remember Congressional hearings on Justice Thomas’ sexual harassment charges, yup), and other thinkers’ historical research and activism: “In short, Critical Race Theory is an intellectual movement that is both particular to our postmodern (and conservative) times and part of a long tradition of human resistance and liberation.”[1] So what does that mean today an environment of viral spread and misinformation?

In interpreting the underpinnings of a movement of liberation and justice, the widespread ignorance over what it means to bring forth a critical perspective on race is astounding. Innumerable videos of people proclaiming their objection to the theory are unsure over what it means, or if it is even taught in schools as many claim, and have surfaced on Twitter and other social media platforms. For this discourse, fraught with divisiveness, CRT is used as a tool to create the same, not inspire, inform or uphold any justice or liberation; instead, it is used as a tool to protect certain groups in the name of shielding children. 

I have read the essays and for me, being a naturalized citizen, an activist and advocate committed to raise the voices of those who are not heard, I find them inspiring, informative and liberating. What is not to like with words that create a sense of uplifting creativity? Why are we afraid to challenge the status quo, to reach back in time and to rectify that which was wrong to begin with?

This text was not planned or contemplated even for an hour. It sprung from a genuine confusion and befuddlement over what is taking place; as the critics of CRT admits to using it as a political instrument, disregarding the learning and respect for those who have fought before us that the text conveys.   

CRT is not dangerous. People who conform and limit us to think critically are the real danger. CRT is forewarning that if we don’t walk off the ledge we stand on, we will fall off.

Photo: myself

[1] ‘Critical Race Theory, The Key Writings that Formed the Movement’, edited by Kimberlé Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, Kendall Thomas; 1995:xi. The New Press New York.