Creator Of Term ‘Critical Race Theory’ Kimberlé Crenshaw Explains What It Really Is
Summary
TLDRThe script discusses the GOP's reaction to Critical Race Theory (CRT), accusing it of being a form of Marxism and racism. It argues CRT is not taught in K-12 schools but is a political strategy to mobilize voters by framing anti-racism as racist against white people. The co-founder of CRT, Kimberly Crenshaw, clarifies CRT's purpose is to understand and address enduring racial inequalities, not to promote racism.
Takeaways
- 🔍 The GOP is using Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a political tool to stir controversy and gain support.
- 📚 CRT is being misrepresented as a form of Marxism and is being labeled as racist.
- 🗣️ The speaker argues that CRT is not a standalone subject but a perspective on understanding racial inequality.
- 🏛️ CRT was initially developed to analyze how law contributes to racial disparities and to find ways to address them.
- 👨🏫 There is no K-12 curriculum on CRT being taught in schools, contrary to what some political narratives suggest.
- 🚫 The speaker suggests that the backlash against CRT is an attempt to reverse the racial reckoning following high-profile incidents like the murder of George Floyd.
- 📺 Media outlets like Fox News have been instrumental in amplifying the narrative against CRT, with frequent mentions to shape public opinion.
- 👨👩👧👦 The fear of CRT being taught to children is being exploited to mobilize parents, particularly conservative activists, against it.
- 🎯 The strategy is aimed at influencing the upcoming elections by energizing white voters with a perceived threat to their values.
- ⚖️ The speaker expresses concern that the framing of anti-racism as racist against white people could succeed, as it has in the past.
- 📢 There is a need for accurate information and understanding of CRT to counter the misinformation and political manipulation.
Q & A
What is the GOP's concern with Critical Race Theory (CRT) according to the transcript?
-The GOP views Critical Race Theory as a threat, framing it as a form of new Marxism that uses identity politics to divide society. They claim it teaches white children they are racist and is being used as a political wedge issue.
Why do some conservatives compare Critical Race Theory to Marxism?
-Conservatives argue that Critical Race Theory resembles Marxism in that it allegedly seeks to create division, but instead of using class (as in classical Marxism), it uses race and identity politics to gain control and influence.
Is Critical Race Theory actually being taught in K-12 schools according to Kimberly Crenshaw?
-No, Kimberly Crenshaw, who co-authored one of the few books on Critical Race Theory, states that CRT is not part of the K-12 curriculum. It is primarily a law school concept and has not been widely taught outside of higher education.
What does Kimberly Crenshaw say is the real goal of Critical Race Theory?
-According to Crenshaw, Critical Race Theory is about examining how laws and policies have contributed to ongoing racial inequalities. It seeks to address these issues by understanding and intervening in the systemic barriers that still exist despite legal reforms.
What does the transcript suggest is the political strategy behind the GOP’s attack on CRT?
-The transcript suggests that the GOP's attack on CRT is part of a manufactured political strategy to create a wedge issue that can energize conservative voters and counter the multiracial coalitions that have gained political power, particularly after events like the Georgia elections.
How is Fox News portrayed in the transcript regarding its role in the CRT debate?
-Fox News is portrayed as amplifying the fear around CRT by repeatedly mentioning it—over 1,300 times in a few months—thus driving negative perceptions and mobilizing conservative parents and activists against it.
What historical parallels does Kimberly Crenshaw draw about the framing of anti-racism efforts?
-Crenshaw notes that efforts to frame anti-racism as racism against white people have a long history. This tactic was used after the Civil War, following Brown v. Board of Education, and could be used again in current debates about CRT.
What is the alleged political motivation behind pushing CRT as a wedge issue, according to the transcript?
-The transcript suggests that CRT is being used to rally conservative voters for the 2022 elections by portraying it as a threat to white children and society, even though the actual teaching of CRT in schools is minimal to nonexistent.
What are some of the negative labels conservatives use to describe CRT in the transcript?
-Conservatives in the transcript describe CRT as 'Marxism,' 'bigoted,' 'racism,' and compare it to the actions of the Ku Klux Klan, calling it divisive and harmful to society.
What does Crenshaw suggest is at stake in the ongoing debate about CRT?
-Crenshaw warns that if people don’t understand the true nature of the debate, the framing of anti-racism as racism could prevail once again, reversing progress made in racial justice and civil rights.
Outlines
😡 GOP Criticism of Critical Race Theory as a Political Strategy
The paragraph discusses the GOP's vehement opposition to Critical Race Theory (CRT) and its prevalence in political rhetoric. At a conservative Christian conference, speakers equated CRT with Marxism, claiming it uses identity politics to reshape America. These assertions frame CRT as inherently racist, a sentiment echoed by many conservatives who equate it with bigotry. The speaker highlights that this narrative is not random but a strategic move by political operatives to reclaim power by exploiting fear, particularly against a multiracial coalition that gained prominence in Georgia. The media, especially Fox News, amplifies this narrative, painting CRT as a danger to children.
📢 CRT: A Manufactured Boogeyman
This section continues to describe the manufactured fears around CRT, which has been mischaracterized to stir public outrage. Despite no evidence of CRT being taught in K-12 schools, political operatives have successfully fueled the narrative that it teaches white children to feel guilty about their race. The speaker sarcastically refers to the absurdity of blaming CRT for everything from minor mishaps to societal problems, highlighting how the term has become a buzzword. They point out that the outrage is based on a distortion of facts, but the truth is less important than the effectiveness of the fear-mongering rhetoric.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Critical Race Theory
💡GOP
💡Marxism
💡Identity Politics
💡Wedge Issue
💡Boogie Man
💡Racial Reckoning
💡Blue Lives Matter
💡Fox News
💡Cherry-Picked Stories
💡Anti-Racism
Highlights
GOP using critical race theory as a rallying cry.
Comparison of old and new Marxism with critical race theory.
Claim that critical race theory is racism and should be rejected.
Description of critical race theory as a highly manufactured strategy for political gain.
The use of critical race theory as a wedge issue to counter the multiracial coalition.
Conservatives in Congress and media's role in spreading the narrative against critical race theory.
The fearmongering around critical race theory in education.
Kimberly Crenshaw's introduction as co-founder and executive director who coined the term 'critical race theory'.
Explanation that critical race theory is a perspective on race and law, not a curriculum.
Historical context of critical race theory's development post-Civil Rights Movement.
The misperception that critical race theory is being taught in K-12 schools.
Crenshaw's clarification that critical race theory is not taught in K-12 schools.
The backlash as an effort to reverse the racial reckoning following high-profile police brutality cases.
The strategy to make critical race theory toxic in the public conversation.
The frequency of critical race theory mentions in Fox News and its impact on public perception.
The involvement of Republican activists in protests against critical race theory in schools.
The risk of framing anti-racism as racist against white people and historical precedents.
The importance of understanding the stakes and the need for a factual discourse on critical race theory.
Transcripts
.
>>> SOME OF YOU MAY BE
WONDERING, WHAT IS THE ZEAL WITH
THE GOP FREAKOUT OVER CRITICAL
RACE THEORY?
IT IS EVERYWHERE.
IT WAS EVEN USED AS A GOP CALL
TO ARMS AT A CONSERVATIVE
CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE LAST WEEK.
>> THE OLD MARXISM USED
ECONOMICS TO GAIN CONTROL.
THE NEW MARXISM, THE NEW MARXISM
USES IDENTITY POLITICS.
AND THE RESULT LOOKS NOTHING
LIKE AMERICA.
THERE’S NO REASON TO BELIEVE
THAT THIS NEW MARXISM WILL
RESULT IN ANYTHING BUT WHAT THE
OLD MARXISM DID.
>> CRITICAL RACE THEORY IS
RACISM.
PURE AND SIMPLE.
IT SHOULD BE REJECTED BY EVERY
AMERICAN OF EVERY RACE.
>> LET ME TELL YOU RIGHT NOW,
CRITICAL RACE THEORY IS BIGOTED,
IT IS A LIE AND EVERY BIT AS
RACIST AS THE KLANSMEN IN WHITE
SHEETS.
>> HERE’S THE THING.
NONE OF THIS IS RANDOM.
THIS IS RESULT OF A HIGHLY
MANUFACTURED STRATEGY CREATED BY
SEASONED POLITICAL OPERATIVES
LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT WEDGE
ISSUE TO TAKE BACK POWER.
TO COMBAT THE ENERGY OF THE
MULTIRACIAL COALITION THAT TOOK
GEORGIA AND SOMETHING TO REPLACE
BLUE LIVES MATTER SINCE JANUARY
6th EXPOSED THAT SLOGAN AS A
SHAM.
CONSERVATIVES IN CONGRESS TOOK
NOTE AND STARTED CHATTERING
WHICH WAS THEN INGESTED INTO THE
FEEDER SYSTEM OF FOX NEWS.
THE TAG LINE DISSEMINATED AND
THE WAR AGAINST CRITICAL RACE
THEORY TOOK OFF.
NO ONE WANTS A BOOGIE MAN NEAR
THEIR KIDS AND CERTAINLY NOT IN
THEIR CHARMS.
THE OPERATIVES KNOW THIS.
THOSE FEARS GOT PLAYED UP.
NOW I KNOW WHAT THE FEARS OF
TRANS KIDS TAKING OVER, TALKING
ABOUT CRITICAL LA THAT THEY
BELIEVE TEACHES WHITE KIDS THEY
ARE RACIST.
NONE OF THIS IS ACTUALLY
HAPPENING BUT WHO CARES ABOUT A
LITTLE OLD THING LIKE THE TRUTH
WHEN YOU HAVE THE PERFECT BUZZ
WORD FOR 2022.
IT EVEN HAS THE MAGIC WORD IN
IT.
RACE.
JOINING ME NOW, KIMBERLY
CRENSHAW, CO-FOUNDER AND
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE LEGAL
SCHOLAR WHO COINED THE TERM.
CHRIS RACE THEORY.
SO IT IS YOUR FAULT, MADAM.
I TRIPPED OVER THE CUSH THIS
MORNING.
CRITICAL RACE THEORY!
DAM
DAMN YOU!
AND YOU NEED TO STOP WITH THE
CICADA RACE THEORY.
I JUST WROTE BACK A FEW OF THE
NOTES WHAT PEOPLE ARE CALLING
IT.
MARXISM, RACISM, BIGOTED.
LET’S START WITH THE MARXISM.
THAT’S THE FAVORITE UP WITH.
THEY’RE USING THAT EVERY TIME.
I HATE TO ASK DUMB QUESTIONS SO
PLEASE DON’T THINK THAT I’M
DUMB.
IS CRITICAL RACE THEORY MARXISM?
>> HERE’S THE THING.
CRITICAL RACE THEORY IS NOT SO
MUCH A THING.
IT IS A WAY OF LOOKING AT A
THING.
A WAY OF LOOKING AT RACE.
A WAY OF LOOKING AT WHY AFTER SO
MANY DECADES, CENTURIES,
ACTUALLY, SINCE THE
EMANCIPATION, WE HAVE PATTERNS
OF INEQUALITY THAT ARE ENDURING.
THEY’RE STUBBORN.
THE POINT ORIGINALLY WAS TO TALK
ABOUT HOW LAW CONTRIBUTED TO THE
STATUS OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS, OF
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, AND AN ENTIRE
GROUP OF PEOPLE COMING TO OUR
SHORES FROM ASIA.
THE POINT WAS TO UNDERSTAND THE
PROBLEM TO INTERVENE IN IT.
TO UNDERSTAND WHY THE GREATEST
HOPES FOR A REPUBLIC WERE NOT
BEING REALIZED EVEN THOUGH THESE
HOPES WERE ENCODED IN LAW.
SO CRITICAL RACE THEORY JUST
INHERITS THE BELIEFS AND THE
HOPES OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS,
MARTIN LUTHER KING, WHO WANTS
THE LAW TO DO FOR FREED PEOPLE
WHAT THE LAW DID FOR ENSLAVERS.
WE PICKED THAT UP IN THE ’70s
AND ’80s AFTER THE CIVIL RIGHTS
MOVEMENT TO SAY, OKAY, NOW WE’VE
HAD THIS BIG CIVIL RIGHTS
MOVEMENT.
WE HAVE ALL THESE LAWS ON THE
BOOKS.
BUT THINGS REALLY ARE NOT LUCAS
DIFFERENT AS THEY SHOULD.
IF WE ARE REALLY THE SOCIETY WE
SAY WE ARE.
SO HOW LAW WASN’T JUST THE
NEUTRAL REFEREE.
LAW WAS NOT ALWAYS ON OUR SIDE.
IN FACT, LAW WAS LESS ON OUR
SIDE THAN FOR ON OUR SIDE AND WE
WANTED TO TELL THESE STORIES TO
DO BETTER WITH THE PROMISES THAT
ARE EMBEDDED IN THE
CONSTITUTION.
SO.
>> IS THERE A K-12 CURRICULUM
THAT RIGHT NOW IS BEING -- I’M
SORRY.
I KNOW IT IS A DUMB QUESTION.
IS THERE A K-12 CURRICULUM ON
CRITICAL RACE THEORY BEING
TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS AROUND THIS
COUNTRY?
>> WELL, LOOK, IF IT WAS NEWS TO
MOST AMERICANS CRITICAL RACE
THEORY WAS IN K-12, IT WAS NEWS
TO ME, TOO.
I’M ONE OF THE CO-AUTHORS OF ONE
OF THE FEW BOOKS ON CRITICAL
RACE THEORY.
I THINK I WOULD KNOW IF WE WERE
BEING TAUGHT K-12.
BASICALLY, CLASSIC CRITICAL RACE
THEORY IS A LAW SCHOOL COURSE
AND IT IS REALLY NOT TAUGHT AS
WIDELY AS I WOULD HOPE IT WOULD.
BUT HERE’S THE DEAL.
THIS IS NOT ABOUT ANYTHING
CALLED CRITICAL RACE THEORY IS
IN K-12.
IT DOESN’T EXIST ANY WAY.
IT IS A BACK LASH EFFORT TO
REVERSE THE RACIAL RECKONING,
UNLIKE ANY WE’VE SEEN IN OUR
LIFETIME.
AS YOU POINT OUT IN THE
BEGINNING, THEY CAN’T SAY, WE’RE
FOR RACISM.
THEY CAN’T SAY DEREK CHAUVIN
SHOULD HAVE KILLED GEORGE FLOYD
WITH HIS HAND IN HIS POCKET
LOOKING LIKE HE WAS WITHOUT A
CARE IN THE WORLD.
THEY COULDN’T SAY THAT.
SO THEY LOOKED AROUND AND FOUND
A STRANGE SOUNDING THEORY THAT
THEY COULD PUT ALL THE
GRIEVANCES AND RESENTMENTS AND
MOBILIZE PEOPLE AROUND THIS
BOOGIE MAN.
AND IF OUR SIDE CANNOT REALLY
UNDERSTAND WHAT’S GOING ON, IT
IS GOING TO WORK.
IT WORKED IN RECOULDN’T
INSTRUCTION AND KIT WORK IN
THIS, TOO.
>> AND A GENTLEMAN WHO VERY
VIGOROUSLY REQUESTED TO BE ON
THE SHOW.
WE’RE GOING TO TAKE HIM UP ON IT
AND INVITE HIM ON THIS WEEK.
HE SAID WE’VE SUCCESSFULLY
FROZEN THEIR BRAND.
CRITICAL RACE THEORY INTO THE
PUBLIC CONVERSATION AND ARE
STEADILY DRIVING UP NEGATIVE
PERCEPTIONS.
WE WILL EVENTUALLY TURN IT TOXIC
AS WE PUT ALL THE VARIOUS
CULTURAL INSANITIES UNDER THAT
BRAND CATEGORY.
TO WIT, FOX NEWS HAS MENTIONED
IT NEARLY 1,300 TIMES IN THE
PAST THREE AND A HALF MONTHS AND
WE’VE NOW DISCOVERED THESE
PARENTS SHOWING UP AT SCHOOL
BOARDS AGAINST THEIR CHILDREN
BEING TAUGHT THEY’RE RACIST.
IT TURNS OUT THEY ARE REPUBLICAN
ACTIVISTS.
NOT JUST REGULAR OLD PARENTS.
>> BIG SURPRISE THERE, RIGHT?
>> YEAH.
NOT SURPRISING AT ALL.
SO I GUESS MY LAST QUESTION TO
YOU WOULD BE, WHAT DO YOU WORRY
IS SORT OF PURPOSE OF WHAT
THEY’RE TRYING TO DO?
THIS IS POLITICAL.
IT IS ABOUT GETTING OUT THE
WHITE VOTERS IN 2022.
IS THERE A BIGGER RISK TO NAMING
CRITICAL RACE THEORY AS SOME
SORT OF MARXIST PLOT?
>> WELL, OF COURSE.
THE BIGGEST RISK IS THAT THIS
TRIED AND TRUE FRAMING OF
ANTI-RACISM AS RACIST AGAINST
WHITE PEOPLE WILL WIN AGAIN.
IT WON AT THE END OF THE CIVIL
WAR WHEN CIVIL RIGHTS WERE
FRAMED AS REVERSE DISCRIMINATION
AGAINST WHITE PEOPLE.
IT WON AFTER BROWN VERSUS BOARD
OF EDUCATION WHEN INTEGRATION
WAS FRAMED AS DAMAGING WHITE
CHILDREN.
AND IT COULD WIN NOW IF PEOPLE
DON’T WAKE UP AND HAVE A SENSE
OF WHAT IS AT STAKE.
SO YEAH.
YOU’LL HEAR ALL THESE CHERRY
PICKED STORIES.
A LOT OF THEM WERE NOT
VERIFIABLE THAT THE OTHER SIDE
IS PUTTING OUT THERE.
YOU’RE NOT GOING ON HEAR, AND
YOU SHOULD, WHAT IS HAPPENING.
YOU WON’T HEAR THAT IT WAS THE
REASON WHY A SCHOOL TEACHER WAS
FIRED.
YOU WON’T HEAR ABOUT THE
AFFINITY GROUPS IN COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES, AND THE PROGRAMS,
THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS BEING
CANCELED.
SO WE NEED TO SEE MATERIALLY
WHAT THIS IS DOING IN ORDER TO
WEIGH INTO THIS.
IF ANYONE WAS MOBILIZED BY LAST
YEAR, IF ANYONE IS CONCERNED
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