Why critical race theory is becoming controversial | Just the FAQs

“Critical race theory” goes beyond advocating for civil rights or banning discrimination. Proponents see it as a framework to examine how the taint of racism still affects Black Americans and other people of color in matters ranging from who gets bank loans and admission into elite universities to how suspects are treated by police.

Detractors dismiss critical race theory as a method for “teaching kids to hate their country” or to promote “public school wokeness.”

» USA TODAY delivers current local and national news, sports, entertainment, finance, technology, and more through award-winning journalism, photos, videos and VR.

[FirstLast.....]

It's racism. Democrats: but it's the right kind of racism.

[donbarile]

when are they gonna start teaching that we are all slaves to the federal reserve?

[nikkibonbon]

They need to add more black history in schools but not teach kids of color they are victims oppressed by there fellow white peers...when I was in middle and high school I was taught about well known historical black men and women who accomplished many things and was successful. We just need more of it. Not victim mentality or oppression.

[ioswd]

When I was in school they spent a fair amount of time teaching us about slavery and the civil unrest that followed.

[michaell]

Does critical race theory mean that if I were to identify myself as a black victim of systemic racism that I should be receiving reparations from my government?

[borrego.enrique]

Your first and third statements are a contradiction... Who is writing this trash.

[beyondhuman]

We all belong to one race and that's the human race!

[dystopiaisutopia]

Nobody ever talks about how the first slave owner was black.

[estefanicastro]

As always the Manu stream media is five years late to cover a subject. I’ve been going to CRT HR training for five years. I work in the arts and theater industry. They got to the creatives first before going into k-12. Look up “The Long March through the institutions”.

[BenDoveHer-iise]

While critical race theorists do not all share the same beliefs, [2] the basic tenets of CRT include that racism and disparate racial outcomes are the result of complex, changing and often subtle social and institutional dynamics rather than explicit and intentional prejudices on the part of individuals.[9][10] CRT scholars also view race and white supremacy as an intersectional social construction[9] which serves to uphold the interests of white people[11] against those of marginalized communities at large.[12][13][14] In the field of legal studies, CRT emphasizes that merely making laws colorblind on paper may not be enough to make the application of the laws colorblind; ostensibly colorblind laws can be applied in racially discriminatory ways.[15] A key CRT concept is intersectionality, which emphasizes that race can intersect with other identities (such as gender and class) to produce complex combinations of power and disadvantage

[terrylegend]

Democrats need to teach that they accepted racism first and the Republican followed suit.

[wademitchell]

¿Sabía que a los veteranos y descendientes negros de la Segunda Guerra Mundial TODAVÍA no se les permiten los beneficios de la factura GI? ¿Te imaginas enseñar la Segunda Guerra Mundial y GI Bill y no mencionar que 1 millón de veteranos negros fueron excluidos? Hay un proyecto de ley en la Cámara y el Senado para cambiar esto. Authentic CRT busca descubrir y remediar estas desigualdades causadas por el racismo sistémico…..

[Soma]

Its a Stupid Idea and i never learned it why should todays kids be forced to learn it

[flibble]

Bc some people see through the anti white hate and division.

[hedylamarr]

0:20 ' CRT centers round the idea that racism is systemic '...that would be critical racism theory..race & racism have 2 entirely different meanings.

[Tallacus]

Teach the kids science and math NOT communism

[xqnowej]

You guys miss it. It is not about history. Yes, teach as much history as there is time for, as many events as there is time for that give the US story warts and all.
However, Critical race theory is a worldview approach to teaching, a philosophy that only looks at power dynamics Why is it so laughably reductionistic? Because it is Marxist. It does not pursue the hard scholarship of multivariate analysis.
If there a disparity of income, then racism. Too simple. And I believe that true scholarship would demonstrate that. Instead we only hear ideological tropes.
Let's try to find the part of the problem that might be attributable to individual racist acts. The laws are definitely not racist. Fortunately no longer the case. And find the part that is social (e.g., missing fathers). And the part that is educational (makes me want school choice).
Critical race theory criticizes - whiteness, white fragility, white rage and on and on (that is what the 'critical' means; it is not critical in the sense of precise, analytical thought). Just read the Marxist Max Horkheimer's essay "Traditional and Critical Theory" (1937). Traditional theory tries to understand why things are as they are. Critical theory seeks to criticize all the systems. That is what Horkheimer wrote. Read it yourself.
Why did he write such things? Duh, because it is Marxist and opposes all that has to do with the West. Cynically criticize. Now you see why birds and the Capitol Rotunda and all of those whites are racist? It is out of control, which is what happens with the Marxist approach. Marx got his anthropology wrong, to say the least. And Horkheimer, by the way, was a member of the Marxist Frankfurt School (Institut fuer Sozialforschung). Many of the Frankfurt School members fled Hitler and landed in the USA. We should read the history. But not too much, lest we miss out on so many other things important to learn for being an adult and living as a member of civil society.
This is not a divide in race relations. It is a divide between liberal (free and open) and illiberal, between Marxism and Western liberalism, between progressivism (as it is today, not real progress) and holding to ideals of liberty and promoting a better playing field for all, between power dynamics as the only determinant of history and the complex nature of humans and society. Let's do the hard work of scholarship and policy instead of Marxist grievance and the hope for a Montessori for adults.Crical race theory is a worldview approach to teaching, a philosophy that reduced the lens to one of power dynamics

[chaserohwedder]

Because it teaches kids to be racist towards each other….

[adambrian]

***Does our school district use Critical Pedagogy?***
A good question for parents to ask the school district, is whether the school use "Critical Pedagogy". k-12 teachers may not teach CRT, but use "Critical Pedagogy".

Critical Pedagogy (CP) is not traditional critical thinking, it has very specific meaning. It is a education philosophy and teaching methods based on Critical Theory, including Critical Race Theory.

Teachers that use this method will often bias the class towards an anti-status quo position instead of allowing them to decide if they agree or disagree with the situation at hand. When an individual attains the interest to find out the validity of the statements they inherently must consider themselves separate from the rest of society. The goal exceeds the desire to instill creativity and exploration by encouraging detrimental disdain for tradition, hierarchy (such as parental control over children), and self-isolation. Such a high degree of distrust in generally accepted truths will create or perpetuate conspiracy theories. Critical pedagogists selectively pick icons to interrogate and subvert: for example, Thomas Jefferson but not Martin Luther King. Rather than "liberating" student thought, teachers replace a cultural bias with their own bias.

In CP practice, teacher works to lead students to question ideologies and practices considered oppressive (including those at school). After they reach the point of revelation where they begin to view their present society as deeply problematic, the next behavior encouraged is sharing this knowledge with the attempt to change the oppressive nature of the society.

Political activism is the bedrock of Critical Pedagogy, just like Critical Theory, or Critical Race Theory.

Using Critical Pedagogy in K-12 education, injects politics, and political activism into school. That could be a concern for many parents.

[ghostnotes]

I was taught about racism and slavery. CRT is a whole other animal though. Teaching our children that they are inherently racist is wrong!