Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:

 

 

The term "Critical Race Theory" has been used to arouse fear, apprehension and action. Former vice-president Mike Pence said CRT is racism. Senator Ted Cruz said CRT "is every bit as racist" as the Ku Klux Klan. Noting in the research or conclusions in CRT supports those positions. Dr. Byrne, sponsored by Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Missouri, is speaking around Missouri with the intention of getting people to take action as she misrepresents CRT.  A little research will reveal the main points which are listed for her presentation are not consistent with reality. CRT started at Harvard in the 1980s and "dissected the idea that law was just and neutral." According to a leading scholar, Kimberley Crenshaw, who coined the term CRT, "It is a way of looking at the law's role platforming, facilitating, producing, and even insulating racial inequality in our country, ranging from health to wealth to segregation to policing."

The distortions and promotion of CRT as a threat to America started with Christopher F. Rufo, a journalist and documentary film maker. Starting with outrage over anti-bias training he found "[CRT's] connotations are all negative to most middle-class Americans, including racial minorities, who see the world as 'creative' rather than 'critical,' 'individual' rather than 'racial,' 'practical' rather than 'theoretical.' Strung together, the phrase 'critical race theory' connotes hostile, academic, divisive, race-obsessed, poisonous, elitist, anti-American." "CRT is the perfect villain," he wrote. Rufo's appearances on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" spread his message. Now we are seeing unfounded attacks on school teachers, school curricula, and school boards which will make it even more difficult to deal with structural racism. "We need to pay attention to what has happened in this country and how what has happened is continuing to create differential outcomes, so that we can become the democratic republic we say we are," Kimberle Crenshaw. We need to base our actions on reality and knowing the real history of our nation will help us create a more just society

 

 

Sources:  Columbia News July 01, 2021  Annals of Inquiry by Benjamin Wallace-Wells June 18, 2021

 

 

James Vokac, Willow Springs