Author: Bipartisan Disagreement
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By Nicholas Moore
For many, Critical Race Theory is useful academic shorthand for a very specific tradition in thinking, scholarship, and social criticism. For others, C.R.T. is a specter so dangerous that legislation has been passed banning even the discussion of racism in some public schools1. Truthfully, it’s not just about C.R.T. This absurd dissidence is what happens to a country built on discourse when ideological compromise becomes impossible. Legislatures in Colorado would rather ban any discussion of racism in schools than they would permit a critique of American History. Why? It’s because we don’t teach our children how to think.
When I was in the sixth grade, I joined the debate team at my school. One of my debate coaches was a young Black woman, just a few years out of university. We were sitting together one afternoon, and someone brought up racism and she told me that it was impossible to be racist toward a white person. I told her that was ridiculous. I told her that anybody could be racist to anyone because anybody could hate anyone for their race. She shook her head and explained that racism was institutional. I was talking about discrimination. “Oh…” I said. And then, because she was a debate coach, she kept it going. She said that she actually was wrong because, on a deeper level, institutions exist beyond the individual – no one, therefore, could really be racist to anyone because no one controls oppression systems, let alone the material history of minority groups. She explained that she was actually right the first time because, while no one controls racist institutions, we support them through individually internalized behaviors that propagate those oppressive systems. She kept on going back and forth, until, finally, I understood.
Critique is harmless at its worst and imperative at its best. Conservatives will tell you that Critical Race Theory is slander of our great nation when, in reality, they just lack the imagination to acknowledge the grim reality while still, stoically, holding on to our lofty American ideals. The true American knows that criticism is critical because, if the institution cannot withstand that criticism, it is our duty as Americans to change it. Ang, besides, the true American knows that censorship has been the enemy of the republic all along.
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