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Critical race theory: What it is and what

it isn’t
June 30, 2021 2.14pm SAST

President Lyndon Johnson signing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which aimed to do away with racial discrimination in the law. But discrimination persisted. AP file photo

 Email U.S. Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana sent a letter to fellow Republicans on June 24, Author

 Twitter 75 2021, stating: “As Republicans, we reject the racial essentialism that critical race David Miguel Gray
 Facebook 3.2k theory teaches … that our institutions are racist and need to be destroyed from the Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Affiliate, Institute
for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis
 LinkedIn ground up.”
 Print Disclosure statement
Kimberlé Crenshaw, a law professor and central gure in the development of
critical race theory, said in a recent interview that critical race theory “just says, David Miguel Gray does not work for, consult, own shares in or
receive funding from any company or organisation that would
let’s pay attention to what has happened in this country, and how what has benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations
beyond their academic appointment.
happened in this country is continuing to create di erential outcomes. … Critical
Race Theory … is more patriotic than those who are opposed to it because … we
Partners
believe in the promises of equality. And we know we can’t get there if we can’t
confront and talk honestly about inequality.”

Rep. Banks’ account is demonstrably false and typical of many people publicly
declaring their opposition to critical race theory. Crenshaw’s characterization,
while true, does not detail its main features. So what is critical race theory and University of Memphis provides funding as a member of The
what brought it into existence? Conversation US.

The development of critical race theory by legal scholars such as Derrick Bell and The Conversation is funded by the National Research Foundation,
eight universities, including the Cape Peninsula University of
Crenshaw was largely a response to the slow legal progress and setbacks faced by Technology, Rhodes University, Stellenbosch University and the
Universities of Cape Town, Johannesburg, Kwa-Zulu Natal,
African Americans from the end of the Civil War, in 1865, through the end of the
Pretoria, and South Africa. It is hosted by the Universities of the
civil rights era, in 1968. To understand critical race theory, you need to rst Witwatersrand and Western Cape, the African Population and
Health Research Centre and the Nigerian Academy of Science.
understand the history of African American rights in the U.S. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a Strategic Partner. more

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ow of information
The history Republish our articles for free,
online or in print, under
A er 304 years of enslavement, then-former slaves gained equal protection under
Creative Commons licence.
the law with passage of the 14th Amendment in 1868. The 15th Amendment, in
1870, guaranteed voting rights for men regardless of race or “previous condition Republish this article
of servitude.”

Between 1866 and 1877 – the period historians call “Radical Reconstruction” –
African Americans began businesses, became involved in local governance and
law enforcement and were elected to Congress.

This early progress was subsequently diminished by state laws throughout the
American South called “Black Codes,” which limited voting rights, property rights
and compensation for work; made it illegal to be unemployed or not have
documented proof of employment; and could subject prisoners to work without
pay on behalf of the state. These legal rollbacks were worsened by the spread of
“Jim Crow” laws throughout the country requiring segregation in almost all
aspects of life.

Grassroots struggles for civil rights were constant in post-Civil War America.
Some historians even refer to the period from the New Deal Era, which began in
1933, to the present as “The Long Civil Rights Movement.”

The period stretching from Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which found
school segregation to be unconstitutional, to the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which
prohibited discrimination in housing, was especially productive.

The civil rights movement used practices such as civil disobedience, nonviolent
protest, grassroots organizing and legal challenges to advance civil rights. The
U.S.’s need to improve its image abroad during the Cold War importantly aided
these advancements. The movement succeeded in banning explicit legal
discrimination and segregation, promoted equal access to work and housing and
extended federal protection of voting rights.

However, the movement that produced legal advances had no e ect on the
increasing racial wealth gap between Blacks and whites, while school and housing
segregation persisted.

The racial wealth gap between Blacks and whites has persisted. Here, Carde Cornish takes his son past blighted buildings in Baltimore. ‘Our race issues
aren’t necessarily toward individuals who are white, but it is towards the system that keeps us all down, one, but keeps Black people disproportionally
down a lot more than anybody else,’ he said. AP Photo/Matt Rourke

What critical race theory is

Critical race theory is a eld of intellectual inquiry that demonstrates the legal
codi cation of racism in America.

Through the study of law and U.S. history, it attempts to reveal how racial
oppression shaped the legal fabric of the U.S. Critical race theory is traditionally
less concerned with how racism manifests itself in interactions with individuals
and more concerned with how racism has been, and is, codi ed into the law.

There are a few beliefs commonly held by most critical race theorists.

First, race is not fundamentally or essentially a matter of biology , but rather a

social construct . While physical features and geographic origin play a part in
making up what we think of as race, societies will o en make up the rest of what
we think of as race. For instance, 19th- and early-20th-century scientists and
politicians frequently described people of color as intellectually or morally
inferior, and used those false descriptions to justify oppression and
discrimination.

Legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, who devised the term ‘critical race theory,’ explains what it is – and isn’t.

Second, these racial views have been codi ed into the nation’s foundational
documents and legal system. For evidence of that, look no further than the
“Three-Fi hs Compromise” in the Constitution, whereby slaves, denied the right
to vote, were nonetheless treated as part of the population for increasing
congressional representation of slave-holding states.

Third, given the pervasiveness of racism in our legal system and institutions,
racism is not aberrant, but a normal part of life.

Fourth, multiple elements, such as race and gender, can lead to kinds of
compounded discrimination that lack the civil rights protections given to
individual, protected categories. For example, Crenshaw has forcibly argued that
there is a lack of legal protection for Black women as a category. The courts have
treated Black women as Black, or women, but not both in discrimination cases –
despite the fact that they may have experienced discrimination because they were
both.

These beliefs are shared by scholars in a variety of elds who explore the role of
racism in areas such as education, health care and history.

Finally, critical race theorists are interested not just in studying the law and
systems of racism, but in changing them for the better.

What critical race theory is not

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, giving his version of what critical race theory is.

“Critical race theory” has become a catch-all phrase among legislators attempting
to ban a wide array of teaching practices concerning race. State legislators in
Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina,
Texas and West Virginia have introduced legislation banning what they believe to
be critical race theory from schools.

But what is being banned in education, and what many media outlets and
legislators are calling “critical race theory,” is far from it. Here are sections from
identical legislation in Oklahoma and Tennessee that propose to ban the teaching
of these concepts. As a philosopher of race and racism, I can safely say that critical
race theory does not assert the following:

(1) One race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex;

(2) An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently privileged,

racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously;

(3) An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment

because of the individual’s race or sex;

(4) An individual’s moral character is determined by the individual’s race or sex;

(5) An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, bears responsibility for
actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex;

(6) An individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or another form of

psychological distress solely because of the individual’s race or sex.

What most of these bills go on to do is limit the presentation of educational

materials that suggest that Americans do not live in a meritocracy, that
foundational elements of U.S. laws are racist, and that racism is a perpetual
struggle from which America has not escaped.

Americans are used to viewing their history through a triumphalist lens, where we
overcome hardships, defeat our British oppressors and create a country where all
are free with equal access to opportunities.

Obviously, not all of that is true.

Critical race theory provides techniques to analyze U.S. history and legal
institutions by acknowledging that racial problems do not go away when we leave
them unaddressed.

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Weekly.]

 Racism Cold War African Americans Segregation US Civil war Integration Brown v. Board of Education

Critical race theory Racial wealth gap President Lyndon Johnson Civil Rights Act of 1964 Enslaved people redlining

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