{"id":188106,"date":"2021-07-05T12:00:48","date_gmt":"2021-07-05T11:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=188106"},"modified":"2021-07-04T06:45:05","modified_gmt":"2021-07-04T05:45:05","slug":"critical-race-theory-what-it-is-and-what-it-isnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/07\/critical-race-theory-what-it-is-and-what-it-isnt\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical Race Theory: What It Is and What It Isn\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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<\/p><\/div>\n

30 Jun 2021 – <\/em>U.S. Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana sent a letter<\/a> to fellow Republicans on June 24, 2021, stating: \u201cAs Republicans, we reject the racial essentialism that critical race theory teaches \u2026 that our institutions are racist and need to be destroyed from the ground up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kimberl\u00e9 Crenshaw, a law professor and central figure in the development of critical race theory, said in a recent interview<\/a> that critical race theory \u201cjust says, let\u2019s pay attention to what has happened in this country, and how what has happened in this country is continuing to create differential outcomes. \u2026 Critical Race Theory \u2026 is more patriotic than those who are opposed to it because \u2026 we believe in the promises of equality. And we know we can\u2019t get there if we can\u2019t confront and talk honestly about inequality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Banks\u2019 account is demonstrably false and typical of many people publicly declaring their opposition to critical race theory. Crenshaw\u2019s characterization, while true, does not detail its main features. So what is critical race theory and what brought it into existence?<\/p>\n

The development of critical race theory by legal scholars such as Derrick Bell<\/a> and Crenshaw<\/a> was largely a response to the slow legal progress and setbacks faced by African Americans from the end of the Civil War, in 1865, through the end of the civil rights era, in 1968. To understand critical race theory, you need to first understand the history of African American rights in the U.S.<\/p>\n

The history<\/h2>\n

After 304 years of enslavement, then-former slaves gained equal protection under the law with passage of the 14th Amendment in 1868<\/a>. The 15th Amendment, in 1870, guaranteed voting rights for men regardless of race or \u201cprevious condition of servitude<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between 1866 and 1877 \u2013 the period historians call \u201cRadical Reconstruction\u201d \u2013 African Americans began businesses, became involved in local governance and law enforcement and were elected to Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This early progress was subsequently diminished by state laws throughout the American South called \u201cBlack Codes<\/a>,\u201d 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 \u201cJim Crow<\/a>\u201d laws throughout the country requiring segregation in almost all aspects of life.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cThe Long Civil Rights Movement<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The civil rights movement used practices such as civil disobedience, nonviolent protest, grassroots organizing and legal challenges to advance civil rights. The U.S.\u2019s need to improve its image abroad<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

However, the movement that produced legal advances had no effect on the increasing racial wealth gap<\/a> between Blacks and whites, while school and housing segregation persisted.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n
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The racial wealth gap between Blacks and whites has persisted. Here, Carde Cornish takes his son past blighted buildings in Baltimore. \u2018Our race issues aren\u2019t 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,\u2019 he said.<\/span> AP Photo\/Matt Rourke<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What critical race theory is<\/h2>\n

Critical race theory is a field of intellectual inquiry that demonstrates the legal codification of racism in America<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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, codified into the law.<\/p>\n

There are a few beliefs commonly held by most critical race theorists.<\/p>\n

First, race<\/a> is not fundamentally or essentially a matter of biology<\/a>, but rather a social construct<\/a>. While physical features and geographic origin play a part in making up what we think of as race, societies will often 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.<\/p>\n

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