Are innocent white children being made to feel guilty for the sins of people long gone? Worse yet, are students being indoctrinated with anti-American rhetoric by the institutions to which their learning has been entrusted? Many conservatives certainly seem to think so. These suspicions, fanned by right-wing media like Fox News, have given rise to widespread efforts to stop schools from adopting socially conscious K-12 curriculums. From Idaho to South Carolina and New Hampshire to Texas, state legislatures across the nation are passing laws to restrict the teaching of “critical race theory.” But while they fervently rail against its teaching, they have failed to answer a crucial question: what exactly is critical race theory?
What Is Critical Race Theory?
Critical race theory is a framework of legal analysis developed by Black, Latinx, and Asian legal scholars in the 1970s. Derrick Bell and Kimberlé Crenshaw are two of its most prominent pioneers, but it has been influenced by scholars across the country. This legal framework analyzes the effects of historically racist institutions and their persisting effects on people of color, terming this phenomenon systemic racism. Systemic racism focuses, not on individual actors, but on the numerous institutions that come together to shape and impact life in the US. In the years since its inception, critical race theory has expanded beyond the legal field and is now used in other academic disciplines including sociology and history. But despite current popular narratives to the contrary, it is not a part of K-12 education.
Anti-CRT Rumblings
There are disputes about when calls for banning CRT from K-12 curriculums first began. Some people believe that they arose from the executive order Trump issued in September 2020 banning diversity training in federal agencies. But this in turn can be traced back to the significant rise in racial awareness that came about earlier that year when George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis. This tragic event was captured on camera and lead to weeks of nationwide protests, uprisings, and calls for race-based reforms to American society. That summer the news and social media were filled with conversations about the continuing effects of racism, the brutality of the criminal legal system, and potential ways to mitigate this decades-long crisis. Books by anti-racist educators like Ibram Kendi and Robin DiAngelo sold out and were the topic of discussion in numerous book clubs. It was, some claim, the greatest racial reckoning the US has faced in a long time.
Others trace the start of this movement to pre-pandemic times. In commemoration of the 400 year anniversary of when enslaved people were first brought to the then American colonies, Nikole Hanna-Jones published the 1619 Project in the New York Times Magazine. So called because it posits 1619 as the true beginning of the United States, this collection of essays, reflections, and photographs highlights the presence of Black people in the United States since its days as British colonies. It was widely praised for shining light on Black American history which is too often erased or at least minimized. Since its original publication, it has been turned into a book and even been adapted to be part of culturally sensitive educational materials. But it also received a ferocious backlash from conservative circles. Then-president Trump established the 1776 Commission to counter what he called anti-American propaganda.
Efforts to Mobilize Against Critical Race Theory
Regardless of the catalyst, beginning in 2021, state legislatures and school boards began mobilizing to ban the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 education. But although this is the blanket term used by detractors of culturally sensitive curriculums, not all of the bills, passed and proposed, actually use the phrase critical race theory. Furthermore, they do not all use the same tactics. Some outright focus on curtailing the subjects that teachers can discuss. Alternatively, other more “lenient” bills call for teachers to publicly cite the materials they use in their lesson plans in the name of “transparency.”
A common thread that runs through these efforts is how they are framed. They are often couched in the language of equality, fairness, and inclusivity. Notable proponents like Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis have gone so far as to invoke the overused, watered down, and distorted Martin Luther King quote that conservatives trot out when they are working towards dismantling race conscious policies: people should be judged “not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Pundits and guests on conservative political shows and blogs parade anecdotes about innocent, often very young, children being made to feel guilty and labelled as oppressors for the actions of people who are long since dead. Bill writers and governors draw on parental concerns for the emotional well-being of white children who are forced into uncomfortable conversations about bygone situations over which they have no control.
The swiftness with which states and local school boards began to introduce bills and regulations respectively shows that the rise in calls for CRT bans is not coincidental. On the contrary, it is a well-coordinated tactic supported by conservative parents, school boards officials, journalists and government representatives from every level. Think tanks and advocacy groups like the Manhattan Institute, Citizens for Renewing America, and the Heritage Foundation have published research and anecdotes of conservative parents and teachers. They have also drawn up model legislation for state legislatures to use when drafting their bills. These groups are staffed, and sometimes headed, by former Trump administration officials. Christopher Rufo, a journalist and former documentary film maker, has received a grant from the Manhattan Institute to help him continue with mobilization effort. It was he who latched on critical race theory as the term to use in order to rally conservatives against anti-racism efforts.
Beginning in the summer of 2020, at the height of racial justice-oriented conversations prompted by George Floyd’s murder, Rufo began his crusade. First, he published a piece in Civ Journal, a Manhattan Institute magazine, exposing workplace diversity trainings. Thanks to its overwhelmingly positive reception in conservative circles, he continued his campaign. In the ensuing months, he began going on press tours and labeling art specifically as the root of this wave of “anti-American propaganda.” Today, he is one of the leading figures of a movement that has coalesced to prevent the implementation of culturally sensitive curriculums in primary and secondary schools.
A Call to Action
Multiple studies have shown that candid conversations about race are beneficial to children. Despite this, adults usually delay these discussions. Luckily, over the last decade, as the country has moved away from an erroneous belief that we live in a post racial society, schools have begun ensuring that curriculums are more racially relevant. Unfortunately, these efforts are rapidly being eroded by conservative groups and officials.
In order to fight this movement and maintain the positive momentum that difficult conversations about race have yielded, people committed to dismantling white supremacy must pursue our goals with a multi-pronged approach. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other advocacy organizations have taken an important first step by filing a federal lawsuit to defend free speech and students’ rights to learn. It is important that CRT scholars educate the public about what CRT actually is in order to combat the disinformation campaign that is being waged in the media. It is also important that parents, school board members, and government officials unite in their various roles to stop the passage of anti-CRT bills and pass legislation that supports the efforts of educators who are trying to make education more racially and culturally inclusive.
Zulay Valencia Diaz is a student at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and wrote this blog as a part of the Education Law and Policy course.
