If you’re an older IT person, CRT stood for cathode ray tube, the dumb terminal we all used for computing back in the day. But acronyms tend to be identified with fields of interest, so that meaning has pretty much died out. Now, it stands for Critical Race Theory, a rebranding of identity-based Marxism. Given that a fight between the proletariats and the bourgeoise didn’t work too well, the new idea is to pit races against each other with a goal of softening up the concept of neo-Marxism with more palatable words like “equity,” “social justice,” and “inclusion.”
Equity should not be confused with equality, a basic right enshrined in our Constitution. Equality means equality under the law and equality of opportunity. For the past 60 years, every attempt has been made to achieve equality for black citizens. Oddly, almost no effort has been expended to help any other race; the results show that perhaps too much “helping” can be toxic. Equity is a different animal. It refers to equality of outcome. A simple example would be that the winner of American Idol could be an untalented singer with a tin ear, because they deserve a chance to win too. I love to sing and performed in musicals, but I know better than to believe I deserve a win on that stage.
It hasn’t worked in practice. People perceived to have gotten a lot of help with affirmative action often find that works against them. Do you select a surgeon who may have been cut a lot of slack in med school or would you prefer one who achieved excellence under rigorous standards? Giving breaks, offering underserved honors and lowering the bar simply hurt the groups those in charge hope to help. It’s perhaps the most racist thing you can do because it says clearly, “You’re not good enough to measure up to these standards.”
Why CRT Now?
I’ve puzzled over this since the training began being mandated across schools and places of employment. What is the goal? When you basically say that white people are unredeemable, you have done exactly the same as slave-owners the world around have done. You’ve eliminated any chance of success for a person. This is, in fact, racism made clear.
The revised Oxford English Dictionary cites the shortened term "racism" in a quote from the following year, 1903. It was first defined by the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition, 1989) as "[t]he theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race"; the same dictionary termed racism a synonym of racialism: "belief in the superiority of a particular race".
The definition implies the inferiority of another race. We can do better than this and we have to. Creating the grounds for race war will spur the next Civil War. But that’s what the founders want because this would give them an opportunity to reshape America into a completely different country. We see this with the many unconstitutional power grabs the current administration is attempting.
A Solution
For most of us, we understand that:
a. We are none of us a pure race going back to the earliest time. Just check out your Ancestry DNA to understand this.
b. We share a higher percentage of common DNA with each other (and with chimps, too)
c. We are born into parts of the world, specific families and economic conditions that don’t define us, but may limit our choices and opportunities
d. We are more alike as humans than we are unalike.
At every encounter, we need to push back on this attempt to divide us. I believe that the vast majority of Americans don’t really agree with CRT, nor do they like what is happening. As we’ve seen with BLM, when a very small group of people attempt to take over a city and define its policies, tolerating it is the wrong approach; it simply metastasizes and gets worse. Talk to your friends, discuss this challenging issue and take a stand against indoctrination. Talk about common interests and how reaching out across any personal divide is healing and promotes growth. We are better than this. And we know better. Take a stand.
