I’m 36 years old, and up until a couple of months ago, I had never heard the term “critical race theory”, and now it’s everywhere. While I’m all for debate and mature conversations around any and all subjects, this one is completely silly, and we’d be a lot better off if we all just took a moment to acknowledge that. Both the Right and the Left have been sucked into using this as a talking point in the culture wars, and unfortunately, others have to talk about it just because everyone else is. And the fears around CRT are completely unfounded, especially because of the way our education system is structured.
So, why had I not heard of CRT for my 36 years on this planet until recently? Because of this guy Christopher Rufo, and as a fellow Chris, I’m ashamed. When all this CRT talk started, I said to myself, “Woah. This is clearly a big deal, so I better learn everything I can about it. And I’m surprised at how much I read and try to educate myself but never heard about this.” Well, I found out that it’s this guy Christopher Rufo who took a big pile of nothing and managed to turn it into something, and now we’re all talking about it.
I took a deep dive reading articles from Rufo, watching talks from him, and doing whatever else I could to figure out what the deal is. And if you’re thinking about doing the same, I’ll save you some time by letting you know that it’s a big waste of your time. Rufo is either another grifter trying to profit off of the culture wars, or he just doesn’t understand the meaning of things. Unfortunately, words, terms, and ideas that people can’t properly define are like catnip for the Right.
If you need a prime example, the other day, Josh Hawley referred to the infrastructure bill as being “woke”. How can an infrastructure bill be woke? Your guess is as good as mine.
I do my best to read books by people I disagree with, but sometimes, I just can’t even finish it because the entire premise is off. As you’ve probably noticed, anything the Right doesn’t like, they call socialist or communist. But since Dinesh D’Souza is such a prominent figure on the right, I figured I’d read his book on why socialism is bad. From the start, he incorrectly defines socialism and marxism, which is why I stopped reading a few chapters in.
I’m all for reading these books in their entirety, but when the book is not properly defining the core subject, the entire book is a waste of time. That’d be like me writing a book on spiders, and starting it off by saying, “First, you need to understand that spiders have feathers, they fly, have beaks, and sometimes they poop on your head.”
Much like “woke”, “socialist”, and “communist”, the right has turned CRT into a talking point that they aren’t even defining properly, and that’s one of the main reasons this is all so silly.
And let it be known, although I lean left, my “side” does it too by labeling everything fascist or racist.
What’s worse is how CRT just won’t leave the news cycle like a piece of gum stuck on your shoe. Because of this faux outrage and these debates, podcasters, journalists, and thinkers who I love can’t stop talking about it. I don’t fault them, either. If you want people to consume your content, you need to talk about relevant, current topics, and everyone has been talking about CRT. The reality is that I think many of them know that this is a gigantic waste of everyone’s time, but they have bills to pay like the rest of us.
“You’re Harming Our Children!”
Maybe I’m a nihilist, but critical race theory in schools literally doesn’t matter, and I think we all know that deep down in our hearts. Don’t get me wrong, I’m half Black and think it’s an important subject, but it’s not having the impact anyone thinks it is in schools.
And if you think about it, I bet you know this is true too.
Using myself as an example, I can’t imagine a single child ever learning about critical race theory and thinking they should be ashamed to be white. Or as the right constantly says, it’s going to “make kids hate America.”
Are you kidding me?
Every morning in school, I had to pledge allegiance to our flag. In every sport that I played or event that I went to, we all stood for the national anthem. I was a freshman in high school when 9/11 happened, and I was always taught that soldiers are our heroes who are sacrificing their lives to defend our freedoms.
Aside from all of this, every year, we learned about United States history, and regardless of the teacher, we were taught that America is the shit. I was taught that we win wars, believe in democracy, and every other country just wishes they were us. When we learned about slavery and segregation, even though I’m half Black, I was just taught that, “Hey. This was our bad but it’s all good now.” And when we learned about Hiroshima, that was kind of our bad too, but we were given the impression that they kind of deserved it.
Then, I became an adult and actually started paying attention, and I swear it felt like I was being reprogrammed after leaving a cult.
I had to start asking myself all sorts of questions:
Why have we been in war for over 20 years?
Why are we drone striking civilians?
Why are we the richest nation but have so much poverty?
Why are we one of the only countries without nationalized healthcare?
Why is Edward Snowden on the run for telling us the truth?
Are we committing war crimes?
Why do we spend so much money on the military as though we’re constantly under threat?
How the hell did Trump get elected?
And the list goes on and on and on.
But the point I’m trying to make is that critical race theory has been around for years, and I don’t think I’m the only person who had this experience with our education system.
Now, some of you might think, “Well Chris, maybe you grew up in a super conservative area.” And that coudn’’t be further from the truth. I went to elementary school in liberal Southern California and went to middle school and high school here in Las Vegas. I grew up lower-middle class, and my schools were extremely diverse. So, if we weren’t being taught “white man bad” in school, I don’t think critical race theory is all that big of a deal.
Today, I’m the father of a son who is 12 years old, and we stay pretty involved with what he’s learning about in school. This kid is 1/4 Black but looks whiter than me, and at o point has he learned that “everything is racist” or he should feel terrible about being white.
And by the way, I always leave my email address and social media accounts, so if my experience is somehow unique, please let me know. But I have yet to meet anyone my age or younger who has had a different experience. I think if we’re being honest, the teaching of Common Core math in schools is a bigger problem than critical race theory.
Does Systemic Racism Exist?
Aside from the fear-mongering of the right, if I’m being charitable, I’d say that “not all anti-CRT people think it’s as bad as others.” And if I do that, then the conversation becomes, “Is there systemic racism?”
If you don’t think systemic racism exists, you’re either lying or just don’t understand how things work. And I apologize if that comes off abrasive, but I can’t think of a softer way of putting it.
If you want to debate the severity of systemic racism, we can have that conversation. But if you want to debate on its existence, there’s no debate to be had. We might as well debate on whether or not climate change is a thing or if COVID is worse than the flu.
Trust me, I’ve searched far and wide for the best arguments that systemic racism doesn’t exist, and none of them come close to having a strong case. One of the biggest issues I’ve seen is that nobody seems to understand how generational wealth works. But on top of that, after the dozens of articles and books I’ve read and debates I’ve listened to, I haven’t heard one person bring up the work of Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt.
As many of my followers know, I love reading books from skeptics and people who show all the flaws in scientific research. But for some reason, Eberhardt’s work has never been brought up. Maybe it’s because she’s not well known or because she’s not one of the louder voices in these conversations. On the other hand, it’s quite possible that people avoid her research because she has way too much evidence about biases and systemic racism.
Instead of debating about the work of a respected researcher like Dr. Eberhardt, people stick to focusing on Ibram X Kendi and Robin DiAngelo. And I’m someone who is more than willing to change my opinions, so if anyone wants to dispute Eberhardt’s research, I’m happy to listen to the arguments. Rather than everyone focusing on the books from Kendi and DiAngelo, I just wish more people read Eberhardt’s book Biased.
Something else I’ve done is try to hear what anti-CRT Black people think, so I’ve been researching a ton of work from Glenn Loury and John McWhorter. And before I proceed, I want to make very clear that I respect both of these men and their work greatly. Unfortunately, I have yet to see them shine in a debate by arguing their side against CRT and ideas of systemic racism as a whole.
When Loury and McWhorter are talking to each other with nobody to disagree, they do great. If they’re debating an extremely woke person or discussing a story about one of these people, they kill it. But you put them against anyone who knows their stuff, and they have nothing.
Recently, Loury debated with law professor and author Lara Bazelon about systemic racism and had no good counter-points. When faced with the data and research, his arguments fall apart. Loury also went on the Bad Faith podcast to debate racial disparities with Briahna Joy Gray and the same thing happened. Again, I respect Loury tremendously, but he has no arguments against facts and data. His go-to is “I’ll have to look at the data and get back to you” or “I guess we agree to disagree”.
Fortunately, all of these people are adults and are on good terms. If nothing else, I think both of these conversations (and many more) are great examples of how people can disagree and be both mature and respectful towards each other. And many moments, they even have some fun.
But why does any of this matter?
Loury and McWhorter are extremely influential and a ton of people listen to them and respect them. If nobody realizes that their arguments only work in very specific circumstances, we need to recognize it. More importantly, they need the intellectual humility to realize they might be wrong and we just might need some systemic changes.
By no means do I think they’re completely wrong, but when they make good points, it’s only against the wokest of the woke. And the cynic in me somewhat feels as though they realize that being contrarians to the idea of CRT and systemic racism gets them more attention, which leads to money and opportunity.
I don’t mean to pick on McWhorter and Loury, but I respect them so much that I’ve binged their work. I feel that if anyone is going to make great arguments, it’ll be them. But I do think there are plenty of people out there that are way too smart to deny the existence of systemic racism or to actually believe that after decades of CRT, it’s all of a sudden a problem.
So, in a very brief conclusion, the critical race theory debate is ridiculous. It’s having little to no effect on anything, positive or negative. The only thing CRT is accomplishing is that it’s making a lot of people a lot of money by talking about it while making us more polarized. Meanwhile, we’re COVID numbers are back up, people are dying from a lack of healthcare, and a ton of people are on the verge of eviction.
We have more important things to be discussing.
I’m always open for a conversation and to be shown what I might be missing or where I may be wrong, so feel free to email me at TheRewiredSoul@gmail.com
The difference between Loury, McWhorter and yourself resides in the lack of charity in listening to alternative theories, failure to use data to back your arguments and laser-like focus on lived experience as a proxy for truth. Your article is the view from 30,000 feet. I want to see the weeds. Dig deeper.