Regarding the CRT ban: one of the things (among many) that scares the shit out of me about it is the ways that it also imperils a lot of STS and STS adjacent work which uses some of its frameworks to critique the power structures embedded within tech. (1/n)

The frameworks of and adjacent to CRT also allow us to ask critical questions about the use of technology in ways that align with structures of marginalization, to see tech as complicit in maintaining those structures, and to engage critically with those structures. (2/n)

What this ban will do is give permission to every tech program, every computer science department, to continue to ignore the implications of their tech on society. It will give them permission to treat tech as disconnected from the structures of racism in society. (3/n)

In so doing, this will provide a platform to claw back every advance made in this area. Now, I say STS adjacent and CRT adjacent because the folks crowing about the “victory” cannot tell the difference in methodologies among critical theories. It’s all CRT to them. (4/n)

I mention this because the logical conclusion of this memo is to claw back any study into systemic inequality within society. All those studies on healthcare disparities, educational disparities, redlining, housing inequality, and bias in tech will be placed at risk. (5/n)

But, turning back to my initial point: taken to its conclusion, this might strangle attempts to engage with systems of marginalization encoded and embedded in tech before they can even walk, much less run. It could be used as cover to dismiss any critique of these systems. (6/n)

Which is ultimately the end goal. Now, you can get to many of these critiques without CRT, but because these folks can’t see the difference between critical projects, all critical projects are at risk. (Fin)