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As #VAGOP convention approaches, candidates talking about banning "critical race theory" from our schools. We know that racist appeals work on many white voters (hi Donald!) but this one is especially insidious. Here's why
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First, #CriticalRaceTheory is term for some pretty high-level scholarship and theoretical work, like real pomo philosophy shit. Crenshaw, Delgado, Bell. Mostly influential in legal theory. Time mag explainer (h/t to @bluevirginia) is just fine:
2/ https://time.com/5891138/critical-race-theory-explained/
2/ https://time.com/5891138/critical-race-theory-explained/
Key here: CRT is WAY less influential than critics claim, even in theory circles. Often mocked by traditional establishment voices. Just check this '98 Cornell law review article that claims to take CRT seriously, but actually drips w mockery/disdain
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https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1238&context=cjlpp
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https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1238&context=cjlpp
So are Kirk Cox and Pete Snyder reading fancy theory? Fuck no. Instead they are just using what is now an official GOP code word to discredit ANY attempt to educate teachers/students about discrimination, equity, and bias as "intellectual" nonsense
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It's a standard conservative tactic. Take any effort to combat hierarchies - feminism, gay rights, etc. - and decry it as "leftist theorizing." Tell your white base that actually, it is these crazy lefty SJWs that are the REAL racists
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So even a book like Oluo's "Talk about race" - a plain-language, action-based primer about racism - can be painted as indoctrination, left-wing propaganda, instead of an empirically-based set of arguments about why racism is, actually, bad
https://www.sealpress.com/titles/ijeoma-oluo/so-you-want-to-talk-about-race/9781580056779/
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https://www.sealpress.com/titles/ijeoma-oluo/so-you-want-to-talk-about-race/9781580056779/
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Where did this CRT code come from? Trump admin prob, but certainly spread by Heritage Foundation "Backgrounder"- this is how lots of GOP talking points start (my diss research showed how 90s anti-estate tax arguments spread from similar Heritage doc)
7/ https://www.heritage.org/civil-rights/report/critical-race-theory-the-new-intolerance-and-its-grip-america
7/ https://www.heritage.org/civil-rights/report/critical-race-theory-the-new-intolerance-and-its-grip-america
It probably goes without saying: K12 schools are NOT teaching CRT. (I wish.) Instead scrambling to revise course materials, change rules, train teachers to recognize discriminatory practices baked into our school system - school->prison pipeline, etc.
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This is important work, and it's derailed by false GOP claims about CRT. For example, VA Beach schools cancelled a reading group last yr after trolls hit it on social meds. The book: Singh's "Racial Healing Handbook," not exactly a radical manifesto
9/ https://www.newharbinger.com/9781684032709/the-racial-healing-handbook/
9/ https://www.newharbinger.com/9781684032709/the-racial-healing-handbook/
I wish I had better ideas about how to combat this deeply cynical/racist appeal. Maybe compare it to similar efforts to ban teaching evolution? ("What other backward ideas do you have, Glenn?" "How old is the earth, Kirk?") But that might just make them more popular. Yeesh
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