I recently stumbled upon this panel on the topic of Critical Race Theory (what else?) hosted by The Manhattan Institute and was shocked by the lineup. Why the hell was Chris Rufo in the same conversation as Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy?!?!

What I saw blew me away.

For folks who don't know, Randall Kennedy was the first scholar to publish a full-throated critique of CRT. He and Derrick Bell were colleagues at Harvard for some time. Bell took his criticism seriously, but also noted how politically damaging it was to the movement:

The first 45 min of this "panel" consisted of @jasonrileywsj & @JohnHMcWhorter casually shooting the shit about how bad CRT is. When Prof. Kennedy was introduced, I was expecting more of the same. To my pleasant surprise, however, the conversation was turned entirely on its head.

Kennedy says that CRT contributions have been "quite enlightening," and he emphasizes that their theoretical approach, unlike his, would have been able to predict a presidential campaign rooted in racist demagoguery, as we saw with Trump. Rufo's face at the end of this: priceless

Next Jason brings in Prof. Ralph Banks, who is also more than happy to be critical of CRT--but he (correctly) recognizes that the default alternative of naive colorblindness is far worse. He even does what conservatives are allergic to: giving credit to 1619, despite its flaws.

The guys do some good ol' defining of their terms and Prof Banks defends CRT, as he defines it. I just can't get enough of watching Rufo think to himself "shit, they didn't tell me I was going to be the only grifter here"

Banks is less optimistic than before about racial progress, acknowledging, "We do have a challenge to recognize the humanity of African Americans," and that debates about race are really about "the sustainability of our democratic project."

Don't shit yourself, Rufo!

Chris Rufo tells two law professors what Critical Race Theory REALLY is. The Caucasity... And then he basically does the whole Conceptual "ethno-communist" bit, and claims he found Sandia lab execs being taken to "reeducation camps." See for yourself: https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/09/24/trump-diversity-training/

Kennedy responds perfectly, calling Rufo's catastrophizing what it is--an anecdote--and telling him to stop being such a dimwit; CRT is so amorphous he could plausibly adopt the label himself (said in much nicer words, of course). Truly like a teacher talking to a first grader.

Jason Riley basically sums up Rufo's career over the past year and asks: is this accurate? And do you think Prof. Kennedy is right that we should be nuanced about CRT?

Rufo: No, definitely not, that would ruin my whole bit

Rufo gets his daily dose of defamation in, and then Kennedy is invited to respond. He seems to understand at a spiritual level that Rufo can only be reasoned with like a prepubescent child.

Perhaps the greatest part of the panel: Kennedy schools Rufo on something he's probably never even heard of before, and in the process Kennedy all but says "you know what, fuck it, I'm a critical race theorist." Rufo nods his head at the end bc he knows he's all out of retorts.

Riley now asks Banks if CRT is compatible with liberalism, and tries to frame it as Kendi taking over the US Govt. [Cue James Lindsay shouting from the rooftops.]

Banks' answer here is flawless.

And I'll end it here with Prof. Banks' closing statement, giving late MLK Jr. vibes.

Send this thread to the Rufo stans in your life; better yet, sit down and watch it with them. People really need to see how worthless his ideas are in this domain. [fin]