Excellent Video on Critical Race Theory

Attached is a video that summarizes the origins, teaching, and objectives of Critical Race Theory (“CRT”).  It was prepared by a prominent CRT opponent, Christopher Rufo.  It is well worth the time required to watch it (17;45).

The video confirms and reinforces several prior posts on this website, which have shown that the Fairfax County School Board has actively incorporated the concepts of CRT into its educational programs for teachers and students.

The school system’s leaders deny that “Critical Race Theory” is being taught.  Although this may not be an outright lie, it is, at the very least, intentional misdirection.  There is no course called Critical Race Theory, but its tenets have been incorporated into every level of teaching.  The School Board  has adopted the lingo of CRT (e.g., “equity” vs. equality, “social justice,” “privilege,” “identity”), as well as the concepts of CRT (e.g., that blacks are held back by institutional disadvantages; that whites have inherent “privileges”; that whites harbor unconscious racist attitudes; that standardized testing is inherently racist; and that a person’s power, conduct and beliefs are shaped primarily by by his or her “identity”).   For example, as shown in a recent post, the VA/US History course for Fairfax County 11th graders focuses almost every lesson on the concepts of “power, identity, privilege and bias.”  See “Fairfax County’s Race-Centric Curriculum for U.S. History,” Jan. 21, 2022.

Some of what the speaker says on the video may be surprising at first blush.  For example, he states that the ideas of CRT arose out of, and are related to, Karl Marx’s philosophy.  But the writings of the CRT pioneers confirm this point.  (See the anthology of CRT literature in “Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement,” (1995)).  Marx contended that economic systems and social relations are driven by class conflict.  Believers in CRT have a similar view of the world:  They believe that economic systems and social relations are governed by race conflict and other conflicts among differing “identities.”  CRT proponents like Ibram X. Kendi, who has been embraced by the Fairfax County School Board, implicitly endorse Marxism when they argue that capitalism is racist because it perpetuates inequalities in jobs, income, etc.  See “Who Is Ibram X. Kendi,” Dec. 19, 2021 (“To love capitalism is to end up loving racism.”  “Capitalism is essentially racist.”)

The speaker on the video is also correct when he points out that CRT’s ideas were initially rejected in the civil rights movement itself.  Leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., Lyndon Johnson, Barack Obama and others argued for equality under the law and equality of opportunity, not for government-mandated “equity” in outcomes.  CRT did not become a significant factor until the 1990s, after the reforms of the 1960s did not produce equality in outcomes as quickly as originally envisioned.  As the speaker points out, CRT initially took hold in some universities, but in recent years it has gradually and quietly become embedded in elementary and secondary schools throughout the country.

I encourage you to take a look at this video.