Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. The term critical race theory or CRT became a hot button issue in late twenty twenty. Since then, hundreds of US state and local legislators and other officials have introduced policies attempting to ban critical race theory from being taught in public schools. As of October of twenty twenty three, twenty nine states had actually adopted such policies
in one way or another. Many measures have failed to be adopted, or have been withdrawn or expired before they went to vote. Only seven states have had no such bans. Put forth, the term seemed to appear out of nowhere. So why is critical race theory suddenly part of the conversation and what is it? Anyway? For the article, this episode is based on how Stuff Work. Spoke with David Miguel Gray, an assistant professor of philosophy at the Institute
for Intelligence Systems at the University of Memphis. He explained, critical race theory is a movement in legal thought. Let's unpack that our Critical race theory is an academic framework that legal scholars specifically used to critically examine the legal history of the United States through a lens of racism, including everything from the US Constitution to the Mayflower Compact, as well as legislation from the Supreme Court or lower courts.
A CRT was developed during the mid nineteen seventies by a handful of legal scholars after they determined that despite the gains of the US civil rights movement, a progress toward racial equality had been slow or in some cases rolled back. These scholars, in particular Derek Bell and Alan Freeman, realized that a new conceptual framework was needed to better understand the complex relationship between race, racism, and the US legal system. In nineteen eighty nine, more than twenty scholars
created the first CRT workshop in Madison, Wisconsin. One of the organizers one Kimberly Crenshaw, so that they quote were interested in defining and elaborating on the lived reality of race and were open to the aspiration of developing theory. So the original purpose of CRT was to think about how the law contributed to racial inequality in the United States,
both in the past and present. The theory they developed, which is that racism is systemic in the institutions of the United States, and that these institutions function to preserve the dominance of white people in society, regardless of people's intentions.
Has continued an academic inquiry through today. For example, a member of the American Bar Association wrote in twenty twenty one that in the legal field, critical race theorists quote address the role of racism in the law and the work to eliminate it and other configuration of subordination, meaning that as a theory, CRT provides scholars with a framework from which to review past and existing legal decisions. Before diving deeper into the principles of CRT, it's important to
understand the purpose of academic theories like this one. Theories are used in both scientific and non scientific research, and they're used to explain complex things in ways that others can apply the same ideas to another situation. Various academic disciplines engage with different theories, although many theories cross over into multiple disciplines. Anthropologists might use theories like structuralism and postmodernism.
Educators might use theories like behaviorism or connectivism. Not all scholars with a discipline utilize the same theories, or even use them in the same way. Which allows many viewpoints to discuss each discipline, which this really cool. It acknowledges that there are different ways of viewing the world and of trying to figure out how it works. Critical race theory is one such academic theory. It was initially developed
within legal studies, but now discussed within many other academic disciplines. Again, to quote the American Bar Association, a CRT is not a diversity and inclusion training, but a practice of interrogating the role of race and racism in society that emerged in the legal academy and spread to other fields of scholarship. The aforementioned Kimberly Crenshaw explained in an MSNBC interview in twenty twenty one, quote, a critical race theory is not so much a thing, it's a way of looking at
a thing. She elaborated that basically, CRT is a way of looking at race to understand why after centuries since emancipation, patterns of inequality have endured for people of color and indigenous people. Goal of CRT is to get everyone closer to the promises that are embedded in the Constitution. Gray explained that many people have conflicting views about critical race theory and what ideas should be included with it. However,
it does include some fundamental views. These basic views include the idea that racism is a part of American society, not just a simple flaw that can be easily fixed with laws. So, for example, the concept is that in United States legal and governmental institutions, racism isn't an anomaly or some aberrant feature, It's just normal. And while racism may be more present in some areas than others, it
has existed throughout US history and it continues today. CRT focuses only on legal and other institutions in general, and not on individual people. Through it, scholars work to learn how racism exists in society and where improvements can be made, as well as to provide an analysis of what perpetuates racism in American systems. The theory also maintains the idea that the foundation of the United States was based on doctrines that could be considered racist, for example, the Virginia
laws about slavery and servitude. In other cases, race might not have been explicitly included, but was nevertheless implied, like in the Three Fifths Compromise that was the agreement made during the seventeen eighty seven Constitutional Convention, which determined that enslaved individuals counted as three fifths of a person for both representation and taxation. Gray explained that later and even modern laws and policies about housing, voting rights, education, and
segregation can also fall into this category. He said, the critical race theorists have argued that our country is largely founded upon doctrines that are in direct opposition with what we normally hear our country is all about. In addition to just studying these discrepancies about liberty and equality, critical
race theorists also aim to change them. Some researchers who study education have taken up critical race theory by arguing that racism is entrenched in American education practices and policies. They've questioned how the educational system might be unjust with respect to race. Again, regardless of anybody's intentions, certain practices
might have different impacts on different communities. For example, the aforementioned Derek Bell explored the Brown Versus Board of Education's Preme Court ruling of nineteen fifty four, which legally determined that the racial segregation of children in public schools is unconstitutional. Bell asserted that the court's decision was based on improving the international image of the United States during the Cold War.
He also argued that the ruling was effectually limited because the court didn't actually offer a fix, and that furthermore, the fact that there is still racial inequality and education means the law is helping maintain that, whether anyone meant it to or not. This is an example of the relationship between CRT and education. The theory is used to critically analyze the history and present state of education in
the United States. However, there is no evidence that critical race theory itself is being added to the curriculum in American K through twelve schools. One reason for that is that K through twelve children are unlikely to comprehend advanced academic theories. That's why structuralism and behaviorism aren't on the K through twelve curriculum either, with the possible exception of
some advanced high school classes. A critical race theory is a law school course, and the theory is used in university courses of other disciplines like philosophy and literary criticism, often at the graduate level. But I know that's being a little pedantic. Certainly some of the documents and court decisions that CRT has been used to critique are taught at various levels during K through twelve education, such as the Three Fifths Compromise and the Enduring Effects of Slavery.
That is why CRT has received a lot of attention recently, with people and politicians expressing concern that's being taught in schools, including elementary schools. AGray wrote in an article for The Conversation that it's quote become a catch all phrase among legislators attempting to ban a wide variety of teaching practices concerning race. However, the concepts being banned by proposed legislation under the guise of prohibiting the teaching of CRT aren't
often part of CRT principles. For example, in Tennessee, and anti CRT bill that was signed into law in twenty twenty one states that public and charter schools may not teach or use materials that assert one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex, or that an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment
because of the individual's race or sex. Critical race theory doesn't really have anything to do with that what seems to have happened is those opposing CRT have taken the fact that the theory isn't colorblind because it recognizes the effects of race and racism and asserts that the only way to improve our society is to address racism through legal and institutional changes, and they've therefore ascribed a racist
characteristics to the theory. In other words, many people are saying that critical race Theory is trying to rewrite American history to convince white people that they are inherently racist, which again is not the point of CRT. It's merely a lens through which to see how our world works, and it focuses specifically on laws and systems, regardless of any person's intent. Gray the situation up by saying it's a hot mess to use a really good Southern phrase.
Today's episode is based on the article what is critical Race Theory Anyway? On how Stuffworks dot com written by Kerry Whitney. Rains Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klain. Four more podcasts from iHeartRadio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows