Right-wing white hysteria is being whipped up into a frenzy yet again, in all-out Republican efforts to stymie any progress this nation has made by rejecting Donald Trump, electing the Biden-Harris ticket, and attempting to push forward legislation to correct the depredations of racist voter suppression and policing injustices.
The buzzword battle cry not only being bandied around, but translated into actual laws passed in Republican-controlled jurisdictions, targets “critical race theory” (CRT).
Frankly, the dogwhistles at this point in time have turned into blaring foghorns of hate. No one with any sense can watch the trainwrecks unfolding in state legislatures across the nation and possibly believe that these warriors of the right—supposedly defending “purity” and “American values”—give a damn about education or legal theories. What they do care about is votes, so they are using a time-honored tradition of stoking white fear to continue to maintain control over their constituencies.
Not one of these neo-Confederates waging war on CRT would be able to pass a quiz explaining what it is, or isn’t. For them, it’s enough that CRT has a Black face, like that of Kimberlé Crenshaw, and contains the word “race.”
I’m currently watching Loudoun County, Virginia, where a campaign has been launched to recall the local school board because they are “infecting our schools with critical race theory.” I’m pretty pissed off, to put it mildly.
Loudoun is a place that plays a major role in my own family’s racial history, since it is where my mother’s family was enslaved, which I have researched and frequently written about. I also pay taxes there. Over the years, many efforts have been made in the county, and progress has been achieved in teaching history that had long gone unmentioned in schools. Now, a movement is underway to undo what racial progress has been made there, and elsewhere.
Critical race scholar David Theo Goldberg has written an insightful piece for Boston Review, which is a must-read.
Attempts to erase discussions of race, racism, and foundational white supremacy in this nation are doomed to fail, no matter these current attempts to legislate away the truth. The genie is out of the bottle, and it won’t be stuffed back in and silenced.
Painting CRT as a Black boogeyman may work on those people who are already on the white supremacy train, however it won’t fly with the rest of us, and will only serve to get more young people engaged in efforts to counteract the bigots’ agenda.
Froth on, Republicans. Your vision for America is doomed.
The buzzword battle cry not only being bandied around, but translated into actual laws passed in Republican-controlled jurisdictions, targets “critical race theory” (CRT).
Frankly, the dogwhistles at this point in time have turned into blaring foghorns of hate. No one with any sense can watch the trainwrecks unfolding in state legislatures across the nation and possibly believe that these warriors of the right—supposedly defending “purity” and “American values”—give a damn about education or legal theories. What they do care about is votes, so they are using a time-honored tradition of stoking white fear to continue to maintain control over their constituencies.
Not one of these neo-Confederates waging war on CRT would be able to pass a quiz explaining what it is, or isn’t. For them, it’s enough that CRT has a Black face, like that of Kimberlé Crenshaw, and contains the word “race.”
I’m currently watching Loudoun County, Virginia, where a campaign has been launched to recall the local school board because they are “infecting our schools with critical race theory.” I’m pretty pissed off, to put it mildly.
Loudoun is a place that plays a major role in my own family’s racial history, since it is where my mother’s family was enslaved, which I have researched and frequently written about. I also pay taxes there. Over the years, many efforts have been made in the county, and progress has been achieved in teaching history that had long gone unmentioned in schools. Now, a movement is underway to undo what racial progress has been made there, and elsewhere.
Critical race scholar David Theo Goldberg has written an insightful piece for Boston Review, which is a must-read.
Attempts to erase discussions of race, racism, and foundational white supremacy in this nation are doomed to fail, no matter these current attempts to legislate away the truth. The genie is out of the bottle, and it won’t be stuffed back in and silenced.
Painting CRT as a Black boogeyman may work on those people who are already on the white supremacy train, however it won’t fly with the rest of us, and will only serve to get more young people engaged in efforts to counteract the bigots’ agenda.
Froth on, Republicans. Your vision for America is doomed.