WEBVTT - How Does Critical Race Theory Work? 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:07.600 Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:13.680 Lauren Vogelbaum here. The term critical race theory or CRT 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:18.200 became a hot button issue in late twenty twenty. Since then, 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:21.919 hundreds of US state and local legislators and other officials 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:25.520 have introduced policies attempting to ban critical race theory from 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:30.480 being taught in public schools. As of October of twenty 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:34.160 twenty three, twenty nine states had actually adopted such policies 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:37.120 in one way or another. Many measures have failed to 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:39.800 be adopted, or have been withdrawn or expired before they 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:43.680 went to vote. Only seven states have had no such bans. 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:48.599 Put forth, the term seemed to appear out of nowhere. 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:51.920 So why is critical race theory suddenly part of the 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:57.720 conversation and what is it? Anyway? For the article, this 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:00.320 episode is based on how Stuff Work. Spoke with David 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:03.760 Miguel Gray, an assistant professor of philosophy at the Institute 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:08.039 for Intelligence Systems at the University of Memphis. He explained, 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:13.280 critical race theory is a movement in legal thought. Let's 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:16.880 unpack that our Critical race theory is an academic framework 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.720 that legal scholars specifically used to critically examine the legal 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:23.400 history of the United States through a lens of racism, 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.400 including everything from the US Constitution to the Mayflower Compact, 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.880 as well as legislation from the Supreme Court or lower courts. 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:35.400 A CRT was developed during the mid nineteen seventies by 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:38.800 a handful of legal scholars after they determined that despite 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.520 the gains of the US civil rights movement, a progress 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:44.960 toward racial equality had been slow or in some cases 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:50.280 rolled back. These scholars, in particular Derek Bell and Alan Freeman, 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:54.200 realized that a new conceptual framework was needed to better 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:58.560 understand the complex relationship between race, racism, and the US 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:04.040 legal system. In nineteen eighty nine, more than twenty scholars 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:08.160 created the first CRT workshop in Madison, Wisconsin. One of 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:11.720 the organizers one Kimberly Crenshaw, so that they quote were 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:14.960 interested in defining and elaborating on the lived reality of 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:18.360 race and were open to the aspiration of developing theory. 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:23.360 So the original purpose of CRT was to think about 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:27.000 how the law contributed to racial inequality in the United States, 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:32.000 both in the past and present. The theory they developed, 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:35.280 which is that racism is systemic in the institutions of 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.680 the United States, and that these institutions function to preserve 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:42.279 the dominance of white people in society, regardless of people's intentions. 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:48.640 Has continued an academic inquiry through today. For example, a 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.560 member of the American Bar Association wrote in twenty twenty 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:55.359 one that in the legal field, critical race theorists quote 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.920 address the role of racism in the law and the 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:03.520 work to eliminate it and other configuration of subordination, meaning 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:07.600 that as a theory, CRT provides scholars with a framework 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:14.280 from which to review past and existing legal decisions. Before 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:17.280 diving deeper into the principles of CRT, it's important to 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:22.440 understand the purpose of academic theories like this one. Theories 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:25.760 are used in both scientific and non scientific research, and 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:29.200 they're used to explain complex things in ways that others 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:34.520 can apply the same ideas to another situation. Various academic 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:38.080 disciplines engage with different theories, although many theories cross over 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:44.800 into multiple disciplines. Anthropologists might use theories like structuralism and postmodernism. 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:50.600 Educators might use theories like behaviorism or connectivism. Not all 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:54.200 scholars with a discipline utilize the same theories, or even 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.240 use them in the same way. Which allows many viewpoints 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:02.240 to discuss each discipline, which this really cool. It acknowledges 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:04.200 that there are different ways of viewing the world and 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:09.200 of trying to figure out how it works. Critical race 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:13.360 theory is one such academic theory. It was initially developed 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:18.960 within legal studies, but now discussed within many other academic disciplines. Again, 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.480 to quote the American Bar Association, a CRT is not 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:26.360 a diversity and inclusion training, but a practice of interrogating 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:29.120 the role of race and racism in society that emerged 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.320 in the legal academy and spread to other fields of scholarship. 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:39.359 The aforementioned Kimberly Crenshaw explained in an MSNBC interview in 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.680 twenty twenty one, quote, a critical race theory is not 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:44.840 so much a thing, it's a way of looking at 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:49.960 a thing. She elaborated that basically, CRT is a way 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:54.120 of looking at race to understand why after centuries since emancipation, 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.880 patterns of inequality have endured for people of color and 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:02.520 indigenous people. Goal of CRT is to get everyone closer 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:07.239 to the promises that are embedded in the Constitution. Gray 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:10.480 explained that many people have conflicting views about critical race 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:14.159 theory and what ideas should be included with it. However, 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:19.239 it does include some fundamental views. These basic views include 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.480 the idea that racism is a part of American society, 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:26.000 not just a simple flaw that can be easily fixed 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:30.320 with laws. So, for example, the concept is that in 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:34.880 United States legal and governmental institutions, racism isn't an anomaly 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:40.200 or some aberrant feature, It's just normal. And while racism 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.000 may be more present in some areas than others, it 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:50.600 has existed throughout US history and it continues today. CRT 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:54.600 focuses only on legal and other institutions in general, and 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:58.840 not on individual people. Through it, scholars work to learn 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:02.400 how racism exists in society and where improvements can be made, 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:05.800 as well as to provide an analysis of what perpetuates 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:12.200 racism in American systems. The theory also maintains the idea 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.880 that the foundation of the United States was based on 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:19.320 doctrines that could be considered racist, for example, the Virginia 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:24.120 laws about slavery and servitude. In other cases, race might 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:28.560 not have been explicitly included, but was nevertheless implied, like 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:32.120 in the Three Fifths Compromise that was the agreement made 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:36.039 during the seventeen eighty seven Constitutional Convention, which determined that 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:39.320 enslaved individuals counted as three fifths of a person for 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:47.039 both representation and taxation. Gray explained that later and even 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:51.159 modern laws and policies about housing, voting rights, education, and 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:56.320 segregation can also fall into this category. He said, the 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.440 critical race theorists have argued that our country is largely 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:03.240 founded upon doctrines that are in direct opposition with what 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:08.520 we normally hear our country is all about. In addition 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:12.960 to just studying these discrepancies about liberty and equality, critical 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:18.120 race theorists also aim to change them. Some researchers who 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.560 study education have taken up critical race theory by arguing 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:25.400 that racism is entrenched in American education practices and policies. 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:29.480 They've questioned how the educational system might be unjust with 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:36.280 respect to race. Again, regardless of anybody's intentions, certain practices 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:42.480 might have different impacts on different communities. For example, the 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:46.240 aforementioned Derek Bell explored the Brown Versus Board of Education's 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:50.360 Preme Court ruling of nineteen fifty four, which legally determined 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:53.880 that the racial segregation of children in public schools is unconstitutional. 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:58.600 Bell asserted that the court's decision was based on improving 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:01.800 the international image of the United States during the Cold War. 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:05.880 He also argued that the ruling was effectually limited because 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:09.960 the court didn't actually offer a fix, and that furthermore, 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.080 the fact that there is still racial inequality and education 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:17.240 means the law is helping maintain that, whether anyone meant 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:22.280 it to or not. This is an example of the 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:26.320 relationship between CRT and education. The theory is used to 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:30.000 critically analyze the history and present state of education in 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:35.320 the United States. However, there is no evidence that critical 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.080 race theory itself is being added to the curriculum in 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:42.640 American K through twelve schools. One reason for that is 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:46.400 that K through twelve children are unlikely to comprehend advanced 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:50.760 academic theories. That's why structuralism and behaviorism aren't on the 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.040 K through twelve curriculum either, with the possible exception of 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:58.000 some advanced high school classes. A critical race theory is 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.520 a law school course, and the theory is used in 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:05.560 university courses of other disciplines like philosophy and literary criticism, 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:10.720 often at the graduate level. But I know that's being 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:14.440 a little pedantic. Certainly some of the documents and court 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:17.679 decisions that CRT has been used to critique are taught 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:20.760 at various levels during K through twelve education, such as 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:23.840 the Three Fifths Compromise and the Enduring Effects of Slavery. 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.800 That is why CRT has received a lot of attention recently, 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:32.960 with people and politicians expressing concern that's being taught in schools, 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:37.120 including elementary schools. AGray wrote in an article for The 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:40.520 Conversation that it's quote become a catch all phrase among 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:44.160 legislators attempting to ban a wide variety of teaching practices 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:50.640 concerning race. However, the concepts being banned by proposed legislation 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:54.400 under the guise of prohibiting the teaching of CRT aren't 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:59.800 often part of CRT principles. For example, in Tennessee, and 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.480 anti CRT bill that was signed into law in twenty 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:05.400 twenty one states that public and charter schools may not 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.600 teach or use materials that assert one race or sex 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:12.000 is inherently superior to another race or sex, or that 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:15.559 an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:21.120 because of the individual's race or sex. Critical race theory 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:24.880 doesn't really have anything to do with that what seems 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:28.200 to have happened is those opposing CRT have taken the 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:32.000 fact that the theory isn't colorblind because it recognizes the 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:35.360 effects of race and racism and asserts that the only 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:38.400 way to improve our society is to address racism through 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:43.640 legal and institutional changes, and they've therefore ascribed a racist 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:49.640 characteristics to the theory. In other words, many people are 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:52.800 saying that critical race Theory is trying to rewrite American 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:56.040 history to convince white people that they are inherently racist, 0:10:56.640 --> 0:11:00.960 which again is not the point of CRT. It's merely 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:03.800 a lens through which to see how our world works, 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:08.000 and it focuses specifically on laws and systems, regardless of 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:14.120 any person's intent. Gray the situation up by saying it's 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:17.160 a hot mess to use a really good Southern phrase. 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.560 Today's episode is based on the article what is critical 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.240 Race Theory Anyway? On how Stuffworks dot com written by 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.760 Kerry Whitney. Rains Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:33.240 with how Stuffworks dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klain. 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.960 Four more podcasts from iHeartRadio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.040 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows