Liberal Democrats & Critical Race Theory

Civil rights were obtained through multi-racial political coalitions

It’s time to talk about Critical Race Theory and liberal Democrats.

First, some context.

To their credit, there are no modern civil rights gains legally without liberal Democrats supporting the laws in the 1960s and trying to protect civil rights into the current era. Liberals embraced the hard push by the civil rights coalition led by African American lawyers to end legalized racial apartheid in America, and this is the primary reason African Americans vote for Democratic candidates today at over 90 percent.

But, after the victories in the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954, things got complicated.

The same U.S. Supreme Court that delivered the ruling in the Brown decision followed that opinion with its famous “all deliberate speed” ruling in the Brown II case. The term’s vagueness was a green light for racial segregationists to do everything possible to delay the implementation of Brown. This is one reason why Critical Race Theory came into existence — the resistance of many white Americans to dismantling the system of privilege, advantage, discrimination, and segregation.

This led the late civil rights lawyer and law professor Derrick Bell to write his famous essay — Brown v. Board of Education and Interest Convergence.

Derrick Bell and Critical Race Theory

In the essay, Brown posits that the Brown decision is not necessarily the result of the Supreme Court doing the right thing but is a case of white interests and black interests converging. White liberals and moderates embraced an issue of importance to black and brown Americans, but for many of them, only because there was something to gain for white Americans. In Bell’s view, the rising specter of Communism, the desire to further modernize the South’s economy by getting rid of segregation, and to assure Black Americans serving in the military that change was afoot are the reasons the decision was handed down.

If anyone reads the Brown decision, you will understand right away what’s wrong with it. The decision says that black children are disadvantaged and damaged because of racial segregation. It does not say the same about white children who were also segregated. It is a decision that seeks to dismantle racial segregation by maintaining white supremacy.

But regardless, it did not take long for many white Americans to resist the implementation of Brown fiercely. Schools were shut down, white families flocked to the suburbs, and integration was rejected by legislatures with new, more racist laws.

Liberal Responses to Critical Race Theory

This is why it is so troubling to hear liberals and moderates run and hide from Critical Race Theory (CRT). CRT is the product of that resistance to Brown. CRT came into existence, in part, to reinvigorate the civil rights struggle and to explain why education in America remained segregated and unequal decades after Brown. CRT is anti-racist and anti-white supremacy.

CRT explains American society through the prism of race with hard facts. It doesn’t say the Brown decision was handed down, and all was well. On the contrary, it explains what happened after Brown and how many white elected officials resisted the decision, institutional players in power, and many white Americans (some African Americans did not like it either but for different reasons) also took action to derail the mandate of the decision. CRT contends, with actual facts, that white supremacy and racism are systemic. They are built right into the institutions of America. This calls for a different approach if America wants to be an anti-racist country.

Conservative racism

It is no surprise that right-wing voices, leaders, and conservatives attack CRT and censor its ideals with lies and racist laws. They were against Brown in 1954. They continue to embrace a racist agenda in rules and policies in America. As many have in the past, they couch their racism under the guise of a “color-blind” society which is meaningless and unachievable without changing institutions.

The response from liberals regarding the attacks on CRT has been disappointing. They usually say the schools are not teaching CRT; why worry, or what’s the point? Some say they don’t agree with everything about CRT and argue for it by citing free speech. But mostly, they still say CRT is not being taught. But this is the wrong response alone.

CRT, an academic discipline that challenges some narratives regarding America’s racial history, has a role to play in society, especially in education. Americans have a right to know the whole truth about their country’s racial history, and all of us should welcome it to our public discourse and education. Also, many schools are already doing exactly what CRT does: they are teaching the truth about America in order to produce an informed generation of young people. The teachers do not call it CRT, but the teachers are not running from America’s racial history.

How to fight back

Teachers are not only using Nikole Hannah Jones’ 1619 Project in the curriculum, but they are also using other sources to expand the curriculum, such as the Zinn Project, an educational curriculum that focuses on all aspects of American history, not just its racial history. A recent survey confirms support for teaching controversial ideals in high school. In October 2022, a survey reported by Education Week found that a majority of Democrats and Republicans support the teaching of controversial subjects in high schools, such as CRT. Liberals don’t have to call for teaching CRT in school, either. But they should defend what CRT offers: a chance for an honest debate about the past regardless of the teaching tool.

Liberals need not run from it. CRT is mostly calling for an examination of history. Race is not biologically real, but it is a sociological reality that still dominates American society. To declare America “color blind” without real change is foolishness. CRT forces all of us to grapple with that reality and actually debate and discuss history.

There are not two sides to the debate over racism and equal justice in America. CRT is anti-racist and has a role to play in society. Conservatives and those who oppose CRT are pro-racist. America won’t become unified or improve with lies; it will become a better country only if it acknowledges its past and stops running away from it. Liberals should demand this.

—

This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

***

You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:

White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism

Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box

The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer

What We Talk About When We Talk About Men

—

Photo credit: iStock.com