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As of June 2021, 22 states were planning to ban “Critical Race Theory” from grade school education, with five already signing it into law.
But what even is Critical Race Theory, and why do white people have such a problem with it?
Critical Race Theory has become an umbrella term for Black Studies. It’s a word for making sense of and critiquing white supremacy, and finding pathways to defeat it and achieve Black freedom.
White people have been trying to stop CRT for a long time.
This goes as far back as Franz Fanon in the mid-20th century. Considered the Grandfather of Critical Race Theory, Fanon’s book “Black Skin White Masks” created the vocabulary for Black people to talk about living under white supremacy.
Despite its powerful relevance to this day, Fanon’s university rejected his work – a clear sign that Black critical thought has always caused white anxiety.
More recently, Black people have had to fight for Critical Race Theory to be legitimized in colleges. Before they became the founders of Black Panthers, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale met by protesting their college to include Black Studies as part of the curriculum.
At its core, Critical Race Theory is an essential framework that challenges white supremacy by critiquing it on all levels. We have to both learn from this knowledge – and defend it as well!