by Ketcia Peters
The definition fixes CRT as a body of legal studies and a movement of US law’s scholars.
In a few simpler words? It is Academy. Nothing more, nothing less than a way to study phenomena in our society.
And in one of the most tedious branches, moreover. (It’s a joke, no offence my jurists’ friends)
So what was all the fuss about? Why people panicked like North-American society was about to collapse under a socialist regime?
Well, because people don’t really care about details, and social climbers can mislead them for 15 minutes of fame: they would use falsity and deceit.
CRT, quoting the founders of this method of analysing society—Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic—is a: “Radical legal movement that seeks to transform the relationship among race, racism, and power.”
This theory, to put it blandly, investigates the historical problems related to structural racism and inequality embedded within the US’s legal apparatus, which (and this is well known) still discriminates non-white people, especially black.
So, once again, what was all the fuss about?
To answer properly, one should spend hours upon hours to explain what CRT is, the philosophic basis of CRT, the historical context in which the major philosophers who inspired CRT lived and worked, their thoughts, their theories, the political aftermath on a global scale, the evolution of social and civil rights in the last 150 years, the impact of this theory within the current American legal system, and the trickle-down effects on countries who share similar values or are under the influence of the USA.
Not so easy, isn’t it?
That’s because CRT isn’t a malignant scheme, plotted some hundred years ago by philosophers. And it is not a scam engineered by Delgado and Stefancic: they’re legal scholars, after all. They have no interest whatsoever in destroying society as we know it.
Neither do teachers, who could use CRT to simply show how racism reacts with the way we live each and every day.
All the fuss came about because of the mischaracterizations and willful misreadings of some of the most important philosophers and thinkers in the history of humankind.
CRT isn’t violent, isn’t malignant, is not something that will make us lose anything. On the other hand, it will give one approach to appreciate what’s really happening in North American society.
As I’ve said before, there isn’t a single, elegant solution to racism.
It exists not a panacea simple and effective to deal with a problem that runs so, so deep within our cultures.
When critics of CRT trash-talk philosophers of the calibre of Hegel, do they really know what the heck they’re talking about? Do they really know what they’re doing when they create a link between Marx’s theories, CRT and the devil?
Of course, they don’t.
Of course.
Because it wouldn’t require much intellectual honesty or philosophic knowledge to understand what Critical Race Theory is really about: social, equal, unbiased justice.
Not some way to install communism in schools or wherever.
Critical Race Theory is one way we found to analyse a problem, comprehend the causes and how they spread to talk out a solution.
It is not a solution per se. It’s a theory, from which could manifest new methods for finding a solution.
Racism is still safe and sound in our society: it will never stop growing if every single paradigm remains the same.
They say that “the definition of madness is doing over and over again the same things while expecting a different result.”
We attempted plenty of things, and each and every one solved but a little piece of the problem. Never the full problem.
CRT won’t be any different.
It will solve some parts of racism, and the complex relationship between race and power will be understood a bit better, but it will not eradicate the problem.
Then, why do it? Why use it if there are so many critics? Why teach and learn critical race theory if it’s not perfect?
Because everything that is in our arsenal for the fight against discrimination, racism and injustice, every single bullet we can spare, we must use.
The war against racism is on.
And we must win that.
Whatever it takes.
Ketcia Peters is an entrepreneur and community advocate for economic inclusion and development for Black Canadians and the social justice sector. Her firm, Ketcia Peters Group Inc. (KPG) provides bilingual organizational and human development services to the public and private sector. This includes analysis and coaching of HR practices, strategic planning, organizational change, equity and inclusivity, and anti-racism. KPG also provides individual and group coaching. In recent years, KP Group Inc. has shifted to greatly expand its equity, diversity and inclusivity work at the municipal and community level, with a focus on anti-racism and anti-oppression. This work centers on a trauma-informed approach in order to ensure we do not cause further harm to those most marginalized in our communities. Visit her website at: https://ketciapeters.com/