Hey, let’s talk about race!
by Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai
Let’s talk about race — although there is mounting evidence it does not exist. That’s why race is so uncomfortable to talk about! Race is an imaginary construct that has been delegitimized by modern science yet continues to fuel wanton fear, violence and disharmony among members of the human family. Critical Race Theory recognizes that racism is not a bygone relic of the past, according to the American Bar Association.
You may not be familiar with Critical Race Theory or CRT. You may think it is an esoteric concept being hotly debated in academic lecture halls or a nebulous ideal that triggers fierce opposition by right wing politicians looking to whitewash U.S. history and politics.
Perhaps you have no idea why the Florida Board of Education banned teaching CRT in schools in May or why five Republican-led state legislatures banned CRT in recent months, according to the Washington Post.
Wikipedia defines Critical Race Theory as an academic movement of civil rights scholars and activists in the United States seeking to critically examine the law and its intersection with racial justice. CRT emerged in the mid-1970s in the writings of legal scholars and emerged as a movement in the 1980s rooted in critical theory.