Is Critical Race Theory Racist?

Impact vs. Intent.

No, not technically. But that’s the wrong question. What we should be asking is if its ideas are solid, coherent, and what are the fruits of its applications? Racism is the idea that someone’s race is superior to another race. Even though there is “color-consciousness” in critical race theory, it does not explicitly hold any race to be superior. But the structure of a critical theory requires this type of question because of something that makes critical theories unique in academia. They do not simply seek out knowledge or truth. They also tell us what to do with their perceived truth. So the answer depends on what you believe is more important: impact or intent?

Critical race theory, or CRT, has recently been at the center of many discussions on race in America. Its effects have spread from humanities classes in academia into the action we see in the public square and now in primary education. It reached the executive level when President Trump signed an executive order banning federal institutions from using CRT in any of the training outlined for their employees. (I wrote a bit about that and why here.) It was characterized as racist, divisive, and anti-American. But is it? Well, let’s take a look not only at what CRT is but also what the effects of it have been. What is the impact and the intent?