Thoughts on critical race theory (part one)

Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash

Awhile back on my Facebook page, I said that I was writing something about critical race theory.

I told the truth, but what started out as one blog post turned into drafts of five posts.

I write to think. So, the more I wrote, the more I thought.

The more I thought, the more I wrote.

Here’s what it was like for me:

I went to college in Searcy, Arkansas. I had a friend, Chris, from California.

Chris asked a girl for a date. Rather than take her to the local coffee shop in Searcy, he planned to drive her two hours away to Memphis.

This was the 1990s. Nobody had GPS or mobile phones. Chris got someone to scribble directions to Memphis on a scrap of paper. He borrowed a car, picked up his date, and hit the road.

But Chris missed a turn. He kept going on the four-lane highway until it turned into a two-lane highway. Then a two-lane country road. Then a dirt road. Then a driveway.

Two hours after they left Searcy, Chris and his date did not reach Memphis; they came to a dead end in a rice paddy.

Which one of them do you think felt more panic at that moment?

I started writing about critical race theory the same way Chris started driving his date to Memphis. Like Chris, I feel like I ended up lost in a rice paddy.

So, in this post, I’m getting my bearings.

Why did I start writing about critical race theory in the first place?

Answer: I got tired.

I have 1,289 Facebook friends. Over the last few months, some of them posted memes or opinions about critical race theory.

Almost all of them were off base.

I could put it this way: Those who seem to have the most to say about critical race theory seem to know the least about it.

That matters and I’ll tell you why in a minute or two.

First, let’s get clear on critical race theory.

Critical race theory is a theory, which means that it is a way of asking questions about a certain subject.

In the case of critical race theory, that subject is the U.S. legal system.

Critical race theory emerged 40 years ago as a line of questioning among legal scholars. Until the last few months, you would have to go to law school to even hear anyone talk about it.

So why does it seem like everyone is talking about it now?

Answer:

We have successfully frozen their brand–‘critical race theory’–into the public conversation and are steadily driving up negative perceptions. We will eventually turn it toxic, as we put all of the various cultural insanities under that brand category. The goal is to have the public read something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think ‘critical race theory.’ We have de-codified the term and will re-codify it to annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans–Christopher Rufo, from a March 15 Tweet, describing how he is helping politicians and pundits weaponize critical race theory

You are hearing a lot about critical race theory now because politicians and pundits chose to “re-codify it” and “turn it toxic” for their own ends.

What are those ends?

Scaring you into giving them your money and power.

Politicians and pundits are not often interested in the “marketplace of ideas.” They are not often interested in lively debate or a rich public discourse.

They want money and votes. So some of them made up their own definition of critical race theory to scare you into giving them your money and votes.

You and I know better than to expect a politician or pundit to pass up anything that gives them more power.

But shouldn’t we expect better from ourselves?

Most of all if we are Christians who live by the rule: “Love your neighbor.”

I said I’m tired.

I’m tired of politicians and pundits pushing out lies as facts.

I’m even more tired of some of my fellow Christians sharing those lies without taking the time to find out if they are true. When they spread lies, they slander those Jesus Christ commanded them to love.

I have a lot more to say about this, but I will save it for the next post.

For now, I want to end this post by explaining critical race theory in a way that I hope will be easy to understand.

Critical race theory is, as simply as I can put it, a question:

Could dead racists live on in the laws they passed long ago?

We often call the United States a “nation of laws.” Those laws comprise almost 3 million federal laws plus hundreds of millions of state and local laws passed over the course of almost 500 years. Footnote: The U.S. legal system is mostly based on English Common Law, which was already in place in North America long before the United States became a nation. This is why I say “almost 500 years” instead of dating our legal system to 1776.

Until just 50 or 60 years ago, the U.S. legal system protected and upheld laws that men wrote for the express purpose of discriminating against certain groups of Americans.

In most cases, those laws discriminated against certain Americans because of the color of their skin and the culture of their community.

Critical race theory asks: Could it be that some of those hundreds of millions of federal, state, and local laws are still working against some Americans (as racist lawmakers intended)?

Since we base many of our current laws on legal precedent set in the past, could old racist laws “echo” in our current interpretations of the law?

What assumptions do we make about the fairness of the law based on the circumstances into which we are born?

In short: Can traces of past racist intent still be hiding in our laws today?

Critical race theory asks how those in the legal profession might find those traces of racist intent and use the law to correct them.

I don’t know that I agree with all of critical race theory, but I do think the questions it asks are worth asking.

Should I not want to look closely at our laws to find and fix anything that could be unfair or unjust toward my fellow citizens?

Our nation is only 245 years old. It took 188 years–more than three quarters of the life of our nation–for federal law to fully recognize, protect, and uphold the rights of all Americans and not just some.

Is it not possible that 188 years of legal inequality–a legal inequality that ended within the lifetime of many living Americans–could still be having intended or unintended effects on us today?

That question sums up critical race theory.

Is critical race theory uncomfortable?

Yes. Anything “critical” tends to be.

My wife tells me that I repeat myself a lot or that I talk on and on sometimes. I don’t like to hear that, but I need to hear it. Listening to my wife’s constructive criticism makes me a better communicator.

Think of critical race theory as constructive criticism for the U.S. legal system. Thinking about the questions it asks gets us thinking about how to move our legal system closer to “liberty and justice for all.”

I’m not done with this subject, but I’m going to stop here for now.

My real motive for writing about critical race theory is not critical race theory; it’s the church of Christ. What matters most is how Christians treat other people and I don’t think we’re doing well at all in that respect.

For now, my appeal is this: Love your neighbors. Love them by being careful about what you believe and even more careful about what you say about them or to them. Politicians and pundits must not be the source of language that Christians repeat and spread.

Grace and peace.