A Laymen’s GUIDE TO Understanding Critical Race Theory

I’m sure you’ve been reading and listening to a number of people referring to Critical Race Theory. Obviously, there are far more detailed and scholarly articles out there but allow me a small attempt at getting this page up to speed. CRT, at its core teaches… (Disclaimer: I do not embrace CRT)

1. Racism is endemic. This means that racism is the “norm”. It is not rare or the exception, but rather deeply engrained in the culture and law.
2. Racism crosses epistemological (how you “know”) boundaries. This means you can be (and actually you are) racist whether you know it or not; or think you are or not. The white skin that some Americans possess is akin to owning a piece of property, in that it grants privileges to the owner that a renter (in this case, a person of color) would not be afforded.
3. Racism is systemic. All economic and legal systems’ claims to neutrality are false. There is no such thing as objectivity, color-blindness, or meritocracy (the best applicant gets the job). Any testimony to these qualities in an individual or the system is either a camouflage of reality or a lie.
4. Racism has never been addressed systemically. All civil rights laws are fundamentally flawed or limited. There has been little movement to change racism through history.
5. Racism transcends ahistoricism (this is a fancy word for nostalgia) and recognizes individual stories of people as indicative (and ultimately authoritative) of greater cultural problems.

Ugh…Where to start?

If I were to cut to the chase, I would simply say that CRT is a sociologist’s attempt to redress in academic and non-theological terms, the doctrine of comprehensive depravity. We live in a fallen world and we, as a race of human beings (note 1 race), are fallen too. We are selfish at our core. That selfishness has a continuum of being mildly annoying (such as a baby throwing a tantrum or a person cutting in a line) to being viciously evil (serial killer or genocidal maniac). Anything and everything can exist in-between that continuum including bigotry, discrimination, and racism. The VAST MAJORITY of Christian people readily acknowledge that racism is a sin and has no place in a Christian’s life. On that point, there can be easy agreement.

CRT, however, tries to parse that into a social justice theory that attempts to explain why there are civic inequities and outcomes. These theories are based on certain presuppositions and worldviews that may not be (and almost always are not) true. They are also based on certain generalizations or anecdotal stories which may not reflect accurately or completely the whole sociological story. For example, if I have a personal story of injustice or unfairness, that personal story may not be applicable in a macro-environment despite finding a friend who had a similar experience.

It also seeks to implement social and legal policy which (supposedly) addresses these problems (which are really individual sin issues). These supposed answers in many instances follow economic and law theories espoused by anti-biblical philosophers and professors. So, while the injustice may indeed be biblical in nature, the solution is anti-biblical in response.

Stay tuned…

I may have more to opine on this issue…