CRT and Racial Division

It was August 28, 1963 when we first heard the immortal words to the “I Have a Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Perhaps the most captivating line was “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Here we are almost 60 years later and in some ways it seems like the dream here has been totally turned on its proverbial head.

The entire idea of civil rights, at least for those who follow the original and honorable meaning behind them, is that people should be seen as equals regardless of race. It’s pretty simple right? You would think so. But since that time, a lot has changed. And for every change for the better, there are still people out there rooting for racial division.

Some so-called pastors and activists like Jesse Jackson (net worth of approx. $10 million as of 2022 - celebsmoney.com) and AL Sharpton (net worth of approx. $2 million as of 2020 - thecinemaholic.com) have spent years making a living off of racial division and gaining fame and fortune using it as something of a weapon. While we have become used to this and many see right through it, a new and more sinister method has been put into place over the last couple years.

For those to seek to divide us, it makes sense that they would target the most influential and vulnerable groups among us. With that in mind, the public education system gave us Critical Race Theory (CRT).

If somehow you are still unfamiliar with CRT, it is a highly philosophical and academic approach to race that uses a lot of fluffy language and jargon to justify its own existence. But, when it comes down to it, the essence of the concept is that the majority (white people) are inherently oppressors while the minority (black or brown people) and inherently the oppressed.

This idea remains no matter the situation. Even with variables like family status and economic class, the oppressor and oppressed narrative remains constant. In essence, young children are being taught to either hate themselves for being white and thus bad, or feel like victims for being black or brown. It is literally attempting to divide people by race. That would be the complete opposite of what Dr. King had in mind.

According to Britannica, CRT was officially organized in 1989 although the ideas go back to sometime in the 1960s. While several steps built up to the introduction of CRT in the curriculum in our schools, it has come to the attention of parents as that they have been more involved in their children’s education since the school shutdowns that started during the Covid-19 Pandemic. With children learning remotely, parents were suddenly more aware of some of the horrifying ideas being pushed on their children in school.

The overwhelming attitude toward CRT is negative. Poll after poll shows this to be fact. One poll, the US Education Culture Poll conducted in April 2021, shows that 73.7% of respondents do not want white people to be seen as inherent oppressors while only 9.3% were strongly in favor of such teaching. The disgust clearly crosses racial lines to some extent.

While our country and our world are far from perfect, it would be foolish and dishonest to suggest that we haven’t made great strides in equality over the last 50 years or so. You need not look any further than the fact that we elected a bi-racial president to two terms and currently have a female minority as vice president. This would never even be considered possible decades back.

What we need to do is focus more on what brings us together than what divides us, even if is it a big industry and media talking point to do the opposite.