You hear US politicians disgracing themselves on TV shouting critical race theory (CRT) is a pox on all our houses, they're gonna ban it, slap it, flip it, rub it down, but have absolutely no clue what it is? Are you wondering what even is this CRT? Well, come learn. 🧵🧵 1/13
CRT is a framework (ideas and understandings about reality and how things operate) that originated in legal studies through the work of Derrick Bell, along with Kimberlé Crenshaw, Richard Delgado, Mari Matsuda, others. It's a way to examine and understand how US law works. 2/13
Now you're thinking, people wanna ban somebody's type of legal analysis? Well, yes. But they don't even know what CRT is. They're racists and white supremacists who don't want public discussion and legal consideration of systemic racism and white people's unfair advantages. 3/13
Thing is, CRT didn't just stay in legal studies. CRT ideas and understandings about how things work in the US spread to other areas of study, because CRT explains and clarifies racial inequity *extremely well* and is helpful to figure out issues in education, politics, etc. 4/13
So, what are these ideas and understandings of CRT that upset people so much? Well, the CRT framework consists of very clear, simple, observable, documented, commonsense realities of how things work in the US, explained in 6 main tenets (points or major principles). 5/13
CRT tenet 1: Endemic racism. This principle says racism is predominant and very widespread in our thinking, interactions, systems, practices, institutions. Such that, inequality and unfair advantages whites have over POC are assumed natural, inevitable, and unchangeable. 6/13
CRT tenet 2: Critique of liberal myths. This says the idea all are treated equally with same rights under law, education, housing, other institutions is a lie. So, liberal notions like meritocracy (even playing field), objectivity, race neutrality (colorblindness) are myths. 7/13
CRT tenet 3: Whiteness as property. This says being white in US is a valuable commodity that gives those who possess this "property" (whiteness) unearned privileges like preference, authority, exclusivity, legitimacy, greater chance of survival (eg, police encounters), etc. 8/13
CRT tenet 4: Interest convergence. This says POC can only advance on mass scale in US institutions, society when their interests converge with white people's (when whatever benefits POC also benefits whites). Eg, white women are greatest beneficiaries of affirmative action. 9/13
CRT tenet 5: Counternarrative. This says personal stories (narratives) of Black people and other POC are legitimate authorities and evidence that counter (challenge) dominant white, elite, male voices society typically treats as sources of standard or objective knowledge. 10/13
CRT tenet 6: Intersectionality. This says Black women (especially) and other POC experience racism in unique ways inseparable from and worsened by other oppression like sexism, classism, ableism, homophobia. So, women's policies, for example, don't affect us all the same. 11/13
So, that's critical race theory. A set of principles scholars use to show there's no racial equality in the US, and racism and white supremacy are baked into laws, policies, practices, institutions (eg, education), literally everything. And all this is common knowledge! 12/13
When racists shout critical race theory is evil and should be banned, now you know what CRT is, which is MUCH MORE than they know. You also see they're telling you to reject reality and basic facts about how things work in this country just so they maintain power. Will you? 13/13
When you think about CRT (or any theory) understand its greatest usefulness is helping make complex realities (ie, systemic racism) easier to grasp. Eg, how do you see “whiteness as property” work? What material benefits does whiteness give people who have it? QT your answer.
Another CRT idea you can test if you understand how it works is “interest convergence.” What’s an example in society where Black people only gain uplift as a group when white people also benefit (even more!) from their gains? My 14yo said sports and entertainment. QT your answer.
Earlier, I said critical race theory represents reality and commonsense facts about US society everybody knows and understands. How? Take the example of Amy Cooper, the white woman in Central Park who was recorded calling police on a Black man lying and saying he attacked her?
Cooper tried to use police to harm a Black man, cuz she understood 2 ideas CRT describes:
1 systemic racism
2 whiteness as property
She knew police would think Black man was assailant (racism), and whiteness gave her property (credibility, assumption of innocence) he didn't have.
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- Brazil Supreme Court ordered Twitter/X to block fake news, hate accounts violating laws+undermining democracy.
- Musk refused & closed all offices in Brazil.
- Court gave him 24hrs to appoint a legal rep in Brazil or it’ll Block X/Twitter in the country of 217million.
Some context:
- No organization can operate in Brazil without a head official or “legal representative” responsible for its actions+answerable for them in Brazilian courts.
- Acts of racism, incitement to hate (including speech), political disinformation, are crimes in Brazil.
More context:
- Brazil SC Head leading this charge, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, is not a leftist. His side is banks, financial capital.
- Musk is supporter/friend of Trumpist & former pres. Jair Bolsonaro. Many accounts Moraes ordered blocked were denying he lost the election.
So, how did Dr. Sirry Alang and Dr. Uju Anya become affianced?
🧵with @ProfAlang, who swept me off my feet and made my dreams come true.
It all began with serious, lovingly careful planning by Sirry, who called my senior sister, aunt, and brother to discuss things after we had agreed to marry. Then, she secretly plotted with our kids and friends to join the surprise. She even practiced the proposal with my son!🥹
Sirry said we were attending a party. Lies! I arrived to pick her up and had a massive shock. I knew and suspected absolutely nothing. She got me so good, y’all😂😂😂😂 I need to start checking this woman’s phone.
1st faculty member fired under Texas SB 18 law to revoke tenure is a Black woman. Tenured African history associate professor, Dr. Mickie Mwanzia Koster, who’s been at UT Tyler since 2011, was fired with no just cause, no due process, no chance to respond to claims against her.
Dr. Mwanzia Koster was given 2 weeks notice to leave a TENURED position claiming she shared her UT login credentials with another person. According to the SB 18 anti-tenure law she was fired under, she has a right to due process, including a hearing. None of that happened.
They attack Black women in the humanities first, because they know Black women are the most vulnerable, most often and most viciously targeted, least protected demographic in academia, so they’ll get away with it.
But this is just the test drive. The purge won’t end here.
Parents of college bound children, listen. One thing I discovered during this my first child's college application journey is the importance of calculus. Yes, calculus.
Has your child taken it?
Are they on track to take it before HS graduation?
Walk with me...
...Many competitive universities require high school calculus. Even if applicants wanna major in humanities, drama, art, etc., a basic req to enter the university itself is calculus. However, not all HS offer calculus, and not all HS with calculus track all students into it...
...A typical high school math sequence in the US is 9th grade algebra 1, 10th grade geometry, 11th grade algebra 2, and 12th grade trigonometry/pre-calculus. Your child won't take calculus in HS unless they took algebra in middle school or tested into geometry in 9th grade...
Not helping HBO advertise that documentary by quoting their tweet. Just wanna inform y’all Renee Bach is a serial killer who murdered 100s of children in Uganda pretending to be a medical professional. And she got away with it, because she’s a white woman who killed Africans.
If you'd like to learn how Renee Bach killed Ugandan children pretending to be a doctor giving medical treatment with no training or license and blogging about it, read stories from Ugandan journalists:
Other Ugandan journalists reported on Renee Bach killing Ugandan children pretending to be a doctor running a clinic with no medical training/license and blogging about it.
Raymond Mujuni @qataharraymond produced an investigative report on the case here:
Every interaction we have with other people is filtered through our own experiences, beliefs, and biases. We can be speaking the same language, but often, we leave conversations understanding completely different things. Take, for example…
A US friend described how kids in a West African slum she visited were so poor they didn’t know what a marker was and what to do with it.
We were like huh? She said yes, when she handed kids markers, they looked at her incredulously and said “What am I supposed to do with this?”
Her ideologies about “poor deprived African children” didn’t allow madam to understand simple English. She preferred to believe they didn’t know what to do with a pen(!!) instead of them obviously rejecting her dumb markers cuz they preferred something actually useful like money.