Thread by @EveKeneinan

Let’s talk about this bit of dishonesty from Dr. Jillian Ford of Kennesaw State University.

She says

1 Critical Race Theory says that racism is an everyday occurrence for people of color
2 Critical Race Theory does not say that white people are inherently oppressive
3 Critical Race Theory is “not about individual behavior” but “about systems and policies”

Contra 1: This is an EQUIVOCATION designed to hide what CRT teaches. CRT doesn’t say that racism is an “everyday occurrence” AS PER individual experience, but that racism is EVERYWHERE AT ALL TIMES. You know, in the SYSTEMS and POLICIES.

For point 1 to be true as stated, CRT would have to address personal, individual experiences. But that isn’t what it does, as Dr. Ford herself says. What it REALLY says is that ALL people of color are being oppressed AT ALL TIMES by SYSTEMS and POLICIES.

Contra 2: A second EQUIVOCATION. I’m sure she is denying that CRT says that white people are “inherently racist” is the sense of BY NATURE. CRT very much DOES SAY that every single white person on earth IS RACIST, FROM BIRTH, and INESCAPABLY SO.

That’s “inherent” enough.

Re 3: Three is a HALF-TRUTH. It is true that CRT focuses on SYSTEMS and POLICIES — individuals only show up as “nodes” within said SYSTEMS and POLICIES.

Nevertheless, ALL WHITES ARE RACIST, because of their PLACE WITHIN said SYSTEMS and POLICIES.

So, while CRT does focus on systems, it treats individuals ONLY AS functions of such systems.

That is, it treats white people and black people as FUNCTIONS OF THE RACIAL SYSTEM.

It is NOT a virtue of CRT that it HATES PERSONS qua PERSONS.

As is typical of this sort of Marxism, HUMAN BEINGS — actual PERSONS — who suffer and hurt and die and are oppressed are NOTHING AT ALL.

This is an anti-human ideology, like Communism, like Fascism.

We want to say: If RACISM is an “everyday occurrence” due to SYSTEMS and POLICIES — NAME THEM.

NAME the SYSTEMS and POLICIES.

The answers are: The only racist policies in America are racial discrimination FOR “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.”

The SYSTEMS of racism are, according to CRT, “everything.”

EVERYTHING is part of the RACIST SYSTEMS.

Including, I note, the POLICIES that explicitly discriminate to advance “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.”

Those are also racist.

So, Dr. Ford is being HIGHLY DISINGENUOUS here.

She has made points which are TRUE if taken one way (obviously the way she means them to be taken); but FALSE if taken in the way that defends Critical Race Theory.

It’s clever, because she said three sentences as sound bites, which the Atlanta Journal-Constitution dutifully wrote up.

And it takes however many Tweets of mine to unpack WHY this is deliberately misleading.

It doesn’t take MUCH, but more than a newspaper reader can do.