Critical Race Theory: How The Reactionary Right's Favorite Euphemism Serves as a Censorship Tool

 

        Critical Race Theory taught at many of America’s 50 most elite private K-12 schools, according to new study, a Fox News headline reports. Critical Race Theory Manipulates History, wrote Newsmax. During the pandemic, we have undoubtedly seen a growing rise in conspiracies that parrot anti-Semitic and racist beliefs. Of course, conspiracism isn't new; the Satanic Panic is a prime example of conspiracism "gone rogue." In the case of the far-right, fascists have often weaponized the failures of social and political institutions into a senseless outrage toward certain groups of people. That is why, for instance, Nazi public speakers often made baseless speeches that conflated Judaism with communism. Even 90-100 years later, we still see right-wing demagogues engaging in a similar sort of "culture war," espousing rhetoric that echos the rise of fascism in America during the 1930s. For the purpose of this article, I want to highlight the inherent conspiracism and euphemistic language behind the reaction against Critical Race Theory (CRT). Namely, I want to explore how "anti-communism" and decades of racial agitprop are used as a mechanism of control and fear, allowing far-right ideas to become increasingly mainstream.

What is Critical Race Theory?

        Before we delve into how media pundits like Tucker Carlson have pandered to "white America's" socialized racial and anti-Semitic prejudices (see right), it is important to define Critical Race Theory and what isn't CRT. Ultimately, Critical Race Theory "is an academic framework for examining how racism is embedded in America’s laws and institutions." Namely, CRT is an interdisciplinary, legal analysis that centers on problems regarding the construction of race and systemic racism.  Thus, CRT isn't a "radical" idea that seeks to instill a "hatred of America" into the minds of young school children; it is quite literally the history of this country. Although CRT does draw from a multitude of disciplines and fields of study, it is not explicitly Marxist. Marxism centers on class struggle and provides various critiques of capitalist political economy, e.g., wage labor, commodity fetishism, and alienation, not systemic racism. This doesn't mean that class and race don't intersect; they often do. However, contrary to right-wing media narratives, CRT isn't infiltrating K-12 schools and "promoting" communist ideology. In fact, CRT isn't even taught K-12. It is predominately taught in higher education and law school. Although this moral panic is absurd, such fearmongering is extremely effective given America's demonization of socialist ideology and racist history. Postmodern conservatives simply want censorship in favor of a whitewashed interpretation of history, i.e., "patriotic" education. Ultimately, the right is very effective in using coded language and/or euphemisms to hide their allegiance to various forms of hatred and bigotry. That is why we need to evaluate the purpose of the various ideological underpinnings that riddle American political discourse on a daily basis.

The Ramifications of Reaction

Given the conflation between teaching race and CRT by the contemporary right, many state legislatures have or are attempting to pass laws "limiting CRT in schools." In fact, according to the African American Policy Forum, 22 states in 2021 introduced "legislation seeking to limit the teaching of CRT or related concepts." As mentioned above, CRT isn't explicitly taught K-12; thus, the purpose of these laws is to target Black history and cover up the various atrocities committed by white capitalists, slavers, and imperialists. What is most concerning, however, is the media's growing war on school, primarily against teachers and school librarians. With books concerning issues of race, gender, and sexuality taken off the shelves, many teachers (78%) expressed concern that the CRT panic is “interfering with a productive and necessary discussion regarding race in America.” This ensures that issues like the Tulsa Race Massacre or the fact that Lake Lanier is built upon a Black town are not covered, despite the fact that these issues weren't even covered in the first place. The conspiracism espoused by Fox News, Newsmax, and media personalities like Tucker Carlson, who even said himself that he "never figured out what critical race theory...[was]," has been damaging for the institution of education as a whole. Instead of accurately teaching our history as a country, state legislatures are seeking to absolve our settler-colonial past. History is bound to repeat itself if we victimize the oppressors and vilify the oppressed; in fact, it already is. Just last week, a Tennessee pastor, according to the Guardian, "led a book burning...to fight 'demonic influences,' with a crowd incinerating copies of books including Harry Potter and Twilight." The Nazis did a similar thing in 1933, where "Nazi supporters all over Germany publically burned books and writings proscribed as “un-German.” In true mass media fashion, legacy outlets like Fox have stoked fears toward communism and "white genocide" to generate greater profits, with little care for the possible ramifications of their actions. Liberalism's inability to actively combat fascism and conservatives growing support of fascistic ideas are grounds for concern. That is why we need to actively combat these narratives, expose the layers of bigotry inherent in them, and organize against dangerous conspiracism that puts minorities in harm's way. Whoever controls the means of information can control the minds of the masses. The solution isn't censorship and further whitewashing but the free flow of information to all, an accurate account of our history and the crimes of our oppressors. That is your human right.