#manufactured political fears

During the so-called “cold war”, white conservatives labelled the civil rights movement “communists” in an effort to discredit the cultural and political push towards racial equality in the United States. It was a campaign of fearmongering whose intent was to scare white folk from supporting racial justice. The manufactured panic around CRT is just more of the same old playbook (which has employed such hits as panic around antifa, decrying “woke politics”, denunciations of “cancel culture”, the “dangers” of Black Lives Matter, attacking the 1619 project, and on and on). CRT is just the Right’s latest “culture war” bugaboo.

What CRT means to American conservatives is simply this: it’s a catch-phrase for “politics that I don’t like.” It also seems to be effective propaganda (and that’s what it is, pure, unadulterated propaganda). I say “effective propaganda” because CRT isn’t taught through grades K-12 even though this factually incorrect claim to CRT is central to the objections espoused by conservatives.

CRT is a complex theory developed by law professors and one only encounters the theory in postgraduate education. Its goal is to elucidate how racial inequality is supported and maintained through the crafting and enforcement of American law (even in the wake of the civil rights movement). Period. 

This segment is worth a watch if you want a basic introduction around the American Right’s framing of CRT. If you want more information, here are some links to read (plus another video):

1.How a Conservative Activist Invented the Conflict Over Critical Race Theory

2. The engineered conservative panic over critical race theory, explained

3. The Anti–Critical Race Theory Movement Will Profoundly Affect Public Education

4. 1 truth and 3 lies about Critical Race Theory

Here’s the extra video:

Critical Race Theory And “Moral Panic”

Oh, hell, here’s another extra video for a wider context (that I thought was ok):

The Psychology of Authoritarianism