fact finder
Status: 06/30/2021 11:29 am
The Critical Race Theory is causing controversy; there is talk of a “pincer attack on democracy”. Conservatives in the United States have turned scientific theory into a political battlefield.
“Der Spiegel” describes the so-called Critical Race Theory as an “attack on the values of the West”, the Mayor of Tübingen Boris Palmer (Greens) writes of a “pincer attack on democracy” and right-wing populist media like the “Epoch Times” consider it to be “destructive”.
For Palmer, the Critical Race Theory is like an “attack from the middle”, which poses a threat to democracy. In a Facebook post he warns that representatives of the Critical Race Theory no longer debated “old white men” but wanted to “fight, shame and remove them from positions of power”. He goes on to say that the “new anti-racism is racist, illiberal and anti-democratic”.
What is the Critical Race Theory?
The Critical Race Theory is an interdisciplinary theoretical approach that assumes that racism is not an exception, but a structurally anchored part of the social order. The theory, which has its origins in US law in the 1970s, sees racism as a historically evolved, societal phenomenon that expresses power structures and legitimizes the unequal treatment of people through discriminatory legal norms.
Accordingly, not only explicitly discriminatory acts are racist. Racism is anchored on a much more fundamental level in the political, social, economic and cultural order, so that it always has an impact on the actions of an individual – even if this is not done consciously. According to the Critical Race Theory, discrimination is therefore always multilayered. This can be seen, for example, in who is invited to which job interviews, who is granted which loans or how the police deal with you. Also, due to the US suffrage, ethnic minorities are disproportionately disadvantaged when it comes to voting.
These discussions about the structural racism in the country as well as the confrontation of one’s own history with regard to slavery, called for the Black Lives Matter movement in the USA after the police murder of George Floyd.
Conservative to right-wing networks, on the other hand, interpret the Critical Race Theory to mean that people are punished for being born white. You criticize the theory’s approach as being racist. Texas Senator Ted Cruz (Republican) describes the theory as “as racist as that [Ku-Klux] Klan Men in White Sheets “.
Targeted agenda setting
A key player in this is the conservative activist and journalist Christopher Rufo. While appearing on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News in September 2020, he describes how Critical Race Theory is infiltrating the government through diversity training. Since the Critical Race Theory is based on the “Critical Theory”, Rufo feared that Marxist ideas could spread in the USA and appealed to the White House to immediately ban the teaching of this theory.
Donald Trump, then US President, tweeted Rufo’s appearance and just two days later issued a decree according to which no diversity training courses may be held in state institutions that describe the USA as a structurally racist nation.
Even if Joe Biden reversed the decree after taking office, the outrage over the Critical Race Theory was in the world. In the meantime, a number of activists have come together to declare war on theory. Conservative politicians meanwhile have the Critical Race Theory as subject matter in some states such as Florida or Idaho forbidden. Even now she is not being taught in schools, like the Democratic Senator of Florida, Shevrin Jones, of the fact-checking side Politifact said.
“Enhance negative perception”
Similar to the terms “cancel culture” or “political correctness” before, conservatives and right-wingers in the USA have called a new battle concept on the scene with the concept of Critical Race Theory. Activist Rufo writes on Twitter: “We have brought the term ‘Critical Race Theory’ into the public discussion and are now strengthening its negative perception”.
The goal, he continues, “is that as soon as the public reads something crazy in the paper, they immediately think of Critical Race Theory. We have decoded the term and will recode it to encompass the full range of cultural constructions annex that are unpopular with Americans. ”
Chrisopher Rufo is a key figure in the resistance movement against the Critical Race Theory.
Warned in large numbers
And he is not alone in achieving his goal: According to the media blog, the term Critical Race Theory was used “Media Matters” Cited 1,300 times on Fox News alone in the past three and a half months.
Right-wing think tanks and strategists of the Republicans have long been building the controversy into a central element of the campaign for the 2022 midterm elections. For example, the former Vice President Mike Pence or Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis set the mood. DeSantis said at a press conference in March that the Critical Race Theory had no place in the classrooms. And further: “Teaching children one’s country and hating one another is not worth a single cent of tax money.”
General rejects criticism
The American journalist Chuck Todd criticizes the debate. He thinks it’s a “creation” of the media and Republicans and says, “It’s a false controversy that is being sparked. And I think it just gets attention. It makes people watch or people click.”
The high-ranking General Mark Milley also defends the Critical Race Theory. He speaks Vote for teaching the theory approach in military universities at a defense budget hearing. In the video that went viral, Milley says, “I want to understand white anger – and I’m white.” He wants to know and analyze why thousands of people stormed the US Capitol on January 6th and “tried to overturn the constitution of the United States of America”. He finds it insulting that the US military is accused of “woke” when dealing with structural racism. He also read works by Karl Marx or Lenin – and is therefore not a Marxist. It’s about understanding different theories.