It is hard to understand why the outrage about Critical Race Theory did not quickly subside when the actual architects of the framework had the opportunity to explain its origin and intentions: “to develop laws and policies that can dismantle structural inequities and systemic racism.” (NAACP) Is there another reason that people would intentionally misconstrue the meaning behind this theory or block current students from learning and thinking about it, other than to maintain the status quo? The following quote from Victor Ray certainly resonates here:

To continue to better understand things like CRT that I was never taught in school, I will endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of these “divisive concepts” that some are trying to stop students from learning about. This weekend, Kimberlé Crenshaw appeared on Ali Velshi’s show on MSNBC over the weekend to discuss the controversy over the College Board’s decision to revise its Advanced Placement African American History Curriculum and cut out the following topics:

• The Movement for Black Lives
• Institutional Racism
• Structural Racism
• Systemic Racism
• Queer Theory
• Prison Industrial Complex
• Mass Incarceration

As part of this revision process, the work of Crenshaw, one of the architects of CRT, has been cast aside due to the ongoing misinformation campaign that defines CRT as a theory that is intended to make white kids feel bad about themselves. Crenshaw, a professor at both Columba and the University of California, points out in the interview with Velshi that “Critical Race Theory is not teaching people that they are individually responsible, it’s actually somewhat doing the opposite. It’s saying that these things are the inheritances of structures: structures of the economy, structures of the housing market, and structures of policing.”

Professor Crenshaw goes on to add, “If you look around and see inequality and don’t have an explanation for it, you are going to think the deficits are in the people and not the institutions.”

The entire interview, which is just under nine minutes, is below.