{"id":323,"date":"2024-01-19T16:34:47","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T21:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalracetheory\/?p=323"},"modified":"2024-01-23T13:41:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T18:41:24","slug":"critical-race-theory-chapters-1-and-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalracetheory\/2024\/01\/19\/critical-race-theory-chapters-1-and-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical Race Theory: Chapters 1 and 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Chapters 1 and 2 of Critical Race Theory, authors and CRT pioneers Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic give readers an introduction to the theory as a discipline, an intellectual tradition, and a tool for marginalized people to strategize about their own liberation. While CRT officially emerged in the 1970s as lawyers, activists and legal scholars openly voiced their frustrations with the perceived stall and regression in progress towards true equality, many of the thoughts, theories, and principles had existed before its founding. Critical Race Theory is an academic discipline that provides new theories, strategies and texts that can be used to name and study one\u2019s own experience as a marginalized individual in American society.<\/span><\/p>\n

While I had always been interested in CRT, I was fascinated to read about the specific, differing ways of thinking within the discipline. I appreciated the descriptions of both the \u201cidealist\u201d, who believes \u201cracism and discrimination are matters of thinking, mental categorization, attitude, and discourse\u201d (21) and the \u201crealist\u201d, who holds that, \u201cracism is a means by which society allocates privilege and status\u201d (21). During the semester, as we read course material, I personally will be mindful of whether the author is a realist, an idealist, or maybe a mix of both.<\/span><\/p>\n

I completely agreed with CRT\u2019s criticism of color-blindness and its effectiveness, or lack thereof, in eradicating racism. While it feels very obvious that any solution that is not race-conscious and intentional about targeting the historical wrongdoings perpetrated against a specific group of people, this notion seems to completely miss others (specifically those who are in the dominant, ruling class). The issue of color-blind politics renders the less overt, obvious instances of racism nonexistent and unimportant, operating under the guise of eradicating the blatant forms of discrimination. This notion coincides with the idea of \u201cinterest convergence.\u201d This theory ascertains that many of the initiatives to eradicate discrimination have only been enacted when it benefits both the oppressed and ruling class, or when these interests converge. When these interests do not converge, and when a decision that would benefit minority groups would not benefit white-elites, there is less incentive for them to play a role in eradicating racism. It is these two ways of thinking, colorblind ideology and the lack of incentive\/moral responsibility within white people to end racism, coupled with the complete lack of empathy among our population, that is crippling any true progress towards racial equity.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also resonated with the discontent towards liberalism, especially when taking into consideration the colorblind, non confrontational, and passive mindset that a lot of liberals have adopted. Speaking to the \u201cvoice-of-color thesis\u201d, or the idea that minorities have a presumed competence to speak about race and racism by virtue of their experience and identity, I believe that this difference in understanding inhibits white liberals from being able to have a radical imagination for true justice. In turn, this robs the entire country of the revolutionary initiatives and ideologies that would ultimately benefit us all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, having read this piece and the article in class, I still struggle to see the arguments against teaching CRT – at least in the college classroom. A tenet of CRT is not only to analyze these power hierarchies and imbalances, to critique our environment and ruling bodies, to hold individuals and systems accountable, and to use critical thinking skills, but also to transform the world for the better. It is a common sentiment that the university experience is supposed to encourage and prepare students to take on that very task. By banning CRT at the university level, we surrender incompetent, unimaginative, and narrow-minded individuals into the workforce, and continue feeding into the issues that strengthen the grip of racism onto our country. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Chapters 1 and 2 of Critical Race Theory, authors and CRT pioneers Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic give readers an introduction to the theory as a discipline, an intellectual tradition, and a tool for marginalized people to strategize about … Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6377,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discussion"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalracetheory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalracetheory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalracetheory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalracetheory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6377"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalracetheory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalracetheory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalracetheory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323\/revisions\/328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalracetheory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalracetheory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalracetheory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}