One of the newest controversial topics in American politics is now Critical Race Theory (CRT). It is a topic that brings heat to any political discourse as people argue whether they are for it or against it. Critics from both sides of the political spectrum can be seen critiquing or praising CRT without fully defining what it is and what its tenets are. They also are combining its definition to something entirely different that has nothing to do with what CRT is. This leads them to use the theory improperly or makes it clear that they do not know what they are talking about.

That is why I am developing a series of articles to define Critical Race Theory and its tenets, address its critiques and show why it’s important to keep CRT in education and general discourse. This article is part one of this series, and it will focus on clearly defining CRT and its tenets.

Before defining CRT, it is important to look at its history. The framework for the theory came around during the mid-1970s through the writings of Derrick Bell, Kimberle Crenshaw, Mari Matsuda and several others. It is defined as a social movement from civil-rights scholars and activists who sought to understand how race and law meet at a crossing point in the United States and to challenge approaches to racial justice.

This approach to understanding racism in America helps explain why there are racial disparities in the justice system, especially when it comes to punishments in the legal system. An important addition to the definition is that it is also important to understand that CRT is not a single theory, but it is a group of different perspectives which face different disparities from each other. The definitions of CRT may vary, but they all address that the theory is about addressing racial inequities in society and how there are racial disparities in the justice system.

The next important thing to understand about CRT is its key tenets. The first tenet is that racism is ordinary and not exceptional. This means that racism is not odd or out of order, but instead it is a part of the system that we are a part of. Racism does not only mean a grand act of oppression like yelling slurs, attacking someone for being a part of a race, excluding someone based on their race and many more. Instead, the racism that happens is systemic and is not easily noticed unless you are a person of color who is oppressed by the system.

The next tenet is that social change only happens when it is beneficial for the majority. This means that change only happens when it is helpful or improves the situation for the majority. If it is not beneficial then that change will not happen. The main example of this is the Supreme Court deciding to side with the NAACP in Brown v. Board, which was a case for desegregation and equal opportunity for education. The CRT theorists believed that the only reason the Supreme Court came to that decision was that the United States wanted to change its racist image to other countries and for the civil unrest African Americans veterans felt after returning from World War II and the Korean War. This shows that this change only happened because of the benefits it gave whites.

The third tenet is that race and other identities are socially constructed, and not biological categories. This means that race was socially constructed to continue pushing people of color into oppression. The way race is seen as socially constructed is seen through the example of the U.S. Census Bureau and their way of racially categorizing people and how it keeps changing through time.

The fourth tenet of CRT is that peoples’ identities are intersectional. This is explained as people do not fall only on one identity such as their race because their lives are more than just their race. This is important to address because policies and laws look at a person’s identity in one way such as by looking at just their race.

The final tenet of CRT is the voices of color. This tenet means that people of color have their own perspective and experience when it comes to their race and the racism they experience. This is important to have because so often people of color are silenced about the racism they experience by other people who may not have felt what they have experienced. These tenets are key theories to CRT and they help shape the theory and what it is all about.

In summation, Critical Race Theory does not have a simple definition. Instead, it is a collection of theories that address the racial inequities and disparities that exist in the justice system and society. The tenets are integral parts of the theory and they are important to understand and talk about when addressing CRT.

Article by guest writer Alaa Almoamen