It’s Time to Move Beyond Fear
Critical Race Theory isn't scary; that so many misunderstand CRT, is.
By Craig Vasey
GUEST COLUMNIST
There is nothing scary or dangerous about critical race theory.
President Donald Trump and friends would have you believe the opposite, but let’s think this through.
Think of this as a choice: there is traditional race theory or there is critical race theory. “Critical” here means that it is an alternative to the uncritically accepted (traditional) theory that has been the dominant understanding of race since the concept emerged in the 18th century.
The traditional theory is that race is a biological fact; that one is born a member of a certain race because of the color of one’s skin. The traditional view also claims that there are a certain fixed number of races, and that each race can be ranked above or below others in terms of intelligence, morality, responsibility, industriousness, honesty, sexual appetite, etc. This traditional view was the view of our founders –George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, etc.
They believed that having so-called “white” skin meant that a person was superior to having so-called “black” skin. This superiority was obviously the justification for slavery.
Today, we know better. Thanks to modern science and genetics, we know that there is no more difference between people of so-called races (whites vs blacks vs reds vs yellows) than there is within those groups. This has been known for decades. And yet, the term “race” continues to be an indispensable part of our vocabulary because of hundreds of years of talking and thinking in terms of it.
This is where a new theory of race has to come in.
If race is not what everyone since the founding of our country until the 20th century thought it was, then what it is? Is it anything real at all? A new theory of what “race” means is needed. That is what “Critical Race Theory” is addressing.
And that theory basically proposes that “race” needs to be understood as a social, cultural, psychological, and political concept, rather than as a biological one. If “race” was really a matter of biology, no one would ever have been able to “pass” – as people used to do in Jim Crow times – as White.
Traditional race theory is simply racist. Critical race theory is an attempt to understand the concept of “race,” and our world, without embracing the racism of traditional theory. Anyone who tells you something other than that either does not know what they are talking about, or is trying to defend the traditional theory without admitting that that is what they are doing.
Geraniums and roses come in many colors. There is no hierarchy of which color is the truest geranium or rose. Does anyone really think that a pink geranium is superior to a red one, or vice versa? And if they do – do you need to watch out?
Traditional race theory says that since human beings come in a variety of colors, there is a hierarchy of which color is the best, which is the most truly human. The absurdity of this outlook should be obvious.
That absurdity needs to be countered with a better understanding of “race,” and with an account of the consequences, the effects, that the traditional concept has had on all of us.
That is what those who engage in studying race are doing. And they call this study “Critical Race Theory.” There is nothing scary about this unless you are an old-fashioned white supremacist who cannot tolerate a world in which non (so-called) white people are not seen as inferior, and marginalized from what counts as “really human.”
Unfortunately, our current administration seems to find Critical Race Theory scary. And they want you to find it scary too. They are trying to ban it from schools and universities, overriding the very concept of academic freedom.
What does that say about them?
What does it mean for you?
Craig Vasey is a retired philosophy professor and chair of the board for FXBG Advance.
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:
First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.
First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.
First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project
Our media group also offers the most-extensive election coverage in the region and regular columnists like:
And our newsroom is led by the most-experienced and most-awarded journalists in the region — Adele Uphaus (Managing Editor and multiple VPA award-winner) and Martin Davis (Editor-in-Chief, 2022 Opinion Writer of the Year in Virginia and more than 25 years reporting from around the country and the world).
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”
Unfortunately, those who most need to read and contemplate this excellent article probably won't.