Letter to the editor: Critical race theory gets it entirely wrong

The following is in response to John Miller’s letter defending the teaching of Critical Race Theory to children in our public schools.

A fairly clear definition of CRT by UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs states in part: “CRT recognizes that racism is engrained in the fabric and system of American society. The individual racist need not exist to note that institutional racism is pervasive in the dominant culture. This is the analytical lens that CRT uses in examining existing power structures. CRT identifies that these power structures are based on white privilege and white supremacy, which perpetuates the marginalization of people of color. CRT also rejects the traditions of liberalism and meritocracy.”

CRT by definition is a worldview which sees everything through a racial lens, and as such it sees racism literally everywhere. CRT favors experiential knowledge over facts and reason, subjecting it to anti-intellectual and anti-rational bias. In line with its Marxist roots, CRT posits a constant state of oppressor vs. oppressed, with its attendant declarations of victimization by the oppressed, and prescribed apologies by the oppressor. It creates division, not unity. Martin Luther King Jr. had it right (content of character, not color of skin); CRT has it entirely wrong.

I think most clear-thinking people agree that we can and should address racial disparities where they exist, but let’s use facts and data combined with a compassionate and listening ear, rather than a questionable ideology that is harmful to children.

Patricia Fallon Cady

Sewickley