Letter: A society built on the tenets of critical race theory cannot work

Originally Published on Inforum.com

Hoaby writes, "CRT is not just an analytical framework. It provides a justification to hate others or oneself. I reject that worldview, as I feel I must."

Is critical race theory an analytical framework allowing people to examine and interpret (or reinterpret) America’s past and present? Or is it more than this? And do these questions matter?

Critical race theory revolves around a binary of people who are oppressed and people who are the oppressors. As such it is a derivative of Marxism. Marx viewed economic relations as an uneasy division between the proletariat – the working class people – and the bourgeoisie – those controlling the means of production (business owners). Borrowing from Hegel on how history evolved, Marx believed that the proletariat would throw off their economic overlords, and the world would then morph into a new social order – communism.

When Marx’s revolution did not happen, certain followers – Gramsci and others – asserted the oppressive order was more than just economic relations. It was systemic, inured in the culture. So to overcome this hegemonic condition, the entire culture needed to be reconstituted. Eventually these ideas, through academics, gave birth to critical race theory (CRT). We have all heard some of these views. The West is patriarchal so it oppresses women…