Post-2020 Critiques of "Critical Race Theory"

• Pages: 89-99
• Author: Khiara M. Bridges

89

Chapter 4

POST-2020 CRITIQUES OF “CRITICAL

RACE THEORY”

In 2020, something strange happened to Critical Race Theory: It

became a household name. Most accounts of CRT’s newfound fame/

infamy begin with an appearance by conservative activist

Christopher Rufo on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News in the last

few months before the November 2020 presidential election.

1

During

that appearance, Rufo reported that several executive agencies were

engaging in employee trainings on CRT. It seems unlikely that the

trainings to which Rufo referred exposed participants to actual CRT;

that is, it is unlikely that those trainings explored the law’s role in

producing, protecting, and naturalizing racial inequality, as such

training would be completely irrelevant to the job that most federal

employees have been hired to do. Nevertheless, Rufo, having

identified the subject of the trainings as CRT, declared “a one-man

war against [CRT] in the federal government,” assuring Carlson’s

audience that he was going to continue investigating the trainings

“until we can abolish [CRT] within our public institutions.”

2

Apparently, someone from the Trump administration was watching.

After Rufo’s appearance, the White House Chief of Staff reportedly

reached out to Rufo, asking for his help in putting together an

executive order that would prohibit these “problematic” trainings.

3

On September 4, 2020, the Trump administration issued a

memorandum directing all federal agencies to “begin to identify all

contracts or other agency spending related to any training on ‘critical

race theory,’ ‘white privilege,’ or any other training or propaganda

effort that teaches or suggests either (1) that the United States is an

inherently racist or evil country or (2) that any race or ethnicity is

inherently racist or evil.”

4

The memo went on to contend that “[t]he

divisive, false, and demeaning propaganda of the critical race theory

movement is contrary to all we stand for as Americans and should

1

See, e.g., Fabiola Cineas, Critical Race Theory, and Trump’s War on It,

Explained, VOX (Sept. 24, 2020, 2:20 PM), https://www.vox.com/2020/9/24/21451220/

critical-race-theory-diversitytraining-trump [https://perma.cc/6DYY-BEHD].

2

Id.

3

See Michelle Goldberg, The Campaign to C ancel Wokeness: How the Right Is

Trying to Censor Critical Race Theory, N.Y. TIMES (Feb. 26, 2021), https://www.

nytimes.com/2021/02/26/opinion/speech-racism-academia.html [https://perma.cc/

3856-XBDQ].

4

M emorandum from Russell Vought, Dir., Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Off. of

the President, to the Heads of Exec. Dep’ts & Agencies (Sept. 4, 2020) [https://perma.

cc/L2SD-79EV].