Opinion: Republicans are afraid of history
Opinion: Republicans are afraid of history
Churchgoers at a prayer-wall dedication event at Vernon A.M.E Church in Tulsa on May 31. (Christian Monterrosa/Bloomberg)
Opinion by Jennifer Rubin Columnist
June 15, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. EDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/15/republicans-attempt-vilify-accurate-history/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wp_opinions&utm_source=twitter&utm_source=reddit.com
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Why has “critical race theory,” an obscure academic term of uncertain meaning (especially to those who vilify it), risen as a top target in the GOP’s culture wars? It is not new, nor is it controversial.
Education Week explains: “The core idea is that racism is a social construct, and that it is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.” Think of the War on Drugs or the disparate sentencing guidelines between crimes involving crack and powder cocaine. These were not the result of one racist legislator; they are the legacy of mass incarceration that disproportionately harmed Black men and wreaked havoc on Black communities. Whether it is redlining or environmental discrimination (e.g., putting polluting factories in Black neighborhoods), critical race theory recognizes that race reverberates through decades, insinuating itself into seemingly neutral institutions.
So what’s the problem? There isn’t one. But somewhere between the New York Times’s 1619 Project and the MAGA addiction to race-baiting, critical race theory became code for anti-White racism or even anti-Americanism. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) bizarrely tweeted last week that it was “Marxist inspired.”
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Robert P. Jones, chief executive of the Public Religion Research Institute and author of “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity,” explains, “White Christian opposition to ‘critical race theory’ is an attempt to protect a counterfactual myth of white innocence.” The Southern Baptist Convention, an evangelical denomination at the heart of MAGA support, went so far as to declare last year that critical race theory was “incompatible” with the denomination’s faith. This is simply one more instance of religious conservatives attempting to deny the role evangelical churches played in institutionalizing racism — the same thing an accurate telling of history unmasks.
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