Critical race theory

 Attaching labels can be unfortunate. This was my reaction to politicians labeling Democrats as socialists. The same is now how I see the use of the label “critical race theory“. My concern is that labels of complex positions are too often superficial and encourage reactions that are poorly informed.

I believe I have a reasonable understanding of socialism and do not see a government sometimes acting to take on roles for the general good that are unlikely to be taken on by business or industry as socialism. I admit to having a much poorer understanding of critical race theory and wonder if the term means very different things to different people. It could be a slanted view of history, but the history we teach has been slanted as long as the academic subject of history has been taught. This is the thing about history. The history of a nation is a complex mix of many histories and it is far too easy to focus on the history of a specific group or a fantasy that elicits pride rather than expect those who want to understand history to start with the understanding of the complexity of multiple histories. It is potentially dangerous when nonhistorians, especially politicians, want to define what version of history should be prioritized.

I wouldn’t want to be a history teacher having to worry about which facts parents might object to my teaching their kids. Facts are facts.