Looking for Witches
They’re looking for witches.
No, not those witches. But kind of, yes, those witches.
There are some stark comparisons between the current rage against CRT and the historical tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials. For one, the witch trials didn’t kill a single actual witch — because none truly existed. At least, not in the broomstick-riding familiar-having curse-making sense. The witches that they sought in the 1600s, not just in Salem but in the entire western world, were witches of the imagination. And in this regard, the search for non-existent witches continues. But instead of devil-worship (mostly) and instead of sacrificial rituals (mostly), the “witches” are practitioners of Critical Race Theory. What’s that? I’ll get to it, but you don’t have to understand it to be against it — and very few who decry CRT, as its called, truly do understand what it means.
For this part of the conversation, all you have to understand is that Critical Race Theory is maligned by the far right. So what? What does that matter? In normal times, denigrating CRT would only be one more thing that one political party says about another in order to maintain a political edge. It’s become more than that, however. Read this excerpt from Trump’s speech:
“Getting critical race theory out of our schools is not just a matter of values — it’s also a matter of national survival. We have no choice. The fate of any nation ultimately depends upon the willingness of its citizens to lay down — and they must do this — to lay down their very lives to defend their country. If we allow the Marxists and Communists and Socialists to teach our children to hate America there will be no one left to defend our flag to protect our great country and its freedom.” — Donald J. Trump, 2022
Defying CRT is a matter of survival for which citizens must be willing to lay down their lives. Does this sound like a normal talking point to you? To me neither. Also, everyone on the left wants to push CRT onto children, according to this conservative reporter:
“Ungodly people elected to government positions bring false and destructive doctrines into our government and society. One of the worst destructive doctrines is Critical Race Theory (CRT) falsely claiming all whites are racist and therefore oppressive. White oppression is labeled “White Supremacy.” - William Strong, The Courier Express, 2021
It’s worth noting that everything he says about CRT is completely wrong. You’ll see what I mean more clearly when I get around to explaining. In short, this person is cleverly doing multiple things at once with double/triple speech. First, he’s suggesting that anyone who is even tolerant of CRT is ungodly. Second, he’s misinforming people about the contents of CRT. And finally, and most dangerously, he’s trying to bring white supremacy mainstream. This isn’t the only example of trying to bring white supremacy mainstream — this is a wider talking point. White supremacy is becoming so ingrained in some political systems that a DeSantis bill explicitly calls out African American instruction and brings it under his control to ensure that CRT isn’t being taught, a racist act in itself. Read the other bill (https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/7/BillText/er/PDF), submitted while everyone was upset about the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
State governments across the United States are passing similar measures, using CRT as a catalyst to take control. They’re hiding behind the mantra of ‘individual freedoms’ all the while stripping such freedoms away. But that’s not the worst of it.
The worst part is what happens after you successfully label an entire class of people, people who are proponents of CRT, as undesirables. Already educators are being fired for teaching CRT, even though there’s no consensus among opponents as to what CRT even is. In this, CRT shares the dubious distinction of being witchcraft — something poorly understood yet still scary enough to ruin people’s lives — and eventually kill over. Infanticide, theft, unruly behavior, and unusual sicknesses were often sufficient reasons to make an accusation of witchcraft. Marxism, socialism, and communism are all being rolled under the CRT umbrella:
“Critical race theory is the latest excuse for those who desire omnipotent government control of society. They used to rely on Marx’s ideas about class exploitation, and now they’ve chosen to rely on CRT, which substitutes race for class. Leftists are pushing its toxic ideas in education at all levels.” - George Leef, The National Review, 2022
Then there’s the “we’re teaching that black people are superior to whites” concept:
“They’re teaching that some races are morally superior to others. That some are inherently sinful and some are inherently saintly. And that’s immoral to teach that because it’s wrong.” — Tucker Carlson, Fox, 2021
Both of these individuals have no understanding of what Critical Race Theory is (or more accurately, pretend not to), but that does nothing to deter them from maligning an entire group of people on the national stage.
At this point, you’re probably still wondering about what CRT even is. It’s fundamentally very simple: teaching about the impacts of racism on American society from the perspective of the systems and processes created in its wake and examining how those systems persist inequality today. That’s all.
So those places that are successful in banning CRT under the guise of some made-up content for it are really banning the teaching of the impacts of racism on American society. Americans don’t want to ban the topic of racism, but as with many other things, it’s being mischaracterized by the right and weaponized to prevent thorough conversation and analysis. People’s lives are being destroyed and an entire generation may be deprived of learning about the widespread impacts of racism due to this persistent malignancy.
The witch hunts have already begun. It will get worse. That’s a guarantee, because in the past when using hate to mobilize the masses, we’ve seen time and time again as things spiral out of control. We saw glimpses when Trump tried to walk back to his anti-vaccine position. We saw glimpses in the truck parade that claimed to be about masks but was really about race, no doubt mobilized by the concept of CRT that they didn’t understand.
They’re looking for witches.
And before they’re done, they will find some.
Then the “burnings” really get rolling. When we see that happen, will we recognize it for what it is, or will we celebrate under the banner of ‘personal freedom’ as our rights get siphoned away and speech is stifled under the rising threat of violence?
I guess that’s up to us, isn’t it?
