Critical Race Theory and Racism PDF

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Running Head: CRITICAL RACE THEORY AND RACISM

Critical Race Theory and Racial Discrimination Name Institution Affiliation

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Critical Race Theory and Racial Discrimination Cases regarding racial discrimination in the United States have a long history and date as back as the 1944’s case of Korematsu v. US regarding a Japanese-American convict, to the almost recent Grutter v. Bolinger case in 2003 about racial discrimination during school admissions. Practices within racism behavior try to bring the notion that a given group of people can be split into two; that is the inferior race and the superior race, and this has caused devastating effects on many countries’ well being leave alone consequences at an individual level. Countries plagued by racism tend to have a slower development as compared to other countries since all their citizens are not actively involved in nation building. A group of the population tends to enjoy more opportunities as compared to the other when it comes to education and also employment opportunities. As some critics claim, racism that has escalated to such level is likely to survive through the generations resulting to unending conflicts and even warfare (Richard 1902). Racism is said to have existed even before the word itself was invented and has thus been in different forms throughout the ages therefore earning different definitions depending on the time and place in history (Garner 2009). It has firstly defined based on; the discriminatory practices of racism, the feeling of superiority exhibited by a given group of people and lastly based power relationships by the groups. Many countries have by now passed laws that guarantee equal rights and freedom to all their citizens regardless of their color, religion or either sex. Surprisingly, racism remains ignored by some governments and this is perceived as a violation of human rights by the United Nations. Racism studies have enabled scholars unearth ways in which racism has managed to still survive in governments that claim to have passed laws regarding the same. These ways have

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caused some groups of people who might be from a given region, of a given color or tribe fail to enjoy their rights fully as citizens ranging from education systems, marriages, use of public facilities and even voting activities. Some legislators face threats when they appear to contradict with discriminatory laws and thus most choose to be ignorant thus causing strain to the citizens (Lugo, 2014). Racism studies also help reveal how different religions relate with racism and the extent of their perception on the general public. Studies show that a large group of citizens are not aware that they are victims of modern racism and that it originates from the general state of mind of the population. When a given group views the other group as unworthy, it causes conflicts when it comes to distribution of national resources. Understanding the main cause of modern racism has enabled appreciate bilingual education as a means of cultivating cultural awareness and curbing racial crisis in the country. Young learners in the classroom are equipped so as to have a transformed future generation and a population that acknowledges diversity in the society (Jenna, 2011). However, there are other strategies in place such as tolerance although many critics see its inclusion as ambiguous in some way claiming that it only helps in a society that has a negative belief towards different races. Many individuals have tried to establish ideological myths on race issues (Alladin, 1995) as some try to create negative notions that as some claim, can possibly reinforce beliefs on racial inferiority and superiority (Rushton, 1994). The media on the other hand has also been criticized for getting involved in activities that support racism. It is noted that more than 50 years ago Kerner commission claimed that the media had caused the unrest that resulted to the death of almost 80 Americans. The media houses were said to be having few black employees than the white employees and also exaggerating news relating to African Americans. Despite the report, the firms are still marred by racial disparities and many critics claim that African Americans are

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still victims of fake news and manipulation by the media houses. Also, media houses have been criticized for broadcasting news by powerful political figures despite their negative racism stand. The firms are also claimed to make enormous sales from advertisements that in some way support racism and hate crime (Katie &Amanda, 2008). Newspapers have in most of the times been also criticized for using the black color when illustrating evil in the society. This has made the African American citizens be associated with the undesirable vices in the society such as drug dealings and violent crimes thus in one way contributing to racism. In addition, news from some regions in the country have been in the recent years been painted negatively to create implications of adverse poverty and low life standards thus creating more racism attitudes. In 1994, the times review is said to have expressed the rich in the society as intelligent and smart and thus creating an impression that the ‘poor’ were the unintelligent group. However, the media appears to establish that racism is a thing of the past by condemning racism activities that occurred in the past and terming the modern society as ‘digital’. The media houses have been promoting films that condemn colonization and incidents such as the bombing of Hiroshima. The fight for racism decency in social media thus remains a big challenge in the future and thus would need the cooperation of all stakeholders to have a successful fight against racism injustice. The critical race theory emerged in the 1980s from the law schools through the efforts of some scholars and focuses on the struggles between racial power and the influence from the law. The theory spread gradually and by 2001, there were some law schools having the theory incorporated in their course. The theory mostly criticized white supremacy despite there being advocacy for equality by the law. The theory looks more into the current power structure and

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trying to establish that the system is projected towards supremacy of the white and thus marginalizing the other people. The theory narrates that the law is someone inheriting traditional stances on matters regarding racism. It also shares on how the modern society can be freed from racism through proper means. The body was meant for legal theory and carrying out research to learn about human attitude and how social activities are vital to racial categorization. The body moreover studies on the changes of the society’s perspective towards a given group of individuals and how those perspectives influence their lives. Critical Race Theory does not however use color blindness in studying how the racial segregation influences the community at large. The theory also focuses how daily activities influence the manifestation of racism on individual lives, family and the society at large. There are several tenets that articulate the establishment of the theory and include; race being more social than biological construct, the notation that race discrimination works for the advantage of the fortunate in the society, that the theory poses a challenge for meritocracy and also color blindness and lastly creating awareness on how to combat racial discrimination. The theory has had influence in many areas such education and thus its knowledge concerning race discrimination is highly valuable for further studies. The theory illustrates oppression experiences by use of different family histories, narratives, storytelling and use of biographies (Yosso & Solorzano, 2007) Critical race theory has many themes that have been developed such as the liberalism critique, storytelling theme, interpretations by the revisionists about civil laws, intersections theory, essentialism theory, white privilege and the empathetic fallacy. Documents by authors such as Karen Phyke internalized that racism is caused by inequality feelings whereas the ones

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by Camara Jones establishes that institutionalized racism as the practices that influenced the flow of goods. Thus the theory brings into attention how scholars have struggled to improve the studies regarding the same matter by blending legal studies and the radical feminism. The theory also looks into the perception of the law in actualizing equality in the society and the notion that most whites are racists (Hayes, 2013). The Critical Race Theory strongly condemns colorblind meritocracy and calls for color consciousness. The theory wishes to expound on the American action policies by encouraging on unity and equality. It calls for a change in power and wealth sharing policies between the communities. It also champions for equal treatment of the law regardless of the wealthy status, color and sex and getting rid of the privileges that have always accrued to some few individuals in the society. Critical Race Theorists have always being against liberal laws since they claim that they tend to cause division among people thus causing no good to the general public. While many acknowledge that facts about the theory have been misinterpreted ( Warmington, 2011), it is true to say that racism remains a major concern for the minority in the society. And thus, there is a great need to understand; how racism erupts, gets cultivated, the assumptions and myths that surround the racists and some factors influencing racism such as gender, disability and also class. There are also some factors to consider such as the environmental setting and the experiences a given scholar goes through before making any presentation on the issue of racism. Some scholars share only their own experiences which are not adequate to make any conclusion regarding any subject matter (Zeus, 2011). Most theories however reject the idea of a natural existence of race but rather claim people are assigned their race by the society. Thus the Critical Race Theory examines the social,

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economic or political systems used to group people into different races. Thus the theory establishes that some acts are intentional where as some are unconsciously practiced. The theory tries to dismantle privileges accrued to the little few individuals by creating equality among all members of the society by first getting rid of most false assumptions concerning some groups of individuals. This ensures that assumptions based on race cannot be used to establish the identities of individuals. Since the critical race theory is a movement that was initiated after incidences of hate speech in colleges, the theorists keep on measures to avoid injuries that may also result from the same. Since racism still threatens to take many concealed forms in the future, there are measures to create awareness to the students by enhancing studies incorporated in the course. Many students have undergone through some negative experiences relating to race, sexuality and economic factors. Critical Race Theory enables its students to apply social justice in the society. However, all students don’t go through similar experiences in race and racism whilst schooling and thus the theorists need to magnify their approach towards these factors (Yosso, Parker et al 2005) and ensure that two students of distinct experiences derive a common perspective. Critical Race Theory offers a new paradigm on the reasons behind disparities in the society and concerning other issues influencing the living standards of individuals in the society thus it has being included in many researches by different disciplines. It enables scholars to change hierarchies that come across them during study and practice the theories learned. The theory has enabled the society to understand the differences between racism and color blindness and effects that come along with inequalities resulting from racism. Also the society can easily understand the gradual change in structural racism. the society gets to understand the level of racism ranging from little experiences such being followed when going to the shop to being

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denied a job opportunity because you are of a given race. Also the members of the society get to learn to knowingly ignore small instances of racism. Initially, racism had been perceived to be permanent but through the ignorance of systematic racism by scholars, diversity measures have become possible. Also the notion of whiteness as property, that is, only the white can own property has with time been weakened. All members of the society have a right to enjoy themselves, dispose or use anything with their possession (Decuir & Dickson, 2004). The theory has also enabled create a decentralized academic affairs since the education faculties now contains different professors from different races. This helps in creating a curriculum that benefits all students from all races and thus the education system has become diverse and accommodative to all students (Patton et al). Another tenet of the Critical Race Theory is about liberalism criticism that stresses on the equality of opportunities to all members of the society. The society no longer lies in the shadows of color blindness that had been caused by inadequate inclusivity in the education curriculum. The policies therefore had initially caused ignorance to racist policies. The theory is now working in including studying programs from other countries so to enable the American society to appreciate its diversity more. However, some aspects such as gender focus on race are still underway to ensure their full inclusion into the curriculum. There has been complains that The Critical Race Theory only stresses on two tenets, that is, racism permanence and counter storytelling. The two are very vital in unveiling white supremacy but the others tenets also give more insight to the objects of the theory (Decuir & Dickson, 2010). The roots of racism in many disciplines get shallower when all stakeholders starting from faculties to institutional administrators become aware of it and work towards unearthing the problems. The tenets of the theory address different areas but they are

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interestingly connected in ensuring that there is race equality. Also the faculties should be keen when dividing the Critical Race Theory education between the lower and the higher students. In addition, all students from all areas of life should be accessible to similar curriculum. The concern to create gender equality should be worked upon collaboratively by all members of the society and thus it will not be in vain (Ladson, 1998) Since the evolvement of the Critical Race Theory, members of the society have been able to challenge beliefs such as the use of color blindness to curb racism, the notion that racism is a personal level issue and the belief that a person can defeat racism without considering other forms of injustices such as sexism (Valdes, Culp & Harris, 2002). The theory has also helped establish the relationship between gender and racism by applying the concept of intersectionality and how the oppressed are perceived in the society (Crenshaw, 1991). Women have experienced progressive development in their involvement in community activities despite being marginalized and even stigmatized in the past. There have initiatives to encourage the oppressed to share their grievances so as to help come up with strategies to solve the problems. The theory has also helped marginalized women realize how they could have impact on their own development through little assistance. The theory itself has helped establish how affected individuals find it hard to interact with practitioners due to their perception on the racial issues. The Critical Race theory has helped educators with means to change major practices in the curriculum such as color blindness and enable incorporation of more experiential knowledge. The CRT has achieved student empowerment by ensuring that the learning process is engaging. The theory also has helped in the involvement of the students, parents, the educators and the entire community in establishing social justice in the society. The students are encouraged to use

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the Critical Race Theory in exposing any disparities that may seem to erupt in the society. As the theory also argues, students might also be hindered by institutional racism and thus their progress becomes hampered (Billings, 1998). Thus the theory provides the educators with tools to ensure that the learning process is smooth and resourceful to the students. However, Critical Race Theory has been criticized for over reliance on storytelling and also narration. Most critics argue that the theory in not built on sensible arguments but rather on fictions and thus use stereotypes to reinforce their intended message. Moreover, other critics claim that the theory is intended in undermining the minority groups. Also other issues of study such as sexuality and gender have sprout within the theory and other researches in a bid to comprehend race perception outside the country. The theory has just like other theories ignored some vital roles of the law in the aspects of race. Many institutions have embraced the Critical Race Theory work such as application of affirmative measures in the admission of students; there have complaints that white students miss chances of admission as their places are taken up by black students. However, affirmative admission helps create a diversified student hub in the campuses. The African American students also continue to suffer from other forms of racism and thus educators are advised to be keen to experiential stories from the students. When the students fail to be listened to, they develop frustrations and start suffering from self doubt (McCoy, 2015) The achievement the theory has had in enabling deeper comprehension of racism and other social injustices is by far encouraging. Students are however advised to have a keen examination of how Critical Race Theory works and try to relate themselves with the study before taking any action in campaigning for equality. The institutions are then asked to employ all factors; environmental, financial or infrastructural to fight racism and other social injustices.

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In general, all stakeholders should at least come up with ways to solve racial problems within their premises (Hiraldo, 2010) Racial oppressions are set to make a return in the future in some other forms but the Critical Race Theory should work to ensure that it is able to identify it even in its disguised nature. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France set a monument in 2012 to commemorate the individuals who were victims of slavery in its colonies. Some analysts say that the monument has got great importance inn illustrating the importance of struggling to achieve social justice and recognition. Thus the Critical Race Theory should invest in the future so that the fertile soil of the future is not planted with seeds of race inferiority. Thus the movement should ensure that it works for the present and for the future. However, it is not easy to predict the racial landscape of the country in the next twenty years or more since population is dynamic and thus United States might comprise of a very diverse and complex society then. However, the insights provided by the Critical Race Theory help shed light that the response towards the change will be positive and successful.