Victor Ray - On Critical Race Theory - Notes

 At last a succinct and lucid summary of Critical Race Theory.

The author begins with stories about how he grew up in a racially mixed family subject to racist comments. In the book he talks about the importance of "narratives" in CRT---personal accounts from affected people exposing structural racism. The author knows how some white people talk about people of color when they think they're talking privately to another white person whom they know agrees with them.

Colorblind racism is real but can be sometimes hard for a non- sociologist like me to fathom. Surely it is the hardest kind of racism to fully comprehend. People who claim they don't see color or are "colorblind" are making a willful decision to avoid seeing how races used to distribute privilege and peril. P. 47

The author Victor Ray excoriates the "fairytale" version of American history that we like to tell ourselves. On the one side is white supremacy. The Founders, most of whom were slaveholders, were great, but flawed men who declared their independence with the claim that "all men are created equal." Slavery was a necessary evil says Senator Tom Cotton. Necessary for whom is left unsaid. On the other side are the reluctant heroes like Rosa Parks and Dr. King heroically fighting for justice and eventually winning out in our storybook version, solving racism. The moral of this fairytale is obvious: race issues are always improving as we move to a more "perfect union." New rights given to minorities are always permanent. Racism is a thing of the past so there's no need to talk about it anymore. After all, Judge Roberts told us the country has changed as he evicerated the Voting Rights Act. Like all good propaganda, partially true but only partly. Advantage: feel good stuff. Disadvantage: Omitting facts that complete the real history of our country and our current situation.

Key Concepts

Racism is individual but also structural built into the foundations our country

CRT started in the 70's and 80's when the civil rights movement did not deliver the progress it promised.

Whiteness can be seen as property.

Colorblind racism comes from using seemingly neutral racial language but with racist intent. It can be hard to detect, Commonly called "dogwhistles."

The fairytale version of American history.