On January 7, 2023, 29-year-old African-American Tyre Nichols from Tennessee was brutally beaten to death by a group of five police officers, all of the same race during a traffic stop that has been unanimously deemed unnecessary. As more people became aware of the killing, a national outcry expectedly formed, and the unreasonable level of physical damage inflicted upon the Nichols was condemned nationally. As police brutality allegations flew around, the debate took an interesting turn – towards the idea of race. Liberals on the left sought to rationalize that because of systemic racism and anti-blackness in America, Nichols was treated unfairly on the basis of his skin color (ironically, all 5 police officers were Black). This was in congruence to many other cases of police brutality allegations across America since George Floyd’s killing in 2020.
Tyre Nichols, the alleged victim of a police hate crime
Image Credit: Adrian Sainz / AP
Almost as if this was rehearsed, the political right collectively jumped to denounce the protests as unjustified, as was the case in almost all of such examples. Simply in George Floyd’s case alone, the right sought to defend the police officers who knelt on Floyd’s neck with the idea that Floyd resisted arrest in his panic, and that Floyd was allegedly already lethally intoxicated with drugs. The same stance was seen in Breonna Taylor’s, Ahmaud Arbery’s, Daunte Wright’s, killings, just to name a few.
However, this time round, the right did not proceed with that stance of reaction. Perhaps because there was no defense of the police officers possible. In conservative talk show host Matt Walsh’s words himself, the killing seemed “personal”. Therefore, interestingly, instead of picking defense, it went on offense, and claimed that the left has exemplified the baseless proliferation of critical race theory.
This got many thinking: now, what exactly is critical race theory? This term has floated about the political sphere for quite some time now, having been at the center of discussion during the 2021 Youngkin gubernatorial elections in Virginia, during which the Republican candidate, Glenn Youngkin, won a comeback victory by running on an anti-CRT agenda.
Republican Virginia Governor Youngkin won his election by running on an anti-CRT agenda that largely appealed to concerned parents.
Image Credit: Andrew Caballero / AFP
The beginnings of said theory could be traced back to not political, but legal roots. Originally written about by law professor Derrick Albert Bell Jr. in the Yale Law Journal in 1976 and Harvard Law Review in 1980, this ideology pointed out society’s general prioritization of White interests and perspectives over minority races. Bell’s arguments were largely specific to the desegregation process of schools in America, where racial dynamics were explored and acted upon at length. Firstly, part of the desegregation could have been motivated by litigators’ intentions of a “breakthroughs” in “pursuit of racial balance in schools”, for self-serving interests of social recognition and honor, that essentially made improvements in standards of living of racial minorities a by-product of the self-acclaimed attempt to combat racism. Secondly, the propensity of White parents then to pull their children out of these desegregated schools out of concern for academic standards could be shown to reflect a distaste for racial minorities as a result of stereotypical beliefs and an inherent condescension for them. The irony was further apparent when the disparity in educational status could arguably have been propagated by the whites themselves, through the segregated schools of poorer quality by design, for blacks. Finally, the concept of reverse discrimination. As the desegregation may have been seen to have reduced the academic rigor of content taught in these schools, some white parents saw it as a form of inequality against whites, which was the race said to have been “disadvantaged” by the desegregation. Bell opined that there may not be any individual White citizens that could potentially have been disadvantaged by the reparations against systemic racism – leading to the cause that the imposition of such would then be deemed as “reverse racism”.
As encapsulated by the initial practices of Critical Race Theory, said ideology simply denotes an analytical scrutiny of legislative racial dynamics within society. Admittedly, due to the historically strong white majority in America, the Theory has always made African-Americans the “oppressed” race, while white Americans would, then, be seen as the privileged. While exceptions may occur, Critical Race Theory has hence now been seen by the layperson as simply the recognition of white oppression against blacks. And that over-simplification has quite possibly sparked such controversy across America.
On the most surface level, the pedagogy of Critical Race Theory in K-12 schools has been nothing short of complicated. Two root problems arise: the question of the students’ maturity, and the politicization of the issue by Republicans.
When attempting to educate children about the legal assertion made by a Harvard law professor, the concepts must be adequately simplified such that they are sufficiently understandable. But on that front, the nuances and perspectives must still not be lost, for inaccurate pedagogy may be even more dangerous given the high sensitivity of the topic.
But that’s precisely what happened. The children failed to grasp the difference between CRT being the practise of a critical review of racial dynamics in America, wherein whites happen to be the majority and hence benefit, and the fact that blacks are systematically oppressed in America.
And when the analytical process and the observation in modern America that comes out of it is conflated, the children’s takeaways are also conflated. It was said that the students learnt that socio-economic disparities between the races are fundamentally the result of racism, and in America’s oppressive social system, Whites are the privileged beneficiaries, while Blacks are discriminated against. In more extreme cases, White children were told they had a responsibility to make racial reparations.
And as French philosopher Louis Althusser lays out, through direct recognition being proffered and accepted, especially through repeated interactions, one will come to accept and internalize the social relations and norms being propagated. In this case, if black children are made to repeatedly acknowledge their oppression, and if white children are made to repeatedly acknowledge their racial advantage, then they will feel that way. The inter-racial dynamics in the classroom thereafter may be unhealthily tense, all because of the misconstrued way Critical Race Theory was taught.
At the end of the day, the legal complexity of CRT may simply be too complicated for it to be a suitable topic in the K-12 curriculum, no matter the intentions.
Another flaw in the way Critical Race Theory is presented is society’s failure to linguistically portray and apply it in an accurate and sensitive way. In essence, CRT derives that American society unduly oppresses racial minorities, with reasonable substantiation with ideas about police bias, whereby the probability of a white driver getting pulled over is half that of a black driver. Non-whites are also about 2.5 times as likely to be killed by police than whites. However, it is perhaps due to the linguistic imprecision of those in the news, as well as the secondhand accounting of opinions through social media, that people confuse “anti-blackness” with “white supremacy”. While CRT does not directly lead to conclusions of anti-blackness, it does not just stop at African-Americans. However, perhaps due to the high amount of hedging and qualifying needed to accurately portray CRT and to include the element of discrimination against non-majority races as a whole, some simply use the term “white supremacy”.
While to the layperson, there seems to be no difference, such misguided terminology effectively demonizes the White race in America. It directly name-drops Whites as the oppressors, rather than societal structures in general, decided upon and accepted by all members of society. Resultantly, it may be understandable that many Whites have an unfavorable impression of CRT – when they are unduly demonized by the misguided portrayal of what would have been an intellectually valid conversation of racial dynamics in America.
Society today tends to conflate anti-blackness with white supremacy, drawing the ire of many.
Image Credit: New York Times
Finally, it is the way Critical Race Theory is argued in today’s world. When Professor Bell first introduced CRT in 1976, he was analyzing the Brown v. Board of Education case which happened in the 1950s. By extension, the observation of essentialism in CRT was also only explored after Cornell researcher Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” post-1990. The point is, observations of societal trends have always been done reflectively, whereby the analysis comes comfortably after the event has comprehensively unfolded.
However, in modern society, CRT is often brought up as a first reaction, and in some cases, a prediction, to events unfolding. For example, in Tyre Nichols’ case. As of time of writing, few details regarding the police officers’ intent and relationship with Nichols is made public. However, most in the political commentary sphere have already jumped fully onto the bandwagon, and a legitimate discussion has already been sparked, not only on whether race was at stake, but on how to solve systemic racism. Perhaps due to the high relevance of the topic, those who follow the political discussion on race may have developed a confirmation bias that is displayed in their opinions to the Tyre Nichols case.
There are many other factors that could have contributed to Nichols’ arrest, as well as eventual killing. Yes, Nichols’ identity as a black person may have contributed, and possibly, a testament proving CRT and police bias. But such haste in reaching conclusions has its dangers to social cohesion, especially when sensitive macro themes of race relations are at play.
Critical Race Theory is definitely an interesting, intellectually stimulating and potentially impactful school of thought that should be ventured into. Where we should re-evaluate, however, lies in the 5W1Hs. Should K-12 students really be led into the CRT discourse? How should this area of analysis be presented to the public in a way that does not racially divide society? What can be done to actionably recognize and rectify the systemic racial imbalances that CRT might derive?
Tyre Nichols should not have been treated by the police the way he was treated. But we should also not rush to the conclusion that an anti-black police bias caused it. Let’s wait for more information to be released before we make judgements about the incident, out of respect – respect for Nichols’ family, respect for the police officers, and respect for social cohesion.
References
Brown, D. N. L. (2021, May 4). Violent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor reflect a brutal American legacy. History. Retrieved February 3, 2023, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/history-of-lynching-violent-deaths-reflect-brutal-american-legacy
Chughtai, A. (2021, July 7). Know their names: Black people killed by the police in the US. Al Jazeera Interactives. Retrieved February 3, 2023, from https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2020/know-their-names/index.html
Cobb, J. (2023, January 31). The killing of Tyre Nichols and the issue of Race. The New Yorker. Retrieved February 3, 2023, from https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-killing-of-tyre-nichols-and-the-issue-of-race
Delgado, R. (1998, December 1). Academic.oup.com. Retrieved February 3, 2023, from https://academic.oup.com/clp/article-abstract/51/1/467/366105?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false
Goldberg, Z., & Kaufmann, E. (2022, October 20). Yes, critical race theory is being taught in schools. City Journal. Retrieved February 3, 2023, from https://www.city-journal.org/yes-critical-race-theory-is-being-taught-in-schools
Jackson, L. M. (2021, July 27). The void that critical race theory was created to fill. The New Yorker. Retrieved February 3, 2023, from https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-void-that-critical-race-theory-was-created-to-fill
Jones, V. (2023, January 28). Opinion: The police who killed Tyre Nichols were black. but they might still have been driven by racism. CNN. Retrieved February 3, 2023, from https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/27/opinions/tyre-nichols-memphis-police-department-jones/index.html
Kaplan, E. A. (2023, January 30). Op-ed: What finally sunk me on the memphis videos? Five black officers' embrace of racist depravity. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 3, 2023, from https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-01-30/tyre-nichols-memphis-black-officers-internalized-racism
Reality Check. (2021, April 21). George Floyd: How are African-Americans treated under the law? BBC News. Retrieved February 3, 2023, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52877678
Sawchuk, S. (2023, January 6). What is critical race theory, and why is it under attack? Education Week. Retrieved February 3, 2023, from https://www.edweek.org/leadership/what-is-critical-race-theory-and-why-is-it-under-attack/2021/05
Walsh, M. (2023, January 30). Black Cops beat black man. media blames white supremacy. | EP. 1103. YouTube. Retrieved February 3, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE6lIQRWdyA
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