Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr. destroys Christopher Rufo, Critical Race Theory alarmist, on Morning Joe, and it was a sight to see. The difference between a demagogue spewing lies and talking points over intellect was palpable.
Eddie Glaude schools Critical Race Theory on Morning Joe
This was a necessary substantive discussion not specifically on Critical Race Theory (CRT) but on how it is being used to create dissension. Joe Scarborough gave the floor to Christopher Rufo first. He was in his usual hyperbolic scare-white-people mode.
“This is one of the biggest kinds of misconceptions,” said Christopher Rufo. “You can teach about slavery, discrimination, and racism without using critical race theory. Critical race theory in simple terms as an academic discipline that holds that the United States was founded on racism, white supremacy, and patriarchy and that those forces are still at the root of our society today. Critically, Critical Race Theory reformulates the old Marxist dichotomy of oppressor and oppressed. But it replaces the class categories of bourgeoisie and proletariat with the racial categories of white and black. And if you look at the academic literature, the Critical Race Theorists aren’t merely saying we should examine the history of racial inequality or racial injustice. They’re saying things that are much deeper. They call in to question the 14th amendment, equal protection under the law. They call into question the first amendment right to free speech. They oppose capitalism and believe that a system of collectivism must be implemented in order to improve society. It’s not a benign philosophy about teaching racism. It’s a radical philosophy that’s rooted in Marxism and is frankly inappropriate as a pedagogical framework for teaching children.”
He actually used the word benign and the teaching of racism in the same sentence. And he wants to rewrite America’s foundational history. Later he would say that CRT attempts to make white children ashamed of who they are, a far cry from the truth.
Dr. Eddie Glaude placed CRT into context and then made a prescient statement.
“This attempt to think about the US in a very, very complex and nuanced way,” Dr. Eddi Glaude said. “And I think it’s really important that your opening question actually reveals something for Christopher. And if I could call you by your first name, you know you’ve already stated very explicitly that this is not about the substance of Critical Race Theory. This is about branding. You tweeted it. Right? So this is an empty signifier to capture all of these things that so-called “are unpopular for Americans.” And so part of what I want to suggest. Joe. It’s not about whether or not we actually get critical race theory right. That’s not actually the point that Christopher and his allies are actually engaged in. What we need to be asking is why are they doing this at this point? Why are they making these arguments at this moment?”
Christopher Rufu on branding CRT
The clip in this post goes into much more detail and worth a complete watch.
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“If one really wishes to know how justice is administered in a country, one does not question the policemen, the lawyers, the judges, or the protected members of the middle class. One goes to the unprotected—those, precisely, who need the law’s protection the most!—and listens to their testimony. Ask any Mexican, any Puerto Rican, any black man, any poor person—ask the wretched how they fare in the halls of justice, and then you will know, not whether or not the country is just, but whether or not it has any love for justice, or any concept of it. It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.”
Glaude Jr., Eddie S. . Begin Again (pp. 178-179). Crown. Kindle Edition. quoting from James Baldwin’s No Name In The Street
The same people who have their hair on fire over critical race theory, also burn because of such terms as systemic racism and white privilege. It is not a coincidence that they are also the same people who want to rewrite history and control what is taught in our classrooms. They are the same people who think they know what is best for ‘those people.’
The white concept of justice is that justice is a white concept. Beyond the white community, justice will be administered as white people see fit. They/we live in a world of white privilege and either by ignorance or design avoid facing ourselves. We hide behind this false concept while we deny it exists. I say “we” but I know this does not pertain to all white people but to those who have that slaveowner mentality, who happen to be in charge and make plans and write laws to ensure they stay in power.
“If we—and now I mean the relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of the others—do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world. If we do not now dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the Bible in song by a slave, is upon us: God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!”
Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time (Vintage International) . Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.”
I keep this line from ‘No Name’ handy because of it’s durable quality and prescient truth. Truth is the most ferocious enemy of religious capitalist authoritarian bigotry. White people have a problem. They are the problem. They cannot pay attention until there is a march in the street, glass breaking, and smoke in the air. Then they blame the oppressed. “What more do those people want?”
Lord, History is weary
of her unspeakable liaison with Time,
for Time and History
have never seen eye to eye:
Time laughs at History
and time and time and time again
Time traps History in a lie.
James Baldwin
Glaude Jr., Eddie S. . Begin Again (p. 152). Crown. Kindle Edition.