Rewriting History!

On the way to town today, I saw a bumper sticker that said "Stop CRT!".

What does that mean?

CRT stands for Critical Race Theory. A theory is a supposition or proposed system of ideas that attempts to explain something. The "something" that is attempted to be explained by this theory is partly the social construct of race. It is the term "race" as a social construct. It is a term that homo sapiens use in communications to explain or identify characteristics or origins of a group. It divides the human "race" into groups based on externals, characteristics, social customs, or origins.

Our understanding of CRT is clouded by the mental gymnastics we go through when we hear words like "critical" and "race", then fail to take into consideration that "theory" is an attempt to explain something. The "something" that is facing explanation here is also history. Ah! Here is the rub! Many fear history! or don't KNOW it.

A country's history is made up of generally accepted stories about its events, actions and shared experiences. Disrupting and questioning are, rightly or wrongly, often rewriting these national stories. The rewriting of these stories may threaten those whose self image and economic existence is dependent on the nationally accepted, but flawed, stories being true and verifiable.

We still call these national stories "history". History stories that are shared nationally are often disseminated in schools. Not only are the stories under attack and being reconsidered, but the system of disseminating history is under attack. The real complication of adjusting history to reflect a rainbow-hued past is that history often colors institutions. If stories themselves are faulty or incomplete, resulting institutions which are formed and supported by these stories could be equally faulty and incomplete.

Back to the bumper sticker! "Stop CRT!" How? Stop a theory? By rewriting history, perhaps more correctly? Correct by whose definition? By keeping current stories incomplete or faulty? Avoiding history? Revisionist history tells an even more incomplete story, and may not reflect actual history at all. We already see that incomplete and faulty stories lead to incomplete and faulty institutions. Is that the goal? Does that "Stop CRT"? Actually, rewriting history somehow supports the theory itself. Thinking that the fear of "race" and the absence of "critical" thinking will change history, is fuzzy thinking, at best.

One cannot eliminate history. It exists. It happened. Fear of history that is not rose-colored does not change the reality of the actual color of history. Similarly, stopping CRT by changing how stories are taught and shared creates an even greater problem. Miss-telling history damages its impact on the future. This is the whole point. This is what contributed to the flawed stories and institutions in the first place! There is an old saying about how "the student who fails to learn the lessons of history is doomed to repeat them." We can learn from our mistakes, individually, nationally, globally.

Changing by rewriting or misinterpreting history, benefits no one. Again, that is the point! Change is always fear inducing, Nothing is as constant as change. Becoming too comfortable with flawed historical stories only contributes to flawed lessons learned and resulting flawed institutions. Failing to learn the lessons of history by eliminating truth does not change history, it only contributes to living in a bubble of lies.

Rather than "Stop CRT" the more productive slogan might be "Embrace History". History is. The historical stories that are shared in our culture should be true and embraced for the lessons that they teach us. Embracing truth and sharing the lessons of history can only lead to stronger, more vibrant stories for us all, and more importantly, to lessons learned. And who doesn't want that?

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Comments: Please make them!

Send them to me directly at karenmac1999@hotmail.com