Critical Race Theory (Third Edition): An Introduction (Critical America Book 20)

I read this book to learn more about Critical Race Theory. In the process of this endeavor, I continually ran into truth claims void of evidence, false presuppositions, racial stereotyping and straw man arguments. The book did help me understand Critical Race Theory better than I had previously understood it. It also revealed to me that the entire theory is build upon a house of cards whose foundation is sand. It’s presuppositions concerning “whiteness” and the assumed collective motivations of the white race toward colonialism and the obtaining and holding of power over other races are on the par of conspiracy theories. It not only explains CRT from a legal profession standpoint, it holds an implicit bias in support of it. The typical presuppositions are promoted including the concepts of oppressed and oppressor being race based. Other false presuppositions include theories concerning implicit racism in law enforcement, the implicit racism of nation states enforcing national boundaries, inequity in education based on racial divide and the free enterprise system in international free trade being implicitly racist. If you can stomach the implicit bias in this book, you might be able to gain some insight into the mindset of a CRT advocate by reading it. In that since I recommend it. However, I do not recommend serious consideration of its conspiracy theory tendencies.

This is why Americas cities are burning, this is racism masked in anti-racism. Same old song different color. Academia should be ashamed of itself and the African-American community just accepted the bigotry of low expectations. Well done.

We are using this book in an important class in my Social Work School. I'm reviewing it here to counteract the uninformed and childish attacks on it in the previous review. Its absurd to judge a book as a failure or useless to the reader on the basis of such bizarre categories as "marxist" or too focused on issues of race. Its a book about race in the US--of course its going to have information, perhaps uncomfortable information for some readers, about racism, racial theory, and history of the US. The willful ignorance of the average angry Trump Voter, the refusal to acknowledge the perspectives of POC or academics and theoreticians of race is not a very useful stance to take on reading anything. Let alone reading a book about race.

The book covers most of the major topics in CRT. It is a good introduction to how they see race issues. I feel it is well written and easy to understand. Having said all that, It is the worst way to look at race . CRT makes the problem of race unsolvable. If you are a White male ,you are racist. If you try to help minorities, You are displaying interest convergence. Which means your only helping because it reinforces your White supremacy in some way. So, the only thing a White person can do is be quite and do what they are told to do by the minority. This is how the book essentially starts and gets worse from there.
If you believe in this I feel bad for you, but If you want to see how crazy this is . I recommend it

If you have never read anything about critical race theory, this book will give you some grounding. It will tell you what critical race theorists believe, but it will not tell you why they believe it or offer any argument as to why you should. Everything the authors state is dogma and any criticisms are mere straw men to be brushed aside. The author makes up parables and then expects you to accept them as true. A large portion of the book is just fiction writing of scenarios the author makes up. If this sounds like an introduction to a religion, it’s because it is. If you think America is a lost cause, irredeemably racist and has barely progressed since slavery ended, you may enjoy your beliefs being reaffirmed.

As for what critical race theory rejects, this sentence from the book is accurate.

“Critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law.”

This book is, without a doubt, one of the most empirically flawed, logically inconsistent, and racist documents I've ever had the displeasure of reading. Despite my low rating, I believe that this book is essential reading for anyone that considers themselves even remotely engaged in american culture or politics. Here's why:

Critical race theory is quickly establishing itself as the most dominant cultural ideology in the country. It is embedded in our schools, companies, local and federal governments, media, entertainment, and modern philosophy. If it isn't impacting you, your children, or your business yet, then it will in the near future. While it disguises itself under many names and euphemisms (equity, inclusion, etc.), it is an ideology that is unapologetically rooted in the assumption that American society is fundamentally racist, that all white and white-adjacent people are complicit in the vicious oppression of minorities, and that our system of rights, capitalism, and equality under the law must be torn down and remade anew. I guess none of this is surprising considering the fact that the authors state in the first few pages that CRT is an objection to rationalism, the constitution, and individual rights. At least they're correct about it being incompatible with rational thought.

Seriously, the things you will read in this book are mindblowing. When you truly understand what CRT is, what its adherents believe, and what their end goals are, you will understand what an unbelievable cancer it is. You have an obligation as an engaged citizen to study this ideology and fight against it.

P.S. - Do yourself a favor and find a way to read this book for free. I feel pretty disgusted that I sent these people my money - don't make that mistake

I wanted to hate this book because I've been through two DEI "training" courses and was appalled at the poisonous ideology that the leaders promulgated. However, I didn't find much of that here.

This book was well-written and the language could not have been any plainer and down-to-earth. The author divides critical theorists into two types: 1) materialists and 2) discourse analysts. It's mostly the latter who dominate the social media sites and guide the DEI training. They're concerned about the language we use (hence obsession with microaggressions) and are quick to cast aspersions towards those who have no right to speak on subjects--only the oppressed can speak, no oppressors. They use the accusation of "white privilege" to shut down any criticism.

Materialists are more concerned with the law and how it's structured to maintain power for whites. It's hard to argue against some degree of truth to this. Consider, for example, the Jim Crow laws that existed in the South in the US. These laws were explicitly designed to support white supremacy, even though they were often written in a race neutral manner. For instance, poll tests or taxes were things everyone had to pass or pay, so the law was apparently neutral, but the intent was that the laws would reduce the likelihood of successful black voting.

Still, in this book, you will find the kernels of thoughts that the more obnoxious social activists use as a basis for their ideology. The authors express a hostility towards liberalism, including free speech and a colorblind society, and hopes that in the future the US will be able to successfully implement hate speech laws. The authors also support the idea that all white people are guilty racism, something that CRT apologists often deny.

While I'm sympathetic to the idea of restricting hate speech, we need to beware of giving the government that much power. What constitutes hate speech will depend on who's in power and it might well be that a conservative government would consider some elements of CRT to be hate speech. It's bizarre that anyone that thinks that they are oppressed would give even more power to the oppressors. It's almost like they don't really believe their own hyperbole.

Anyway, this is a short book and I recommend it to anyone as a step to gain credibility in discussions on CRT.

This book is valuable because in a section, section F, it presents the basic tenets of CRT. I will present them here. The material presented in quotes are the author’s own words. The indented materials that follow are my comments on the author’s.

A) “First, racism is ordinary, not aberrational[.]“

This means that racism is so pervasive that the dominant group (whites) cannot be aware of this. And this means that it’s impossible to disprove assertion A. And this means that in no way can assertion A be considered scientific. Rather, it is akin to religious dogma.

B) “Second, most [proponents of CRT] would agree that our system of white-over-color ascendancy serves important purposes, both psychic and material, for the dominant group. . . Because racism advances the interests of both white elites (materially) and working-class whites (psychically), large segments of society have little incentive to eradicate it.”

This means that whites have little incentive to eradicate what they can’t possibly be aware of (from assertion A). This is true, but one has to wonder if this might be a joke.

C) “A third theme of critical race theory, the ‘social construction’ thesis, holds that race and races are products of social thought and relations.”

The author then clarifies this tenet: he admits that there are indeed racial differences, but these are superficial.

D) “Critical writers in law, as well as in social science, have drawn attention to the ways the dominant society racializes different minority groups at different times, in response to shifting needs such as the labor market.”

I think what the author means by racializes is that society exaggerates the superficial differences (referred to in C) in order to meet its needs.

E) “Closely related to differential racialization—the idea that each race has its own origins and ever-evolving history—is the notion of intersectionality and antiessentialism. No person has a single, easily stated, unitary identity.”

This is undoubtedly true but explodes the whole notion of race and hence the need for CRT.

F) “A final element concerns the notion of a unique voice of color. Coexisting in somewhat uneasy tension with antiessentialism, the voice-of-color thesis holds that because of their different histories and experiences with oppression, black, American Indian, Asian, and Latino writers and thinkers may be able to communicate to their white counterparts matters that the whites are unlikely to know. Minority status, in other words, brings with it a presumed competence to speak about race and racism.”

Assertion E also demolishes F. If race cannot capture the essence of a person, how can people of fictitious groups have special competence to speak about what doesn’t really exist anyway?

To summarize: CRT holds that what whites can’t know, an illusion (racism), but that somehow privileges them can only be understood by people of other races. Yet since CRT asserts that race itself is an illusion, it asserts that an illusory group of people that have no idea that they exploit other illusory groups can only learn of what the don’t know by these exploited illusory groups.

I’ll leave it to the readers to decide for themselves what to make of all this.

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The theory only tears apart with no real solutions to build up. It’s theory built on unproven and changing assumptions. Smacks of Marxism.

For those interested in learning getting a real, basic understanding of some of the foundational tenets Critical Race Theory, you will want this book. It explains in clear language, using quotations from authors of this perspective, and lays out additional readings for those who wish to pursue additional knowledge and/or information. The writing is very accessible, although it could be used as a text book in an academic institution. More importantly, the book gives the reader all the pertinent information so that the reader can form his or her opinion of the validity of this perspective.