A Critical Race Theory Year in Review

2022 has been a significant year for policy change. We have seen a broad range of policy implementations from COVID-19 responsiveness to banning certain literature. The wide range of policies enacted this year can be viewed through a Critical Race Theory (CRT) lens to evaluate their differential impact on historically oppressed people.  

Critical Race Theory (CRT) states race is not a biological feature but rather a socially constructed one used to perpetuate oppression and exploitation. CRT is built on five tenets that explain how race and racism impact the lived experiences of people with non-dominant identities. We want to examine how the tenets of CRT can be applied to some of the most impactful policies we have seen this past year. 

Roe v. Wade 

The 1970 case of Roe v. Wade protected access to abortion. This past year, the Supreme Court overturned the ruling in deciding Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization suggesting women do not have a constitutional right to access abortion. Since then, a variety of states have banned abortion and this decision will allow for more to follow suit. When looking at this policy through a CRT lens, two tenets are at the forefront: structural and institutionalized racism and intersectionality. 

Structural and institutionalized racism occurs when policy is implemented in a race-neutral manner, thus posing more obstacles and disadvantages for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). Studies have shown that women of color and women of lower socioeconomic status have higher rates of abortion than their counterparts. Hispanic women have twice the number of abortions than non-Hispanic white women, and non-Hispanic Black women have abortions more than three times as much as their white counterparts. (Dehlendorf et al. 2013) This illustrates how harmful the Dobbs decision is to BIPOC communities by disproportionately affecting their access to health care.  

Intersectionality is the combination of individuals holding more than one oppressed identity and how the combination of those identities makes for more considerable barriers. Knowing women of color receive higher rates of abortion in the U.S., we can see how this intersection makes a big difference in the consequence of this ruling. It is no longer just a women's issue, but a women of color issue. On top of these intersecting identities, women of color have lower socioeconomic status as another intersecting identity. “With respect to income, 64% of pregnancies among women with an income of less than 100% Federal Poverty Level (FPL) were unintended, whereas only 37% of pregnancies were unintended among women with an income of more than 200% FPL” (Dehlendorf et al. 2013). Being mindful of the intersectionality of this issue helps us distinguish just how impactful this sort of ruling is to communities of color.  

Don’t Say Gay 

In February 2022, a Florida senate committee advanced a bill that restricts the discussion and expression of gender and sexuality in schools. This bill includes concepts like banning gender and sexuality discussion in grades where it is not “age-appropriate”. Parents can sue the school if they deem harm was caused by neglect of this rule. This bill shines a light on several tenets of CRT; intersectionality and systemic and institutionalized racism.  

As previously mentioned, intersectionality is a key concept when discussing Critical Race Theory. When considering the impact of this bill, it is important to remember the demographics of Florida. In a survey done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) it shows that more than 18% of school aged children do not identify as heterosexual. We also know that more than half of the population of school-aged children in Florida are made up of children of color. Collectively, both pieces of data tell us that many children have intersecting identities regarding race/ethnicity and sexual orientation. This kind of bill negatively impacts students that identify as LGBTQ+ and it disproportionately affects queer students of color due to the hardships they already face that white queer students do not. That is not taking into account many of the other possible intersections of identity these students experience. 

What happens when you eliminate LGBTQ+ literature from students' curriculum? Part of this bill says there will not be a focus on any LGBTQ+ topics – including literature. A key concept to keep in mind for this tenet is how important representation is, especially for adolescents. Because this bill prohibits teachers from being able to state their sexual orientation, students not being able to replace the role of representation with reading and learning about literature is only adding insult to injury. This sort of repression has incredibly negative consequences for developing students. Not only does it affect their mental development by not being able to express themselves or see examples of themselves in literature, but it leads to a higher drop-out rate for these marginalized groups. This has a domino effect on things like queer folx’ access to wealth and proper mental health. 

Banned Educational Materials 

The last policy we analyze is the banning of books and other educational materials. In the last year, 32 states have cumulatively banned over 800 book titles, with the majority of them on topics regarding oppression, marginalization, and the lived experiences of those with non-dominant identities. Much of this censorship is based on the misguided notion that these texts are subversive ways of teaching concepts like Critical Race Theory in school. These restrictions make for excellent examples of structural and institutionalized racism. 

Structural and institutionalized racism elicits systemic racism ushered by repression. Repressive groups enforce a “Great” America through the absence, or intentional erasure in this case, of important historical events and educational pieces in K-12 curriculum. An example of this is the genocide and displacement of Native Americans. Most Americans were taught that Christopher Columbus and the pilgrims sailed the ocean and found this “new” land. That they collaborated with the Native Americans to "develop” the land and “civilize” the people. Through listening to the horrific stories of Indigenous people from that time, we know that was far from the case. Why is this significant? Because the repression of learning material that includes disturbing lessons on colonialism, slavery, and oppression keeps us in a cycle of oppression. Silencing voices through banning books continues to be a barrier to students understanding these issues. What adds more harm is banning the teaching of certain topics like CRT. Not introducing students to theories on racism and oppression in K-12 takes away their autonomy to form their own thoughts, feelings, and opinions of those theories. Instead, they may be thrown into literature like this piece as young adults and have a limited understanding of the important topics – meaning their engagement in actionable change may be limited.  

Viewing these policies through Critical Race Theory allows us to immerse ourselves in the nuance and consequences of impactful policies. Often, we view policies like these with little critical thought of how they impact marginalized communities, especially those who hold few or zero non-dominant identities. The first step to dismantling white supremacy and putting CRT into practice ties us into the last tenet: the negative effects of racism will only likely be mitigated when those who hold privileged social positions (mostly white men) see value in dismantling racist systems. We need to prioritize getting policies like these abolished and protecting the communities affected. Those who hold more social power are the ones who will make the fight for equity much easier to conquer. Together, we can help transform the perception and protection of historically oppressed people.

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