Demystifying critical race theory: Behind the misinformation

For over 40 years, the legal framework of critical race theory has been an unfamiliar topic to most Americans. However since the spring of 2021, activists have brought it to the forefront of political conversation.

The core of the nationwide debate is whether or not critical race theory is or should be taught in public K-12 classrooms. Vince Jungkunz, a political science professor at Ohio U and critical race theorist, said the ongoing debate is all about politics. 

“Critical race theory basically studies and conceptualizes contemporary forms of racism in order to attempt to dismantle them,” Jungkunz said. “We come up with new frameworks to study how racism has adapted over time and many of us then take a normative approach, which means we ask that those who read our work try to help change conditions in society.” 

Stories and headlines across the country tell of raucous school board meetings filled with parents enraged over supposed teachings of critical race theory and politicians making moves to prevent its teaching in schools.

Ohio has not taken any formal action against critical race theory yet, although leading politicians in the state, including Gov. Mike DeWine and Attorney General Dave Yost, have come out against it. Two similar Republican-supported bills in the state legislature, House bills 322 and 327, would target the ability for critical race theory to be taught and implemented, primarily in public schools and state agencies. 

HB 322, for example, would prevent teachers from teaching that “the advent of slavery in the territory that is now the United States constituted the true founding of the United States” and that “with respect to their relationship to American values, slavery and racism are anything other than deviations from, betrayals of, or failures to live up to the authentic founding principles of the United States, which include liberty and equality.” 

If this bill eventually becomes law, it will directly contradict the concepts of critical race theory, although those opposed to the bill say it would go beyond just banning critical race theory. 

The term critical race theory dates back to the 1970s and 80s from civil rights lawyers describing the situation of deep institutional racism in America. The lawyers thought race issues in America went beyond the issues addressed during the civil rights movement, such as voting, school integration and rights in public places. 

“Once Trump lost, Republican strategists saw critical race theory as a way to energize their voters. This is a really good example of a disinformation campaign because virtually no one had ever heard of critical race theory until recently, and they’ve defined it in all these inaccurate ways to scare people,” Jungkunz said. “Critical race theory actually has a lot of potential to help us as a society to tackle racism, but it's coming into the public eye as something that it is not.”

While there is no exact source for what caused critical race theory to become a mainstream political issue, Jungkunz attributed responsibility for its rise to right-wing political activist Christopher Rufo. 

“There's this guy named Christopher Rufo, who has some familiarity with critical race theory, and when he saw what was happening after George Floyd was murdered, with the calls for more diversity and inclusion, he strategized to bring critical race theory to the public discourse, and use it as a boogeyman for all things race, diversity and inclusion,” Jungkunz said. 

Athens City School District (ACDS) Superintendent Tom Gibbs said the heated debate is because of misinformation spread around the country.

“I’m not aware of any K-12 district that explicitly teaches critical race theory. My perspective is that there is some misinformation being spread about what critical race theory is, and how that's feeding into what school districts do in regards to diversity and inclusion,” Gibbs said. 

According to a July poll by Reuters/Ipsos, 15% of respondents believed critical race theory was taught in most public high schools. The same poll found that only 37% of respondents who were familiar with or had heard of the theory had a positive view of it, even though 73% of all respondents said they supported teaching high school students about racism and its impact in the United States. 

According to Jungkunz, critical race theory is a scholarly subfield, rather than something that is taught in K-12 classrooms or diversity training. 

Gibbs shared there have been few emails or phones concerning the ACSD’s teachings of diversity and inclusion. Gibbs also said he is happy with how the district's diversity and inclusion teaching efforts are going. 

“Our approach is multi-faceted, starting with early learners where we talk about what it means to be a good member of the community without explicitly talking about race,” Gibbs said. “We have done some work in diversifying our social studies curriculum and training our teachers on how to teach those difficult periods in our history that include slavery and the civil rights movement, taking a critical look at some of the policy decisions made throughout the history of our country.”

Ohio U junior Christopher Lawrence-Wright, who serves as the Parliamentarian for the Ohio University Black Student Union, said opposition to critical race theory is more about pushing back against teaching racism in general.

“A lot of this country is very reactionary so when you bring up any sort of notion of looking back at history that makes note of the racial injustices and building of these flawed institutions, and it invokes a lot of harsh reactions,” Lawrence-Wright said. 

Lawrence-Wright said it is more important than ever that students who aren’t affected by racism help better conditions for those who are. 

“A lot of peoples' ideas about what is going on in this nation is very reflective on how they are brought up, reflective of the education system and ignorance going around. Racism is something so rooted in this country that it has to be talked about,” Lawrence-Wright said. “I would say listen to Black students, listen to what we have to say, listen to our struggles and try to understand as much as time and progress has happened. There are still very institutionalized problems that affect students of color.”