There is an interesting (and telling) consequence of the propagation of Critical Race Theory (CRT) throughout the collective American intellect, creating a dissonance that fuels the continuation of the very ideas CRT claims to banish.

The elements and expressions of racism alleged by CRT to be inextricably woven into the fabric of American society have indeed existed in the past, and some elements have survived to the present day.  However, CRT misplaces blame for both origin and perpetuation of the offensive constructs and prescribes remedies that ensure that these pernicious mindsets never leave the public's consciousness.

The 17th- and 18th-century arguments made to justify not only slavery, but ill treatment of blacks in general were based on assumptions of racially determinable measures of inferiority.  It was widely held that blacks were intellectually inferior to whites, needing the "firm hand" of slavery to guide them toward a productive life, as they were genetically incapable of charting a successful course on their own.  This paternalistic view suffused much of the scholarship of that era, leading to a raft of pseudo-sciences dedicated to the illustration of racial inferiority and the bolstering of the slavery-as-benevolence myth.

CRT recognizes all this; indeed, proponents of CRT study these constructs with intense effort.  Yet...

They fail to make the connection between the offensive "benevolent slavery" argument of two centuries prior and the continuation of that same construct through the bigotry of low expectations that animates the welfare state and all left-wing racial policymaking.

The racially based carveouts that are the hallmark of social policy since LBJ find their foundation in the same false assumptions of inferiority so dutifully cited by centuries of slaveholders.

While the belief that blacks cannot succeed without the assistance and blessing of whites (delivered through government programs and countless "awareness" efforts) is justified today as a rebalancing of the scales to make up for past discrimination, the utter lack of demonstrable need (employed, educated or skilled blacks in intact families achieve at the same level as comparable whites) peels back the wallpaper, revealing the ugliness of assumed inferiority, still with us, still exerting influence via leftist agitation.

The advocates of CRT studiously ignore this link, as acknowledgment of it would undermine their arguments for reparations and regimes of racial preference, and properly shift the responsibility for consistently poor inner-city black achievement to voluntarily adopted cultural behaviors and away from presumed "systemic racism."

But this is only part of the story. The worst errors of CRT are found in its treatment of white "being."  To the CRT adherent, white people are inherently racist, with that trait so deeply ingrained in the "being" of the Caucasian that he is entirely unaware of it, even while engaging in it.

Whites need to understand their inborn prejudice before they can address the "systemic racism" that flows from it.  Under the rubric of CRT, whites are inferior in racial awareness and require the "firm hand" of woke masters to lead a productive life, which, according to CRT, they are genetically incapable of doing unaided.  Sound familiar?

Critical Race Theory is nothing less than the mirror image of the vulgar pseudo-sciences once used to justify the enslavement of other human beings.  It is equally repulsive.

As we no longer believe the nonsense proffered by 18th-century racial science, we should reject with equal vigor its 21st-century revival, albeit reversed in application.

Critical Race Theory is just another racist construct used to justify mistreatment of others based solely on the color of their skin.

The author welcomes visitors to his website, www.dailyherring.com.

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