My pov is that CRT (critical race theory) and related policies, like DEI, put an undue emphasis on race instead of on poverty, and the resulting effect is that policies which are aimed at helping minorities seem like “favoritism” (and called as such by political opponents), which makes a growing population of poor whites (due to the adverse effects of wealth inequality) polarized against minorities.
Separately, the polarization is used by others who want to weaken a democratic nation. For democracies, a growing immigrant population of more poor people will cause further polarization because the growing poor white population believes that “they’re taking our jobs”. This happened during Brexit, this happened with Trump, and this is happening now in Germany and other western democracies.
I know that there are racist groups who have an agenda of their own, and what I am saying is that instead of focusing on what are painted as culture war issues, leftists are better off focusing on alleviating systemic poverty. Like, bringing the Nordic model to the U.S. should be their agenda.
So, maybe I am wrong about CRT and DEI and how it’s well-meaning intentions are being abused by people who have other goals, but I want to hear from others about why they think CRT and DEI help. I want to listen, so I am not going to respond at all.
— Added definitions —
CRT: an academic field used to understand how systems and processes favor white people despite anti-discrimination policies. Analysis coming out of CRT is often used to make public policy.
DEI: a framework for increasing diversity, equity and inclusion; DEI isn’t focused on race or gender only, but also includes disability and other factors (pregnancy for example) which affect a person.
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Okay , so end note: I appreciate the people who commented. I questioned the relevancy of CRT/DEI previously out of an alarmed perspective of how aspects that highlight group differences can be used by others to create divisions and increase polarization. But I get the point everyone is making about the historical significance of these tools.
None of the black people alive today lived during slavery. That’s the reset.
That's a very common misconception.
Wealth is generational. What our parents have, influences what we have, and what our grandparents had influenced what our parents had.
Let's jump back 150 years.
Plantation owner has Millions in cotton money. One of his slaves does not.
Plantation owner's son is able to buy his own plantation and a few slaves. The slaves son, is a slave.
The white grandson uses his father's cotton money and connections to attend an ivy league school, and become something besides a plantation owner. The black grandson, is no longer enslaved, but he's still working the fields for pennies.
White great-grandson has a trust fund and blows most of it on drugs and women, but his last name gets him an executive position at a local business he doesn't understand. Black great grandson is the first in his family to learn to read. He studies hard and gets a scholarship to a law school you never heard of. He does well enough, but nobody really wants a black lawyer.
I know that not all white people are spoiled billionaires. Hell, I know I'm currently worse off than a lot of black people, but that's not their fault. There's still 200+ years of racism that kept a lot of them down, even though many were able to rise above many white people. And Trump's crusade to crush DEI is causing otherwise well meaning white people to look at those successful black people and question whether or not they are qualified. Maybe some aren't. I know plenty of white people who got into jobs they weren't qualified for, I'm sure that's happened to every group. But, the secret racism that we are perpetuating is that we see a successful black person and think, are they only there because of DEI? BUT when we see a successful white person, we don't question their qualifications until they start making mistakes.
When people aren't racist anymore, we won't need a law that says DON'T BE RACIST. But we aren't there yet, and we are getting further from that point every time Trump says DEI.