When my children were in grade school and high school I wanted to get involved in their learning.  I had been fearful of some of the new things emerging in education and with little understanding, I ran for a seat on the board of education.  Some of the issues at that time were similar to the issues that are being discussed today except they had different names.  At the time I served, one of the big issues was multi-culturalism.  Critics were concerned that their children would be exposed to diverse views in History and that what we needed to do was return to a Western view of History.  Today, when the term Critical Race Theory is tossed about, I am reminded of my time on the board of education.

What is Critical Race Theory?

Here is a description from Education Week:

“Critical race theory is an academic concept that is more than 40 years old. The core idea is that race is a social construct, and that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.”

What is curious to me is that critics of CRT believe that no injustice exists within our legal systems and policies.  As a Christian who takes sin seriously, it is logical that sinful humans can create structures and systems that are also unjust and oppressive.  The Bible is full of stories within which real humans experienced injustice at the hands of cruel leaders and within nations that were oppressive.  We see this most clearly in the Exodus narrative when God’s people were enslaved for 400 years. 

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