Back in September 2020 I asked, “who’s afraid of critical race theory?” Over at his Substack page, writer David Dark seems to be asking the same question and offering a much more elegant answer. Here is a taste of his essay, “Fear No Theory“:
Theory is just thinking. Critical thinking is just thinking carefully (not negatively). Critical race theory is just thinking carefully about race. Critical race theory is gospel (good news). Repent and believe it. Thank you for taking my online course.
I want to also say right away that “Critical Race Theory” names a body of work. You can see this in the Wikipedia entry, but it’s important to keep it in mind as our legislatures (and some universities) try to ban it. Did y’all ever think this day would come? The banning of thought? If you’ve made it this far and you’re upset with me and you’re about to tell someone that I embrace critical race theory, please listen closely.
I can’t embrace critical race theory any more than I can embrace a library. I’d have to read it all first. Relatedly, I can’t even critique a theory exactly. I can only address a person voicing it, one sentence at a time. Like we do with Bible verses and films and poetry and legal documents, we need to read words, mull them, ask each other what we think those words mean, feel something, change our minds, double back, feel differently, and then think it through again. Before anyone can know where anyone stands on something as broad and voluminous as critical race theory, we need to open books and cite texts. You can’t step in the same sense twice (Nehemiah 8:8). Even then when we read, say, one person’s book, we’re only talking about one critical race theorist who, as these things go, will differ from other critical race theorists. Like the Bible, it’s a collection of witnesses. Do they all say the same thing? Of course not. Read them and find out.
Somebody quoting Dr. Ibram Kendi doesn’t mean they (or anyone) has gotten to the bottom of critical race theory. It just means they’ve quoted Ibram Kendi. Was he quoted in a way that honors the full context of what he is (or was) on about? You’d have to read him to find out.
Read the entire piece here.
