What Is Critical Race Theory? - Michael Harriot

Critical Race Theory says that white supremacy and systemic racism exist, are engrained in everyday life, and benefit white people; so pretending that they don’t exist, failing to eradicate them, or acting as if they aren’t the norm not only allows white supremacy to flourish, it further normalizes it.

First of all, you should know that critical theory, as a tool for examining social structures, has been around for more than a century.  Broadly put, no social structure is perfect, and all social structures must be examined.

Critical Race Theory was first used to examine and study the law systemically through the lens of race. But "critical theory" doesn't just examine social structures. It also works to reform and improve them.

And one of the things that Critical Race Theory says is that the idea of race-neutral "colorblindness" actually invigorates white supremacy.

Since white supremacy and systemic racism exist, are engrained in everyday life, and benefit white people; then pretending they don’t exist, failing to eradicate them, or acting as if they aren’t the norm not only allows white supremacy to flourish, it further normalizes it.

If systemic racism did not benefit white people, would many of the most powerful white men in the country fight so hard to preserve it?

 
If racism and white supremacy weren't "ordinary" then why do so many white people disagree with Critical Race Theory while most Black people think it's important?

The full article is available here

America First Caucus: Republicans Reap Their Racist and Sexist Whirlwind - Heather Cox Richardson

Emphasizing their white nationalism, the authors lay out very clearly the racial argument behind the political one.

Today, news broke that a number of pro-Trump House Republicans, including Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Paul Gosar (R-AZ), are organizing the “America First Caucus.”

The seven-page document outlining their ideas, obtained by Punchbowl News, is a list of the grievances popular in right-wing media.  Emphasizing their white nationalism, the authors lay out very clearly the racial argument behind the political one.

This extraordinary document makes it clear that Republican leaders are reaping what they began to sow during the Nixon administration, when party operatives nailed together a coalition by artificially dividing the nation between hardworking white taxpayers on the one hand and, on the other, people of color and feminist women whose demand for equality, the argument went, was code for government handouts.

In the years since 1970, Republicans have called for deregulation and tax cuts that help the wealthy, arguing that such cuts advance individual liberty. All the while, they have relied on racism and sexism to rally voters with the argument that Black and Brown voters and feminist women—“feminazis,” in radio host Rush Limbaugh’s world—wanted big government so it would give them handouts.

It was a political equation that worked with a wink and a nod until former president Trump put the racism and sexism openly on the table and encouraged his supporters to turn against their opponents.

They have now embraced open white supremacy.

The full article is available here

Grammar Interpretation Error Of SCOTUS Conservative Majority In Individual Gun Rights Case - The Rapidian

The 2nd Amendment ensures that states could maintain armed militias. It did not comment on an individual’s right to keep any kind of gun in any place at any time.

“I’m just a blue-collar kid from Zeeland, Michigan,” retired Calvin English professor James Vanden Bosch said, “but I have become well-versed on the grammar of the absolute phrase in the late 18th century.”

An absolute phrase modifies the entire clause that it belongs to. The phrase typically provides additional detail to that clause.

Grammatically, the “something being necessary” absolute phrase was quite common during the period when the Constitution was written. It was often used to provide explanatory material for the main clause to which it was attached.

Taking the absolute phrase into proper account, the 2nd Amendment ensures that states could maintain armed militias. It did not comment on an individual’s right to keep any kind of gun in any place at any time.

The full article is available here

What Cancel Culture Is And Isn't - Maui Smith in Study Breaks

"Cancel culture" is really just the practice of holding people accountable for their actions. Accountability isn't a witch hunt.

No one is perfect and no one is expected to be, but the line between inherent human imperfection and being a bigot or rapist is not as thin as some people make it out to be.

The full article is available here

Congress Introduces Amendment To Overturn Citizens United - Public Citizen

 

The full article is available here