Dear Friends,
Summer seems to have barely begun, yet as I sit outside on my deck the peace is disturbed by a steady stream of firefighting aircraft heading over my house to the mountains an hour to the south. It’s awfully early for forest fires, and I cringe to think of what’s it’s going to be like in August.
It’s dry here.
Last weekend we had a couple of 105 degree scorchers, and after a feeble attempt to run sprinklers in the yard I gave up. I said, “Honey, I cannot compete with the sun. It wins.” I’m not alone. All down my street the lawns are showing patches of brown—even the ones with automatic sprinkler systems.
I miss the evening thunderstorms and rain that used to roll through here on a nightly basis this time of year. Even if some of those hurled golf ball-sized hail at my house (I’m on my third roof). So that’s my prayer and hope for the near future: rain without giant chunks of ice.
“Skin Makes the Man”
You know what isn’t a good thing? The fact that I’m tired of thinking about and discussing Critical Race Theory. Because in terms of this cultural phenomenon’s timeframe of being at the forefront of our cultural moment, we are probably in the first inning, not the ninth. I don’t know if I’ve got the stamina to see this whole game through to the end.
CRT roiled the Southern Baptist Convention this week, as its various tribes accused each other of either being racists who care nothing about the marginalized or, alternatively, Marxists. If you spend any time on social media you know that these conversations produce way more heat than light. If you’d like to know my general frame of mind about CRT, see the second question of this recent interview.
Pay attention to the last paragraph, which I’ll reproduce here:
My main long-term worry about churches in particular is that our massively sentimental age uniquely exposes us to manipulation. Because we (rightly) know our own sin and sinful propensities, because we want to be quick to repent and respond in humility, we tend to lean heavily toward niceness and empathy. We affirm, affirm, and affirm, and rarely, if ever, call the Marxist worldview to account for its destructive, conscience-searing, soul-crushing spiritual and intellectual totalitarianism. I’m all for compassionate hearts. But they’re useless without spines.
Since giving that answer, I’m more worried than ever. With the caveat that Twitter isn’t real life, I still see on my feed constantly Christians promoting and defending Critical Race Theory, or at least showing extremely generous amounts of sympathy for it. Twitter might not be “real life,” but these are real people who, I presume, are active in their churches, schools, and communities. Here’s one that showed up today:
My reply:
Cheeky, sure. But I meant it. There is now a concerted effort to obfuscate—(verb: render obscure, unclear, or unintelligible)—what Critical Race Theory is. The idea is that you can’t really understand CRT by reading the website of Black Lives Matter, or even books by Robin D’Angelo or Ibram X. Kendi. It’s “too complicated” to be explained in simple ways. No: we must go back to “primary sources” and spend hours and hours of our lives (which we’ll never get back) reading obscure academic journal articles. Oh, and by the way: in order for this to count, you must do this personally; no relying on the expertise and arguments of others—and certainly not black intellectuals like Glenn Loury, John McWhorter, and others.
This obfuscation is complete nonsense. It’s yet another layer to CRT’s Gnostic “secret knowledge.” Not only does the “antiracist” practitioner have the secret insight to see oppression where nobody else does, he or she has secret insight into the theory itself. You must be “initiated” into the mysteries—this is what all those Robin D’Angelo corporate diversity seminars are. I’m not joking or being metaphorical about this as a revival of ancient Gnosticism.
This is not really very complicated. CRT is race-inflected Marxism (which Eric Voegelin famously described as Gnosticism). I realize that perhaps even that description does not immediately bring clarity to mind, so let me try something else. See if you can see some conceptual similarities in these two (granted, overly simplistic yet useful) sentences:
“All societal conflict and personal woe is the fault of rich, greedy capitalists who have rigged the system to enrich themselves and to keep the working man down.”
“All societal conflict and personal woe is the fault of white people who have rigged the system to grow and maintain power and to keep minorities down.”
Not a lot of daylight between them, is there? We could go on to observe many more features of this particular worldview: the absolute antithesis involved, the call to revolution instead of reformation, the personal demand that you be on the “side” of “justice” (vaguely defined as worker’s rights or minority rights), and the shame if you are insufficiently active in opposing the powers-that-be. For CRT practitioners, you share the bloodguilt of black lives if you claim to be a “non-racist.” You see, being a “non-racist” is to be a collaborator with the oppressive regime. You must be anti-racist. An activist. You’re either with the cause or against it. It’s literally a melodrama between black and white, and gray is simply not allowed.
And its self-conscious, leading practitioners are intellectual, moral, and spiritual terrorists, as far as I’m concerned. Is that too strong a word? Okay, fine. Bullies. Self-appointed, high-horse-riding charlatans. John McWhorter calls them “The Elect.” Self-elected, of course.
Young Christians should not be flirting with this stuff. It is full to the brim of what Paul calls the “fruits of the flesh”: hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, and factions (Gal. 5:20). I mean, that list could pass as CRT’s mission statement.
Some time earlier this year when I had a moment, I began reading James Fenimore Cooper’s The Deerslayer. It’s the first (chronologically) novel featuring his hero, Nathaniel Bumppo (played brilliantly by Daniel Day-Lewis in The Last of the Mohicans). One of the benefits of reading old books is that you get to peer through a window into a different time and place and, amazingly, it feels familiar. Consider this exchange between “Hurry” Harry and Deerslayer:
‘Who’s talking of mortals, or of human beings at all, Deerslayer? I put the matter to you on the suppersition of an Injin. I dare say any man would have his feelin’s when it got to be life, or death, ag’in another human mortal, but there would be no such scruples in regard to an Injin, nothing but the chance of his hitting you, or the chance of you hitting him.’
‘I look upon the red men to be quite as human as we are ourselves, Hurry. They have their gifts, and their religion, it’s true, but that makes no difference in the end, when each will be judged according to his deeds, and not according to his skin.’
‘That’s downright missionary, and will find little favor, up in this part of the country where the Moravians don’t congregate. Now, skin makes the man. This is the reason; else how are people to judge of each other. The skin is put on, over all, in order that when a creatur’, or a mortal, is fairly seen, you may know at once what to make of him. You know a bear from a hog by his skin, and grey squirrel from a black.’
‘True, Hurry,’ said the other looking back and smiling, ‘nevertheless they are both squirrels.’
‘Who denies it?—But you’ll not say that a red man and a white man are both Injins?’
‘No; but I do say they are both men. Men of different races and colours, and having different gifts and traditions, but, in the main, with the same natur’s. Both have souls and both will be held accountable for their deeds in this life.’
Skin makes the man. That’s how we can “judge of each other.” It’s not obvious to me that Critical Race Theory doesn’t take Hurry Harry’s side of this argument instead of Natty Bumppo’s humane (read: Christian) view.
Miscellany
The aforementioned John McWhorter wrote a blistering takedown of the new obfuscation in the CRT discussion, and it is so worth your time. Don’t just read this one article; read them all.
He also had a recent appearance on Bill Maher’s Real Time that’s worth your while.
He also appears frequently on Glenn Loury’s podcast, where these two incredibly brilliant scholars take down CRT brick by brick.
Let’s stop pretending that CRT is too difficult for the hoi polloi to understand:
Of course obviously there is no way that many people know what Critical Race Theory is, but Delgado & Stefancic provide a quick definition right at the beginning of Critical Race Theory: An Introduction if you want to join The Discourse.Got that last sentence? CRT=Blow. Everything. Up.
I’ve got to run and don’t have time to finish this off with a music video. So take care and I’ll be back in your inbox next week!