Racial inequality something to deal with in present

I get it.

I see the long way we have to go before we achieve race-blindness.

We are making progress, and while I can’t stand the term “woke” (with its implication that you belong to this very exclusive club that believes in inclusion), I’d like to think awareness of racial issues, how far we’ve come (which is substantial) and how far we have to go (also substantial) is increasing and is seen as vital to the future of our society.

Last week I said I didn’t understand “critical race theory” at all, but since then I’ve done a little reading about it.

My still-incomplete understanding of the term is that racism is not just an attitude expressed by extremists, it has been a part of our history, culture and legal system since the 16th century when slaves first arrived in the Americas.

Education Week magazine explains that modern “critical race theory” began with legal scholarship in the 1970s and 1980s and has since been broadened by sociological and literary theorists.

Education Week’s readings led them to conclude that critical race theory (or CRT) “critiques how the social construction of race and institutionalized racism perpetuate a racial caste system that relegates people of color to the bottom tiers.”

In other words, racism is built-in to our social and legal systems and works against people of color.

Education Week continues, “CRT also recognizes that race intersects with other identities, including sexuality, gender identity, and others. CRT recognizes that racism is not a bygone relic of the past.”

OK. I agree with all of that. Yes, it has always been with us. Yes, it is with us now. We should do something about it, and in the past several years, awareness has grown to pave the way for further corrective action.

Should it be taught in school? Yes, but in a way that honors our history of democracy, imperfect as it may be. Ours is one of the earliest and most successful experiments at instilling democracy into a nation from the very beginning.

Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, agrees with me. CRT should even be taught in military academies, he says.

Do I have to feel guilty because of CRT?

I’d rather not.

I was born into considerable advantage. Like anyone else fortunate enough to grow up that way, I took advantage of my advantages to the extent I wanted to.

I attended college, learned much of what my fellow students, privileged or not, learned, and then went to work with a bachelor’s degree.

I then worked until I was ready, psychologically and materially, to enter retirement on my own terms.

I hope to contribute in my own small way to help bring about, or at least to advocate, racial equity and erasing all distinctions based on race.

Racial inequity is something we must deal with in the present, however, not something to wallow in past shame or self-pity about.

Let’s play the hand we’re dealt.

Steve Hansen writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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