The Lies Continue: The Assault On Truth On Critical Race Theory: The Original Identity Theft
by: Burnett W. Gallman, Jr. M.D.
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” - Isaac Asimov, Ph.D.
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” - Martin Luther King, Jr. Ph.D.
When Afrikans were kidnapped and brought to the so-called “New World” (new to who?), they had centuries of higher education, healthcare, and art. Many of the kidnapped Afrikans were better educated and probably more intelligent. than their captors/enslavers. Yet Western education taught that the Afrikans were savage barbarians and that the brutal, dehumanizing and cruel chattel enslavement improved us.
Identity theft is alive and well. No, we are not referring to electronic or financial identity theft. The original identity theft started when racist European social scientists and pseudo-scientists decided to re-write and falsify the history, the worth and the capabilities of Afrikan people and codified it as if it were true. The Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels said that if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. This is called the illusory truth effect, a psychological phenomenon which is the tendency to believe false information to be correct after repeated exposure. The history of Africa and Afrikan people all over the world has been changed, denied, ignored, mutated and even claimed by “Western” historians for centuries. Not only did Afrikan people believe these false historical recountings but Whites believed it also. This false information has become such “common knowledge” that it is accepted as a standard truth (consciously and subconsciously) by most people.
Currently, there is a new and deafening effort to even further suppress the truth and accuracy in the recounting of history as it pertains to people of Afrikan origin in America (who we will call AUSA or Afrikans From the United States of America). The current frenzy against CRT or Critical Race Theory reveals just how far racist theoreticians are willing to go and how gullible the racist public can be.
An argument can be made as regards the real intent of the ignorant truth bashing of this new boogeyman. The first consideration is unification of the right-wing base in order to win elections. In today’s political climate, it is interesting that frequently a majority of the population favors progressive positions but actually vote for people who oppose these progressive ideas and solutions. The second consideration is that this issue provides a distraction from what is really being done behind the scenes that adversely affects all Americans (including the right-wing base). A third consideration is a sincere and genuine denial of the truth (so-called “white fragility). This white fragility actually manifests as a willingness of many whites to ignore and deny documented truth in order to keep from feeling guilty about what has been done by their white ancestors. Interestingly, this may be an expression of mass personality disorders (narcissistic and sociopathic). Finally, this movement may actually also be fueled by fear. The fear of being a minority and having things done to them that they did to others and the fear that the truth will hurt their feelings.
The bottom line is that this movement is the epitome of white privilege. How dare anyone legislate the memory of my peoples’ lived experiences? How dare anyone tell me how I should feel about my experiences and my peoples’ experiences? How dare you say that your hurt feelings are more important than what was done to my people in “the land of the free and the home of the brave”? What about the feelings of the children who were the first to attend previously all-white schools (and their parents) who were attacked emotionally, psychologically, spiritually and sometimes physically by white adults? What about the microaggressions and frankly racist actions that people of Afrikan origin suffer daily in the workplace and in public spaces? What is it about the words, “equality”, ”inclusion”, and even “diversity” that trigger negative responses? How dare you change and ignore truthful history?
Ironically, most people who demonize Critical Race Theory don’t even know what it is. If they did, they would realize that if Critical Race theory was actually being taught, it would be a graduate course and not a high school or middle school course and certainly not an elementary school course. Is truth ideological? I don’t think so. The denial of truth is ideological, however. These nay-sayers subscribe to what amounts to a modern-day book burning and personalize any objection to this delusional censorship which smacks, to me, of racists calling people racist for calling out racism.
This is not new. Anyone who studies Reconstruction and especially, the end of Reconstruction, around 1877, will see familiar themes. This is what the perpetrators are trying to hide. They don’t want any of us (of all races) to connect the dots.
When right wingers spew vitriolic un-Christian threats and accusations towards progressives (or anyone who disagrees with them), they are displaying and embodying the psychological exercise of projection. They are really accusing progressives of feeling what they feel and planning what they are planning. Actually, what they may or may not know, people like them have been lying about race, history and violence towards non-white people for centuries. Even now, some history books describe the kidnapped and enslaved Afrikans as mere immigrants.
There is a relatively new field of study, called Agnotology, which is the study of inducing ignorance. This debate is a prime example of the successful creation of ignorance.
As has been stated, CRT is a graduate level legal theory that holds that racism is institutionally ingrained in the American fabric. When we consider all the racial disparities in criminal justice, housing (redlining), health, education, income and wealth (to name a few), not to recognize racism in these numbers is willful blind ignorance. This argument against CRT is a case study in Agnotology. As has been repeatedly shown by experts, racial health disparities and differences in lifespan are fueled by educational attainment. More whites graduate from high school and have a college degree than blacks. Although, it is being repeatedly demonstrated that the criminal justice is full of racist policemen, solicitors and judges, we also know that crime is fueled by economics and impoverished people commit more theft than people with means.
This attack on truth and knowledge is an attack on our public schools (which in SC were instituted by the predominately black legislature during Reconstruction, although this fact is hidden). It is an attack on our school teachers who want to teach the truth (and not a bleached, white-washed version) and it is an attack on Afrikan American people who have long been denied the whole truth about our history. The history book that I used in elementary school was The New Simms History of South Carolina, a profoundly and exceedingly racist tome
The ignorance displayed by those who attack truth is exemplified by the fact that historical education has not been education at all but falsehoods and racist indoctrination.
When our children are called the N-word, they should know the history and origin of that word.
The entire argument is a political manifestation related to the support of white narcissistic pseudo-supremacy (“white supremacy” is a misnomer).
As a physician, I recognize that many illnesses cannot be cured until the patient recognizes initially that she/he is ill and secondly agrees to be treated for that illness. The rabid racism that has blinded higher functions of reason in so many Americans is an illness that will destroy America unless America realizes that it is in dire need of truth and maybe reconciliation.
The more accurate description of what CRT should be is “Culturally Relevant Teaching” and should be offered to every adult as well as to children.
For my “Christian friends”, I refer to John 8:32, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free”. Hopefully, free from the current delusional racism that is prevalent in today’s world.
KRST UNIVERSAL TEMPLE