**TL;DR - Critical Race Theory (CRT), particularly combined with [intersectionality](https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination), is an absolute necessity in terms of understanding and ultimately remedying many of the pressing problems in (particularly Western) society.** While valuing _lived experience_—not an uncontroversial practice, it is argued to be purely anecdotal, and thus flawed, evidence—CRT is, in fact, based on data and statutory, material proof. Immense problems such as [hate crimes](https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2019/topic-pages/victims), [police brutality](https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/), [income inequality](https://www.statista.com/statistics/233324/median-household-income-in-the-united-states-by-race-or-ethnic-group/), [unemployment](https://www.epi.org/indicators/state-unemployment-race-ethnicity/), and [workplace discrimination](https://www.paychex.com/articles/human-resources/eeoc-workplace-discrimination-enforcement-and-litigation) (a non-exhaustive list) are all racially divergent, almost universally disproportionately affecting people of color. CRT originated as a movement to analyze these issues as deliberately [upheld by the law and state apparatus](https://archive.org/details/critica_xxx_1995_00_1144). This bold statement comes with [evidence](https://www.annualreviews.org/shot-of-science/story/racism-roots-in-law) from _many_ legal and government experts. It is, arguably, completely intuitive that a society (the United States, specifically) which was built through the enslavement (and quasi-enslavement) of POC (not only Black people but, notably, [Chinese](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jul/18/forgotten-by-society-how-chinese-migrants-built-the-transcontinental-railroad)) would, now, continue to systemically disenfranchise these demographics. The diverse range of ailments that unevenly affect ethnic minorities prove that, even with certain exceptions to White hegemony (such as higher Asian household income), POC are still unduly harmed by a variety of societal institutions and norms. CRT acknowledges these data, contextualizes them within different public systems, and, if properly valued, may be able to fix or alleviate these plagues.

**Is Critical Race Theory anti-racist or racially prejudiced?** • [Critical Race Theory](https://theconversation.com/critical-race-theory-what-it-is-and-what-it-isnt-162752) is an academic framework that guides how we think about race, especially in the context of legal systems and power. It understands race as a social construct, acknowledges that racism continues to be a modern problem, and recognises that racism is systemic. The [theory](https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/civil-rights-reimagining-policing/a-lesson-on-critical-race-theory/) was founded by American civil-rights activists and lawyers in the 1970s. • Many believe that the study of Critical Race Theory is necessary to create an anti-racist society, which would benefit everyone. They praise its focus on [institutional](https://www.raceforward.org/videos/systemic-racism) racism as the stem of the oppression of black people and individual racist attacks, and believe that addressing this is the first step in moving towards a society without [racial-inequality](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/07/opponents-critical-race-theory-are-arguing-themselves/619391/). • However, many argue that Critical Race Theory is itself [racially prejudiced](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/01/aclu-fights-state-bans-teaching-critical-race-theory). In the USA in 2021, many protested against the teaching of Critical Race Theory in schools. Because the theory starts with the concept that black people are oppressed, by proxy, it positions white people as oppressors. Some criticise this claim, and argue that it is unfairly biased against white people.

**CRT is an important part of understanding the systemic and institutional racial inequalities that exist and is necessary to improve society.** • Critical Race Theory is an approach to understanding inequalities that exist, through an acknowledgment that racism is not just about individual prejudice but is _embedded in the structures of society_. This theory involves the argument that race is a [“culturally invented category used to oppress people of colour”](, https://www.britannica.com/topic/critical-race-theory) which is an explanation for why racism exists as it does today. • Originating in the United States during the 1970s, CRT was developed by activists in an attempt to understand progress or lack thereof in the Civil Rights movement. This was based around the idea that systemic and institutionalised factors of the legal system were facilitating the race-based oppression of people of colour. • I think Critical Race Theory is necessary to improve society, because it ultimately creates awareness around the racism that _still_ exists today. I think it’s important to appreciate and understand the systemic inequalities that exist and how white privilege has contributed and allowed for this. • To take the example of the education system, there is an argument for the fact that [institutional racism is embedded in schools]( https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/07/20/educator-bias-is-associated-with-racial-disparities-in-student-achievement-and-discipline/). This can include bias surrounding teaching, punishment, academic expectations etc. Therefore, I think it’s vital we educate the educators to be aware of their own, _often implicit_, bias and work to dismantle the institutional racism that exists.

[Critical race theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_race_theory) originated in the mid-1970s in America. As a body of legal scholarship, it emerged with an academic movement of civil rights lawyers and activists to critically examine American law in relation to racial issues. Lawyers [Derrick Bell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Bell) and [Kimberlé Crenshaw](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberlé_Williams_Crenshaw) were key legal figures in the emergence of critical race theory. It was largely a response to the slow legal progress and setbacks faced by African Americans from the end of the Civil War to the civil rights movement in 1968. Through studying law and American history, critical race theory seeks to reveal how racial oppression has shaped the legal fabric of America and how this has then affected racial issues in society.

I mean a program that tells people to be perpetual victims and tells others they are oppressors for just being born who they are is inherently racist in of itself and should be thrown in the trash with all other racist stuff. Why modern society is so fixated on what people are instead of who they are is a throw back to the 1970's and its absolutely flabbergasting that people think those times are better than today...

With the rise of critical race theory, I believe Martin Luther King Jr's dream is dead or dying, and it is quite a shame.