(photo credit: Zinn Ed Project)

Critical Race Theory, or CRT, is an academic and legal framework that denotes that systemic racism is part of American society — from education and housing to employment and healthcare. Critical Race Theory recognizes that racism is more than the result of individual bias and prejudice. It is embedded in laws, policies and institutions that uphold and reproduce racial inequalities.

According to CRT, societal issues like Black Americans’ higher mortality rate, outsized exposure to police violence, the school-to-prison pipeline, denial of affordable housing, and the rates of the death of Black women in childbirth are not unrelated anomalies.

(Blurb Credit: Legal Defense Fund)

Why is CRT such a controversial issue?

The term “critical race theory” has been politicized a bit from its original context, which in short, calls for including all of the facts in telling America's origin story, including the ones that it may not be so proud of to allow historians to contextualize the factual and all encompassing picture! This panel will get into the more scholarly explanation of its origins, how it has been skewed to becoming a "hot button" issue, and how you can further explore this topic for yourself.