Deseret News
Why conservatives oppose critical race theory
They struggle to define what it means but consider the theory a serious threat to the country and a setback to race relations
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Betty Sawyer, a supporter of critical race theory, center, exchanges views with a group of women opposed to the theory, after a protest organized by the Utah Educational Equity Coalition outside of the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, May 19, 2021.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Glenn Beck called it “the knockout punch for America.” Tucker Carlson says it’s a “noxious lie.”
Critical race theory has also been called anti-American propaganda, a cult and a virus that is more dangerous in the long term than COVID-19. It’s hard to find a conservative voice that hasn’t denounced it in the past few weeks, giving the fractured GOP a unifying issue.
We thank these scholars for their quick responses. Here are their thoughts:
Athena Mutua, professor of law and Floyd H. and Hilda L. Hurst Faculty Scholar
“The conviction of Derek Chauvin is edifying. A jury of his peers and a multitude of diverse protesters saw the arrogance, felt impunity and depraved indifference with which he needlessly murdered George Floyd. But while Chauvin, the individual, must be held accountable, the problem of police violence in the U.S. is deeper. It is historical, ongoing and systemic authorized by the state, backed by law, institutionalized throughout our political economy, supported culturally and exercised primarily against people of color, the poor and the vulnerable.