What is Critical Race Theory?

Is “critical race theory” a way of understanding how American racism has shaped public policy, or a divisive discourse that pits people of color against white people? Liberals and conservatives are in sharp disagreement.

The topic has exploded in the public arena this spring—especially in K-12, where numerous state legislatures are debating bills seeking to ban its use in the classroom.

In truth, the divides are not nearly as neat as they may seem. The events of the last decade have increased public awareness about things like housing segregation, the impacts of criminal justice policy in the 1990s, and the legacy of enslavement on Black Americans. But there is much less consensus on what the government’s role should be in righting these past wrongs. Add children and schooling into the mix and the debate becomes especially volatile.



School boards, superintendents, even principals and teachers are already facing questions about critical race theory, and there are significant disagreements even among experts about its precise definition as well as how its tenets should inform K-12 policy and practice. This explainer is meant only as a starting point to help educators grasp core aspects of the current debate.
Just what is critical race theory anyway?

Critical race theory is an academic concept that is more than 40 years old. The core idea is that race is a social construct, and that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.

The basic tenets of critical race theory, or CRT, emerged out of a framework for legal analysis in the late 1970s and early 1980s created by legal scholars Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Richard Delgado, among others.

A good example is when, in the 1930s, government officials literally drew lines around areas deemed poor financial risks, often explicitly due to the racial composition of inhabitants. Banks subsequently refused to offer mortgages to Black people in those areas.  TO READ MORE ABOUT CRT, CLICK HERE...

I Have A Dream Speech by MLK JR

    [AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio.]

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. **We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only."** We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Socialism Made Simple

Socialism, social and economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources. According to the socialist view, individuals do not live or work in isolation but live in cooperation with one another.
The main features of socialist economy are as follows:
(i) Collective Ownership
(ii) Economic, Social and Political Equality

(iii) Economic Planning
(iv) No Competition
(v) Positive Role of Government
(vi) Work and Wages According to Ability and Needs

Our society has to decide if they want a Socialistic Government or a Democratic Republic Government which is what we have now...  In many ways, we have already embraced Socialism because anything that is public is, in fact, a form of socialism...

Examples of Socialism currently existing in USA:

• Guaranteed public education
• Public transportation
• Fire departments
• Police departments
• Public libraries
• Every branch of the US military
• Roads & highways
• Social Security
• Medicare/medicaid
• Public, not private prisons & jails
• Public hospitals
• The Veterans Affairs Administration
• Public universities
• Public parks
• Public toilets
• Public drinking fountains
• Public parking
• Public everything.

Warning:;;} those individuals who are already wealthy will remain wealthy regardless of whatever political system that the general public decides to implement.  Not only will their wealth continue but it will be handed down from generation to generation because their money has been deposited in offshore bank accounts in the Grand Caymans that are not subject to the income tax laws of the USA...

How to Think

The new Republican govenor of Virginia said in his winning speech that he was going to change education in that he was going to teach students how to think...

Why is that important to me?

For the most part, my entire career of 45 years has revolved around education and for over 2 decades I taught students, including college students and employees of industry who were being sent by their employers to a training class...  and, employees knew how to think better than college students, in fact, college students did not even want to think at all...  at least in my classes.

My college students wanted me to tell them exactly what they needed to do, rather than trying to figure it out themselves...  MENTALLY LAZY...

What else has happened in education is the fact that college education has been watered-down so that everyone can pass the course...  making the course challenging for the ones that should be there and not challenging at all for the ones who should be there.  In other words, not everyone has the mental ability to be in college...

Back Porch Pondering

 

This morning, like always, I was tuned in to FOX NEWS on HULU (I no longer have cable) and heard that the mayor of NYC before he leaves office has done away with the GIFTED AND TALENTED PROGRAM for public school children stating the following:  "IF ALL OF US CANNOT BE GIFTED AND TALENTED THEN NONE OF US WILL BE GIFTED AND TALENTED..."

Personally, I think this is the DUMBEST comment I have ever heard coming out of the mouth of a politician...  however, I would have expected this to have been voiced by bartender now Congresswoman AOC...

We want all our students to be MEDIOCRE...  no one should be stupid and no one should be smart...

HEY THERE MR POLITICIAN...  what about the STEM program?

Do you want to do away with that as well because only a few excel in those four areas?

AND...  while we are at it...  why not apply this same concept in sports, making sure we have no players that are any better than the average player...  boy, will that look good in professional sports...

WE ARE NOT EQUAL AND WE NEVER WILL BE EQUAL NO MATTER HOW HARD WE WANT IT TO BE SO...

Transgendered Competing

 DO YOU THINK IT IS FAIR FOR A TRANSGENERED MALE TO COMPETE IN HIGH SCHOOL TRACK AND FIELD EVENTS WITH OTHER NON TRANGENDERED FEMALES?

Personally...

I do not think that it is fair for the competition to take place between a transgendered male and heterosexual female...

BUT...

I am not a LIBERAL DEMOCRAT...  who thinks that this situation is not only fair but normal...

I am NOT AGAINST transgendered people...  and if they want to live the way they want to live, then that is their business not mine...    and, if they want to compete mentally, well...  that is fine as well...  but, it is not fine for them to compete physically as males and females have two different kinds of bodies, including those males who are taking female hormones....

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS want to level the playing field when it comes to transgendered people....  but, how would they feel if their daughter lost out on a scholarship to college because of a transgendered male in a physical competition...

I believe they would raise HOLY HELL even if they were not religious.

Let's Return to the QUOTA System

 AMERICAN DEMOGRAPHICS 2020

59.7%     Non Hispanic Whites (formerly Caucasian)

18.7%     Hispanics

13.4%     Blacks (formerly African American or People of Color)

 5.9%      Asian

 1.3%      Native American and Native Alaskan

I propose that starting in January 2021 or as close thereafter as is politically feasible and practical that we commence doing everything in AMERICA based upon the 2020 DEMOGRAPHICS data and that we check that data every 2-3 years to see if it has changed...

• All House of Representatives
• All Senators
• All Judges
• All State Governors
• All State General Assemblies
• All Law Enforcement Offices
• All Branches of the Military
• All Government Employees
• All American Embassies on Foreign Soil

WILL HIRE COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY BASED UPON THE ABOVE LISTED DEMOGRAPHICS HENCE FORTH AND FOREVER MORE LET IT BE SO...

1. Only 59.7% will be non Hispanic whites
2. Only 18.7% will be Hispanics
3. Only 13.4% will be Blacks
4. Only 5.9% will be Asians
5. Only 1.3% will be Native Americans/Alaskans

NOTE:  this has nothing to do with qualifications as qualifications no longer matters because...  there may be some ethnic individuals who are not qualified and the government no longer wants to be accused of ethnic discrimination...   especially since the BLM movement brought all this to our attention...

IT IS OUR HOPE AND STRONGEST DESIRE THAT THE FOLLOWING ADOPT OUR NEW HIRING PRACTICES:

• All professional sports teams and associations
• All media outlets (including online)
• All technology companies
• All healthcare organizations and hospitals
• All Hollywood actors and actresses
• All Resorts, Hotels, and Motels
• All Artist Guilds, Clubs, and Communities
• All Singers and Musicians
• All Companies that employ any blue collar worker

EQUALITY DOES NOT EXIST IN AMERICA NOR WILL IT EVER EXIST IN AMERICA...  it is for this reason that we think all Americans should embrace this new philosophy...  I mean, when you think about it...  it is only the fairest way to cut and distribute the PIE.

IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR PERCENTAGE HAVE MORE BABIES...

THE AMERICAN DREAM: Collective Equality

Is the American Dream available to everyone in terms of a COLLECTIVE EQUALITY as it so states in our Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights?

Let me give you examples, and you can make up your own mind...

1.  Everyone has the right to an education including college but does everyone have the right to make the same grade of "A"?  Is everyone blessed with the same amount of intelligence and if the "A's" get you a better job then there will never be equality in terms of level of employment.  And, what about those that have more intelligence and can get into the better schools, how does one justify educational equality in that sense...  but yes, I suppose you do have the right to attend.

2.  What about becoming a Professional Athlete?

You certainly have the right to try...  but, if you don't have the latent skills and abilities, your equality ends there...  no matter how much you plead that you are in a minority and need special treatment in order that equality be fair and justified for all Americans.

3.  What about gender equality?

A.  Do you not think that both males and females once they enlist in the military should be on the front lines in a military conflict or battle...  unless the male is injured or the female is pregnant...  but, I suppose the female could be injured as well, although the male will never be pregnant.

B.  Do you not think that both males and females should play together on the same football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and rugby teams...  

4.  What about the medical profession?

It would be IDEAL if all the doctors, surgeons, dentists, and ophthalmologists had the same equal abilities and skills and if that were the case there would be no need for malpractice insurance...  YES...  it is true there is equal opportunity to become a medical professional, but there is never going to be equality in one's medical skills and abilities no matter what the legislation says there should be.

SO...  I would submit to you that regardless of what is written in the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, or the Bill of RIGHTS...  there will never be EQUALITY in the United States of America...  that's just the way it is and the way it will always be...

SO...  because there will never be equality so too will there never be AN EQUAL VISION OF THE AMERICAN DREAM...  there will always be versions of the American Dream...  and, until you become the wealthiest man or woman in the USA, the American Dream for you means you WILL ALWAYS BE LESS than those above you...  and, the odds are, their American Dream will NEVER BE YOUR'S and vice versa.

BUT...  you do have the right to try...

Desperations have no limitations...

Interpreting Our US Constitution

                                          

In the context of United States law, originalism is a concept regarding the interpretation of the Constitution that asserts that all statements in the constitution must be interpreted based on the original understanding "at the time it was adopted".


Textualism is a mode of interpretation that focuses on the plain meaning of the text of a legal document. Textualism usually emphasizes how the terms in the Constitution would be understood by people at the time they were ratified, as well as the context in which those terms appear.

US CONSTITUTIONAL FACTS:

1. James Madison wrote the Constitution in 1787
2. Of the 55 Convention delegates, about 25 owned slaves. Many of the framers harbored moral qualms about slavery. Some, including Benjamin Franklin (a former slave-owner) and Alexander Hamilton (who was born in a slave colony in the British West Indies) became members of antislavery societies.
3. The Northern delegates and others opposed to slavery wanted to count only free persons, including free blacks in the North and South. ... Minimizing the percentage of the slave population counted for apportionment reduced the political power of slaveholding states.
4. Of our FOUNDING FATHERS:  Samuel Adams, John Adams, & Thomas Paine NEVER OWNED SLAVES
5. Slave/Slavery was only mentioned indirectly in the US CONSTITUTION
6. THE US CONSTITUTION WAS RATIFIED ON SEPTEMBER 17 1787...
7. When did the US get independence from Great Britain?  JULY 4, 1776...
8. It took 11 years for ALL THE STATES to RATIFY the US CONSTITUTION
9. All US SLAVES were freed January 1, 1863
10. In 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified to prohibit states from denying a male citizen the right to vote based on “race, color or previous condition of servitude." "Black suffrage" in the United States in the aftermath of the American Civil War explicitly referred to the voting rights of black men only.
11.  In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution gave WOMEN the right to vote

QUESTIONS:   

1. Is it FAIR to use the concepts of textualism and and originalism when interpreting the US CONSTITUTION since our BLACK population was not given RIGHTS until 75+ years later? 
2. Is it fair to use the concepts of textualism and originalism when interpreting the US CONSTITUTION since it was UNDERSTOOD AT THE TIME OF THE WRITTING of the US Constitution that half of the delegate to the Constitutional Convention did not own slaves and were struggling with the slavery issue?
3. Is it fair to use the concepts of textualism and originalism when interpreting the US CONSTITUTION when it comes to understanding how our Founding Father felt towards women when it comes to interpreting what rights do women actually have under the US Constitution?
4. Is it fair to use the concepts of textualism and originalism when interpreting the US CONSTITUTION when it come time to decide whether or not we should as nation whether or not we should regulate firearms, especially since our Founding Father had just formed a new country and had not yet built up a military or a National Guard?

Personal Comments:

It simply does not seem fair or logical for our Court System to use how our Founding Fathers were thinking in their minds and how the words they used were interpreted back in 1787 to decide ALL ISSUES coming before the courts because there have been substantial changes like gun violence, abortion, discrimination, and equal rights with which our FOUNDING FATHERS never had to deal with at the time the Constitution was written, therefore their mental thoughts and word usages seems rather pointless and meaningless in today's world.

Taking A Rain Day

It is not often that I have the opportunity to sit on my screen-in back porch in the summer because of the position of the sun and the humidity, but today, it is raining and has been raining ever since I awoke two hours ago.  And, there are no colors in the sky except a solid grey that actually serves as a background to highlight all the red brick homes, green grasses, and green leafed trees.  It is a picturesque sight even though it is a tad dismal to my sight; yet, the sound of raining falling is not just relaxing but it is mesmerizing as well in its persistence and relentless assault upon the ground.

From my vantage point, I see no animals flying or scurrying about except for a few hummingbird who, despite the rain, are enjoying and feasting upon the food we put in hanging containers especially for them and to attract them.  There are about 6 hummingbirds that visit our location each year but we have no way of knowing if it is the sames birds or not...  we'd like to think that it was and that over time they would become familiar with us and let us get closer...  but, that has yet to happen.

It is nice, to say the least, to sit out on the porch admiring and listening to the rain and not listening to FOX NEWS and the terrible "THINGS" that are going on in our country because of the upcoming election and because and because Trump's opposition has hated him from the GETGO.

Interestingly, I was raised a Democrat because both my parents were Democrats but after graduating from Wake Forest University with an MBA, I became a CONSERVATIVE LIBERAL and turned my back on the Democratic Party.  My Business Education, gave me a strong belief in the importance of Business and Economic Growth but my liberal background continued to ground me in the reality that there is a HUGE WEALTH GAP in this country and until that gets solved LABOR and MANAGEMENT will never agree on anything and more importantly they will always be enemies.

Another issue is the idea of EQUALITY...  and, while I also strongly believe that we are all equal in GOD's eyes, I also strongly believe that GOD created us with the thoughts of being UNEQUAL in physical, mental, musical, athletic, and social abilities as well.  And, while that may seem like a contradiction, GOD knew that is mankind is going to grow, WE CANNOT ALL BE EQUAL.

AND, as soon as we realize that inequality, our country and world will become a better place to live...

If you don't agree with me, then why are we all not like Michael Jordan or Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley or Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks or Martin Luther King Jr. or Jack Kennedy or Steven Jobs or Mohammed Ali???

Think about that for more than a minute or two if you will...  and then tell me I am wrong...  These GIFTS were given to these people by GOD....  who also wanted all men to be equal in HIS EYES...