Why the focus on critical race theory?

Some of you have asked why The Dialogue Company is putting energy into activities around critical race theory (CRT). The answer has to do with the interesting connection between contentious topics and underlying issues, and how this connection plays out in relation to CRT.

Over the years, we have accumulated a great deal of experience and skill in helping people and organizations have conversations on the question: How much does racism matter, especially in American society? This question is the underlying issue beneath many specific topics that tend to garner attention  – such as effective law enforcement, education policy, the modern social welfare state, and many others. An important skill that we teach people in our RACE Method is how to look at someone’s racism-denying statements as an opportunity; the task is to first connect with them and then to pivot conversational attention to a key underlying issue, the person’s views about racism. Doing this well takes some skill, which is why people make the most progress by practicing our dialogue methods over time.

As much skill as it takes to make this pivot from a specific topic to the underlying racism issue in a one-on-one conversation, making this same pivot in a group or public conversation is even more tricky. Not everyone will go along with this shift, since many people are in denial about racism and/or simply don’t like to talk about it.

On many issues, there is also a legitimate rationale for resisting this pivot from topic to underlying racial issue that is not simply related to resistance, denial, or fragility. For most complex issues, race/racism is but one of a few underlying issues lurking beneath the topic that vies for attention. For example, on the topic of public education, the issue of race/racism matters a great deal, but so do other underlying issues, like the phenomenon of middle-class resource hoarding or increasing residential segregation on the basis of economic class.  On the topic of law enforcement, the issue of race/racism clearly matters a lot, but so do other issues, such as the general dissolution of shared social norms, and the erosion of trust in public institutions. The fact that other underlying issues also matter to these and other topics strengthens the passion and the perceived legitimacy of people who are generally disinclined to talk about racism. For most topics, is it hard to simply dismiss the objection: “Are we over-emphasizing racism compared to other important issues?”

This is less true for the topic of critical race theory. The tightness of the link between topic and issue is why we think the CRT controversy - a wedge issue that conservative activists have admitted to creating for political purposes –  is actually a useful door to an important conversation America has long needed to have. Here is why: the wedge topic that conservative activists have created to gin up agitation could be neutrally phrased as follows: Does teaching concepts associated with critical race theory to children harm them? Of course this question is distorted by the fact that critical race theory is being negatively rebranded in a public campaign, since CRT is actually a line of inquiry that only primarily exists in law school. But one reason that this topic can gain public attention is that the CRT question, though distorted through misinformation about what CRT is, actually touches on a question that every American should care about, namely: “What should we teach our children about race and racism?” It is this topic that we strongly suggest that people shift the conversation toward, since people all over the ideological map care about this question.

The good news is that there is a very short distance between the topic, “What do we teach our kids about race?” and the issue “How much does current and past racism matter to American life?” It is this high degree of overlap between these questions that drives The Dialogue Company’s energy toward the CRT topic. Our hope is in the possibility of changing the divisive CRT debate into a dialogue about what our kids should be taught and, if we can talk about that, maybe our communities will learn some valuable dialogue skills in talking about racism that not not only help us talk about youth education, but can also help us on the many other topics for which racism is an important underlying issue.

Our view is that, whether engaging in private conversations or testifying at a public meeting, people concerned about racism can bring a spirit of vulnerability and truth telling to the CRT topic. We think that by bringing a greater sense of honesty about each person’s connection to racism and the problematic thinking and behavior it produces, combined with savvy invitation/challenges to others to do the same, each person can play a role in transforming this cynically-created, divisive CRT debate into a useful dialogue about the racism issue that is not only long overdue, but will equip us to grapple better with many other issues we confront.

It is in the spirit of trying to help people catalyze dialogues in their communities and circles that we are offering a training on October 23, from 3 to 6pm EDT. The training will focus participants on an important dialogue skill – how to be vulnerable yet strategic while inviting people to change a divisive debate to a more dialogic way of engaging an issue. The training will focus on critical race theory specifically, but the methods we will teach reflect our tested best practices about how to invite others into dialogue across disagreements. The registration link is here and a promotional video about the training is here. Hope to see you there.