What are we doing and where are we going part 2 CKT not CRT.  Well I am back with more thought provoking blogging.  I’ve tried to remain silent about the Critical Race Theory (CRT) but alas, I just can’t anymore.

This is going to be a reality check for many so if you can’t take reality then move on to some flowery fiction somewhere else.  This is for cognitive adults and color is not in play.

CRT pre-dates 1619 by hundreds of thousands of years if you even want to use the CRT name.  It dates back to when mankind started walking erect on two feet.  Again, we really don’t know the color of these early humanoids and guess what, it doesn’t matter.

I am going to give my theory a new name, one that is not political, and one that is not racial, and it will explain the differences in the world.  Wow what a blockbuster.  Are you really ready for a walk down Reality Drive?  My theory is CKT or Critical Knowledge Theory.

First of all let’s agree on some acknowledgements: (1) On this Earth there exists societies that are at different levels of development.  (2) the different levels of development have little or nothing to do with the color of the skin of the inhabitants.

Critical Knowledge Theory (CKT) started in the prehistoric era of humankind.  The people of the earth in those days were for the most part hunter-gatherers.  They were at the mercy of the weather, wild game availability, and edible vegetation growth in their area.  When food resources dried up where they were living, they moved to a different location; they were nomadic, they had to be or perish.

Even in those early days, there were innovators.  These innovators learned how to create fire for cooking and heating.  They created primitive tools for constructing better more durable habitats.  They created tools or weapons to hunt with such as spears, knives, traps, fish hooks and yes tools of death to protect their area of existence or take away from a less developed group.  Those groups that obtained and enhanced critical knowledge were able to better survive changes to their environment and external threats than those that didn’t possess this knowledge.  And yes, groups with this knowledge were dominant over those that were not.

So, the old saying that knowledge is power was, is, and will be accurate for the future.

Where am I going with this?  Stand-by.

No baby born on this earth enters the world with pre-conceptions concerning the skin color of other people.  Racism, bigotry, and prejudice are learned from the child’s significant others be that family or friends.  This is a hurdle that all societies struggle with and a hurdle whose summit may never be reached.

Did early America use slave labor? Yes.  Were the slaves from Africa? Yes.  Is slavery still active in America? No.  Is slavery still being used in other parts of the world? Yes.   America recognized that a person owning another person was wrong and fought a war to end that practice.

Did the Civil War end how African Americans were treated in America?  Yes and No.  Yes they were free but they were still segregated to live and be schooled separate from white people.

So one could argue that early on African Americans were denied critical knowledge transfer because the schools they attended were not of the same caliber as white schools.  Other degrading societal rules were also applied to African Americans such as not being allowed to dine in the same room at a restaurant with white people, forced to ride in the back of the bus, and many other rules that were meant to keep them segregated to themselves.

Not until the early 1960’s did school desegregation happen to attempt to right the imbalance that existed between black and white schools.  This was a major step to right many wrongs that were incurred by African Americans.  It was not popular in many places but it was something that had to be done to begin to equalize the access to knowledge.

Since that time there has been much legislation passed to eradicate racially discriminatory practices in America.  Affirmative Action, Title 7, and the establishment of the EEOC are three major pieces of legislation that come to mind and there are many more.

So all of these attempts to allow African Americans equal footing began in the mid 1960’s.  That was 55 years ago.  Did the equalization process start immediately with no barriers?  No of course not.  Human behavior and norms do not turn on and off like a light switch.  The good thing is, we as a nation recognized a problem and we started to try and address it.

So there are several questions we need to ask ourselves and honestly answer.

Do all students have equal access and opportunity to receive knowledge to better themselves regardless of skin color?   Answer: Not 100% but 100% better than what existed in the 1960’s.  Not all public schools are equal and they never will be.  But I will tell you this; if a student has a thirst for knowledge they can acquire this much more readily today than historically.

Are opportunities to increase earning potential equally available across all ethnicities?  Again not 100% but much better than what was available historically.  As American society has evolved the need to level the playing field for the sexes and ethnicities has been realized.  Is the playing field level yet?  Not completely but great progress has been made from where we started.

In 2021 is knowledge being withheld from people because of the color of their skin?  In some countries yes, but in the more developed countries this is not the case.

In conclusion there is no way any student should be taught that they are inherently racist because of the color of their skin.  That is stupid and the people peddling this nonsense are ill-informed as well.

Instead of peddling this poison, educators should be preaching that the acquisition of knowledge should be the most important task any student concentrates on.  Knowledge that will allow them to better themselves for the future.  Knowledge that will allow them to get a good job with a higher earning potential.

The bottom line is America is a nation of mutts.  Our nation was formed from a combination of nationalities from all over the world.  This gives us strength.

Constantly pushing racism between the different ethnicities makes us weaker and only distracts from what is really important; the acquisition of knowledge.

Knowledge is the key to success and knowledge knows no skin color.