NAACP hosts critical race theory forum headlined by IU law professor
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Constitution Society teamed up to host a forum on critical race theory Wednesday at IUPUI’s McKinney School of Law.
In 1989, IU Maurer School of Law Professor Kevin Brown participated in the first the first CRT seminar.
He says CRT focuses on how how the economic disparities between Blacks and whites hasn’t changed much since civil rights laws took effect in the mid-1960s.
“Family income, unemployment, poverty rates, college graduation rates, life expectancy, home ownership [are all impacted],” Brown said.
Brown says Supreme Court decisions made in the 1970s and 1980s froze some of those disparities into place.
Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, says CRT doesn’t treat all Americans equally, and he fears the course will be forced upon the military and federal government work force.
“What the architects of critical race theory really want is ideological conformity upon the views of the left,” Gonzalez said.
Brown says CRT is only intended to be taught at the college level to predominately white law school students.
“We were speaking to lawyers, law professors, judges and politicians. We were not speaking to K-12 students. I don’t think my critical race theory class is appropriate for anyone in K-12,” Brown said.
Brown adds that CRT also teaches society not to normalize the notion that Black people have less than others.