Commotion: Role of Critical Race Theory at West Point
The Claim
Critical race theory classes will be detrimental for the United States’ armed forces.
News posted on
Emerging story
Critical race theory (CRT) is extremely controversial. When word came out that it was being taught at West Point, the U.S.’s most prestigious military academy, there was much outrage from the American right. Recently, some Republican pundits on Fox News have started producing content alleging that it will “hurt the military.”
Other people, both public officials and ordinary Twitter users, have criticized the CRT curriculum at West Point.
CRT asserts that racism still has a pervasive influence on society. This extends from the justice system to corporate culture. CRT advocates often argue for societal reform.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar's investigation found that the claims about CRT as vastly overstated. It’s only taught in one class, “The Politics of Race, Gender, and Sexuality.” Even then, it has a small presence in the curriculum – there are two lessons about race and one single reading of CRT. The class is an elective, too. It is taken almost exclusively by upper-level political science majors. Fox News also alleged that China “couldn’t do better” to hurt the U.S. military than have CRT be taught in the US military.
Since taking one class seems unlikely to hurt the military, we rate this as commotion.
