Young: Critical race theory: Comprehensive change for more Americans

When I first arrived on the Bloomington campus of Indiana University as a 17-year-old freshman, I didn’t know then how much I would fall in love with the Herman B. Wells Library. As a kid growing up in Washington, D.C., the Young family frequented the public libraries so often they felt like a second home. I extended the close-knit relationship to IU’s library system. The Stacks is where I found voices that spoke to me that were for years only a faint whisper and became a bellow that called to me, quenching a thirst that told tales of the complex history of our beloved country.

One of the early, most impressionable pieces I stumbled upon during my freelance, non-required reading sessions during undergrad was by late law professor Derrick Bell. His epic “Faces at the Bottom of the Well” reverberates to this day. For many, it has been pulled into a contemporary discourse centered on curriculum and cancel culture, as well as the telling and retelling of American history.

Bell’s work encompassed years of research, collaboration and deep insight into an issue that has plagued the United States dating back to colonization and the onset of the Revolutionary War: race in America. Dating back to the early 1970s, Bell and others began using critical race theory (CRT), considered to be a descendant of critical legal theory. Bell’s “Race, Racism and American Law” is viewed as a seminal work that captures the essence of CRT and the nexus between our legal systems and inequality. Throughout Bell’s career as a law professor at Harvard University, University of Southern California, New York University and serving as a dean at the University of Oregon School of Law, he wrote and researched through the lens of a Black man, civil rights attorney and academician. Blending these multiple disciplines, experiences and perspectives, Bell dissected America’s political, social and economic systems. Since the 70s, CRT has continued to be a key component of law school courses and the work of numerous professionals seeking to address the rampant inequalities within American life.

With all the work done over the past 40 years, CRT remains confounding to many, used as a tool by countless more and simply ignored by most. Is CRT a worthwhile study that can lead to transformational change? Amid the search for justice across fields including law enforcement, health care and education, one could imagine a need for a framework that distills the noise into a cognizable symphony of tactics that leads to the realization of the American Dream, particularly those whose access has been stymied.

At its most basic level, CRT proposes that racism is a social construct that is based upon legal systems and polices, not just individualized biases or prejudices. From federal and local housing laws/ordinances to the policies and practices of financial institutions, the targets of these actions were often Black business owners, prospective homebuyers and veterans returning to American shores after service abroad. Conversely, the vitriol that is espoused by various hate groups, captured infamously in “The Birth of a Nation” and on full display four years ago in Charlottesville, Virginia, represents the personal beliefs and biases carried by some; those are the low-hanging fruits of racism. The course we are currently on encourages the masses to aspire only to the easiest and most convenient arguments against what they believe is critical race theory.

The political football is marching its way down the field that is increasingly congested with rhetoric that permeates social media and cable news. After protecting one’s end zone, pundits on the left and right shout over each other’s “arguments” while avoiding the reality that lies before them: CRT seeks to illustrate, educate and lead to the dissolution of unjust systems through legal and fair means.

CRT is not about demonizing America or turning the youth against patriotism. CRT is about evaluating data, leading to comprehensive change that benefits more Americans, not less. The work being done across the country in countless, not all, circles can more readily be attributed to diversity, equity and inclusion work as well anti-racism efforts that homes in on individual and systemic forms of racism. Organizations public and private have invested heavily since the George Floyd murder in that arena, leading groups to revamp policies, issue statements and participate in voluminous forms of trainings.

Let’s not take the bait. We have the chance to do compelling work by interrogating systems and practices that are flawed, that lead to disproportionate outcomes across disciplines and industries. As practitioners in the private and public practice of law, the opportunity to engage in real debate is before us, and it is incumbent upon this profession to reach higher than the plump fruit, which some would argue is poisonous, and seek the slightly out-of-reach more difficult issues centered on closing wealth, opportunity and achievement gaps while also creating a policy roadmap that uplifts and empowers all.

I still recall the first time I read Bell’s “Faces at the Bottom of the Well.” I sat in a cubicle on one of the higher floors in The Stacks. A dim light illuminated the pages while I questioned what professor Bell argued through various metaphors and fictional accounts. The allegories presented the case of racism’s persistence in America. The pragmatist and optimist in me wrestled while Bell’s prose compelled me to delve deeper into our complicated past and present issues with race in America. The work that must be done to prove his thesis wrong is underway, though we cannot get steered off course by banal arguments and red herrings. Let us all roll up our collective sleeves and work together to build better systems that work for us and future generations.•

• Ahmed Young is general counsel and chief of external affairs for Indianapolis Public Schools. Opinions expressed are those of the author.