Critical Race, Caste, Class Theory or History.......by Rajvinder K.Heyer Dhillon 

February 7, 2022: January was the month when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born, and another Leader Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, January 27th was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Feb is a Black History Month which inspired some Dalit women in 2013 led by Aruna Sanghapali to start the project of Dalit History Month in April to honor Dalit Leader Dr. Ambedkar and achievements of Dalit People.

I thought let me give my two cents worth about Critical Race theory in the USA, which is a flashpoint for Conservative Red State Republicans to excite their base and it was initiated by Mr. Trump in Sept. 2020 banning diversity training in Corporations and Educational Institutions. 

There is an unwritten Rule that losing Presidents go into quiet retirement, but Trump has defied the trend. Oh boy, I was wrong. To keep his 30% Republicans who believe in White Supremacy KKK and QAnon, he had sown the seeds of CRT and his conservatives Republican Cronies made this Boogieman to win the midterm elections. Terry McAuliffe was the first casualty when he lost to Young kin in Virginia.

In the Sixties and Seventies, Mr. Bell and Kimberle’ Crenshaw and several American legal scholars simply put that CRT states that US Social Institutions, Criminal Justice System, Education System, labor Market, housing Market and healthcare system have Systemic Racism so that is why CRT is taught in Colleges and Law School to argue the cases in the court of law. Nobody is teaching Critical Race theory K-12. They are Teaching American History and Black History is part of it.

CRT is not a Theory but History which is being taught in K-12 Schools. Enslavement of Black people from African Countries to work in White Plantation who were not considered human beings but property like Cows, Horses. 

In 1896 Plessy Versus Ferguson challenged the Separate but equal law by sitting in a white-only car and lost. Trail of Tears when in 1830 five Tribes of Indigenous People were forced out of their States and moved them to the west of Mississippi River, 4000 Native Americans died, Jim Crow laws Civil Rights Movement, Rosa Parks story which started the Montgomery Bus boycott, Bloody Sunday 1965 when Late John Lewis marched Edmund petrous bridge for voting rights and got beaten badly by State Troopers. Brown Versus Board of education in 1954 when federal marshals escorted Ruby Bridges to an all-white school.

 Greensboro four in 1960 4 African American sat down at whites-only Woolworth’ lunch counter in Greensboro NC that accelerated Civil Rights Movement, separate fountains, Bathrooms for non-white and White people, the list goes on.

There is a Proverb “Might is Right “ means who has Power can do anything. In the 17th and 18th Centuries when White Europeans started the Slave trade, they brought the African People on Ships and auctioned to white Cotton and Tobacco Plantation owners. 

Today Might is Right again in Illinois and Florida where white Governor DeSantis and White Republican Education Board wants to Bar the teaching Black History because the White children feel, traumatized and ashamed that their Ancestors were Oppressors Let me ask him How do you think Groveland 4, who were convicted in 1949 by all-White jury because of Jim Crow laws of South in Nov. 2021 Florida Judge exonerated all four.

 Tulsa Massacre when they destroyed Black township, their businesses and killed so many Black people. 14 Years old Emmet Till was accused of whistling at white lady , her husband killed him and threw his body in the river, then all-White Jury acquitted him, White Plantation owner can rape any slave’s daughter or his wife nobody even the head of the state can question him, how do you think their parents and children felt . 

These Conservatives White Republicans from 13 Red states has the Gaul to ban Books in the School Libraries especially written by Black Authors, Brown Girl dreaming, The Story of Ruby Bridges, Beloved by Tony Morrison, The Hate U Give and some old classics written by White Authors about Race To kill a Mockingbird, Catcher and Rye Huckleberry finn, The great Gatsby, Harry Potter name a few. Recently “Stamped “ and “Maus” a graphic novel about his father, a Holocaust Survivor by Art Spiegelman. Where is the First Amendment , freedom of expression and speech?

There is no CRT, there is CCT Critical Caste Theory in India. Four Castes defined by Manu Brahmins, (Priests and Teachers ) Kshatriyas(Ruler and Warriors , Vaishyas (Merchants and cultivators and Shudras (Untouchables , Dalit). It was abolished in 1950 but it still exists. In 1990 they started Reservations or Quota for lower caste applicants for college admissions and jobs, just like in the USA they have affirmative action for Afro Americans women and minorities. In the USA.

 Recently I learned it cropped up in USA where Dalit (Untouchables)students are harassed by Upper Caste or Class students from India in University Campuses. Prem Pariyar a Dalit student from Nepal at California State University who flew from caste and political persecution from Nepal was extremely disappointed to learn that the same caste discrimination that he tried to escape is present and alive in United States. With the help of Thenmozhi Soundararajan Executive director of equity labs and tireless efforts of student-led inter-faith and inter-caste individuals like Manmit Singh via conversations, forums and peaceful protests have persuaded all 23 California University State Campuses to add Caste to anti-discrimination policy and they are trying to add other Universities too.

At the end I will urge the parents of all Ethnic groups of Race Caste and class, to guide their children, you cannot erase or whitewash History and you do not have to be ashamed, feel guilt or anguish if your Ancestors were Oppressors or Oppressed. It is your actions that count follow the Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who did not care about the Caste or Race of an Individual but the Character.