Where Did Critical Race Theory Come From By Dr. Terry Stoops

In the article, “Where Did Critical Race Theory Come From?”, Dr. Terry Stoops defines the origins of Critical Race Theory, defining the impact it has had on society today. At the beginning of the text, Stoops summarizes its main points as: White supremacy and racism are deeply embedded in American society and systems, which inherently benefits white people. White people have implicit racial biases. “Dominant groups use racism systematically to maintain imbalanced power relationships with historically oppressed groups” (Stoops, 2021). The origins of Critical Race Theory begin in Marxism, a social, political, and economic theory that describes the unbalanced relationship between the working class and capitalists. Adjacent theories relating to

This is where he states that Critical Race Theory transforms from residing in a collegiate setting to “a movement that demands its adherents transform supposedly racist institutions, structures, and ideals through hardline activism” (Stoops, 2021). However, Stoops does not see these impacts as positive. He indicates towards the end that teaching Critical Race Theory in classrooms will cause “woke educators” to impress their beliefs onto students. “Woke”, as described by Taryn Fenske, DeSantis’s communications director, is a “slang term for progressive activism”. This language is also reflected in the change in definition earlier, indicating that he believes these views to be extreme and unnecessary. Furthermore, Dr. Stoops describes Critical race theory as “asserting its assumed moral authority”, meaning that he believes that critical race theorists are claiming that white people are inherently morally compromised because of their inherent biases against Black people. He also describes one of their goals is to “[make] physical and symbolic changes to things deemed offensive or racist” (Stoops,