CRT is a legal academic discipline that began in the 1980s. In 2020, the far right co-opted the term CRT, weaponizing it as a boogeyman in the latest culture war pushed by Republicans. Currently, more than 18 states have enacted policies targeting CRT, according to Education Week. Most notoriously, in 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act,” which prohibited educators from teaching lessons on race or LGBTQ issues.
In an interview with NPR, renowned legal scholar Kimberle Crenshaw, who coined the term CRT, said that she regards far right attacks on the legal discipline as an attempt to erase history and deteriorate democratic processes. “The attack on our democracy and the attack on anti-racism are one in the same,” she said.