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CRT Is Just A Fancy Way Of Saying The N-Word

It’s just the latest racist dog-whistle, and that dog still hunts

indi.ca
5 min readNov 3, 2021

White Americans have figured out that they can’t say the n-word, but they’ll use every other synonym. White people have complained bitterly about school desegregation, busing, teaching about African American English (Ebonics), and now Critical Race Theory. They’re all racist dog whistles, and that dog still hunts.

This isn’t my idea but something Lee Atwater said in 1981*. He said “You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger” — that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract.”

Lee Atwater with Ronald Reagan

Atwater was an adviser to Reagan, Bush I, and Chairman of the Republican National Committee. In his own wretchedly candid way, he described what’s still happening today. He said:

I’ll say this, my generation, you’re my generation, we’re the first generation of Southerners that’s not been racist. Totally. In other words, my parents and even people five or ten years older than me were touched with things they were…

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indi.ca
indi.ca

Written by indi.ca

Indrajit (Indi) Samarajiva is a Sri Lankan writer. Follow me at www.indi.ca, or just email me at indi@indi.ca.

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