Condi Rice Condemns CRT: It Makes White People Feel Guilty, Black People Disempowered Photo: National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice talks with reporters at the White House in this Feb. 22, 2001 file photo. (AP Photo/Joe Marquette, file)
Former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who served under both Bush presidencies, is not a fan of critical race theory (CRT) because she says it makes white people feel “guilty” and disempowers Black people.
“The way we’re talking about race is that it … seems so big that somehow white people now have to feel guilty for everything that happened in the past,” Rice said on the Morning TV show “The View” on Oct. 20. According to Rice, CRT makes white students “feel guilty” and condemns Black students as “disempowered.”
Critical race theory examines how racial bias is fundamentally embedded in the fabric of America and has shaped policy and society. This is generally taught in colleges and universities.
“I don’t think that’s very productive,” Rice said. “Black people feel disempowered by race. I would like Black kids to be completely empowered to know they are beautiful in their Blackness, but in order to do that, I don’t have to make white kids feel bad for being white. So, somehow this is a conversation that has gone in the wrong direction.”
Rice told “The View” hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin, Joy Behar, and Sara Haines about her upbringing in segregated Birmingham, Alabama.
“My parents never thought I was going to grow up in a world without prejudice, but they also told me, ‘That’s somebody else’s problem, not yours. You’re going to overcome it and you are going to be anything you want to be,'” Rice said. “That’s the message that I think we ought to be sending to kids.”
Many conservatives including Rice have claimed that school-age children are being taught these fundamentals. “I’m not certain 7-year-olds need to learn it,” Rice said.
But critical race theory is not taught in K-12 classrooms. Republican lawmakers have passed legislation to prevent critical race theory from being included in discussions in classrooms, Yahoo News reported.
Rice added that Black children could be taught about their history, but it could not be without progress being highlighted or making their white counterparts feel bad.
Rice is the director of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. She served as national security advisor from 2001 to 2005 and U.S. secretary of state from 2005 to 2009.
Rice’s comments on CRT didn’t sit well with many on Black Twitter.
“So, I attend that same academic institution she holds a position at and am not surprised she thinks this way. The number of tenured Black women here is paltry, FWIW. I often feel Condi has been so empowered that she forgets that empowerment has not been evenly distributed,” tweeted Tiffani Ashley Bell, the founder and executive director at The Human Utility, a nonprofit that aims to make water affordable to all in the U.S.
Another Twitter user blasted Rice for spreading misinformation. “I see Condoleezza Rice is throwing around republican false narratives. Crt is NOT taught in k-12. Teaching real history does NOT make white kids feel bad. If Black kids, Spanish kids, and Asian kids can experience racism at a early, than white kids can learn about it,” tweeted Tie @Tyecolt.
Others on Twitter called for voters to decide the CRT issue at the ballot box. “Because we live in a world where systemic racism hinders us from educating individuals how not to be racist to us. Only way to end this vicious cycle is by cutting the head off the snake. Vote wisely,” TheHighestFormOfSelf @NduwimanaKetsia tweeted.
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