User:Davidwhittle/sandbox
The definition of Critical Race Theory and its implications for society became a subject of controversy in March of 2012, following the circulation of a 1990 video, posted by Breitbart.com with segments broadcast by Sean Hannity on Fox News, featuring a young Barack Obama, then a student at Harvard Law School and President of the Harvard Law Review, introducing Harvard Law Professor Derrick Bell, one of the originators of Critical Race Theory, at a protest in support of Bell's demand that Harvard Law School appoint its first black female tenured professor.
Many, including CNN's Soledad O'Brien, saw the video as demonstrating a typically cordial relationship between a professor and a student[1]. Some, labeling the controversy "hug-gate,"[2] asserted that the critics were overhyping issues that had already been well vetted and dismissed as unimportant[3]. Others wrote that the right was engaged in a propagandistic attempt to establish guilt by association to Bell and CRT via a decades old relationship in order to smear Obama[4], and others said it represented an attack on America's black intellectuals.[2]
Critics of CRT mistakenly asserted that the video had been previously hidden[5]. They saw in the video evidence that the young Obama embraced not only Bell but also CRT[2] because he had introduced Bell with an appeal to "open up your hearts and your minds to the words of Professor Derrick Bell."[6][5] CRT critics also asserted that President Obama's alleged "radical past"[7] indicated a sympathy for CRT that was being manifest in his administration, particularly in the Justice Department[8] and its reduction and dismissal[9] of voter intimidation charges against the New Black Panthers, in education[10], and in the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan[11].
- ^ Crugnale, James (March 8, 2012). "Soledad O'Brien And Breitbart's Joel Pollak Clash Over Critical Race Theory". Mediaite. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
- ^ a b c {{cite web|url=http://www.salon.com/2012/03/21/how_breitbart_and_arizona_seized_on_critical_race_theory/singleton/ |title=How Breitbart and Arizona seized on "critical race theory" accessdate=2012-03-22| author=Alex Seitz-Wald |work=Salon Cite error: The named reference "salon" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Graham, David A. (March 8, 2012). "Breitbart.com's Massive Barack Obama-Derrick Bell Video Fail". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
- ^ Jonathan Chait. "Derrick Bell and Jewish Republican Paranoia". New York (magazine). Retrieved 2012-03-22.
- ^ a b "Obama Harvard Tapes Exposed on Hannity". Fox Nation. Fox News. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
- ^ "Video: Obama Speaks at Harvard Law in '90". Frontline. Public Broadcasting Service. April 24, 1990. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
{{cite web}}: Text "PBS Video" ignored (help); Text "Watch FRONTLINE Online" ignored (help); Unknown parameter|Quote=ignored (|quote=suggested) (help) - ^ "If Obama's Past Isn't a Concern, Why Cover It Up?". Investor's Business Daily. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
- ^ "Obama's Beloved Law Professor: Derrick Bell". Breitbart.com. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
- ^ "Race Neutral Enforcement of the Law? The U.S. Department of Justice and the New Black Panther Party Litigation - An Interim Report" (PDF). U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
- ^ Kyle Olson. "The Vetting: Bell's Critical Race Theory Promoted in Public Schools" (PDF). Breitbart.com Big Government. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
- ^ John Sexton. "The Vetting: Kagan, Bell, and Critical Race Theory". The Washington Times. Retrieved 22 March 2012.