From “Why are states banning critical race theory” by Senior Fellow of Governance Studies Reshawn Ray and Research Intern Alexandra Gibbons:

“CRT does not attribute racism to white people as individuals or even to entire groups of people. Simply put, critical race theory states that U.S. social institutions (e.g., the criminal justice system, education system, labor market, housing market, and healthcare system) are laced with racism embedded in laws, regulations, rules, and procedures that lead to differential outcomes by race. Sociologists and other scholars have long noted that racism can exist without racists. However, many Americans are not able to separate their individual identity as an American from the social institutions that govern us—these people perceive themselves as the system. Consequently, they interpret calling social institutions racist as calling them racist personally. It speaks to how normative racial ideology is to American identity that some people just cannot separate the two...”

From “Demonizing Critical Race Theory” by New York Times Opinion columnist Charles M. Blow:

“Right-wing politics in America is exhausted, out of ideas on how we should proceed and progress as a country, so instead they focus on maintenance: How can power and influence be maintained in its current form — white-controlled, largely by straight white men — or, how can we revert to a time in which they had even more power? This is done by whipping up hysteria in the base about something, anything, that threatens to bring about fuller inclusion of more people and an expansion of rights.”

From “NOTES ON CRITICAL RACE THEORY: AN ESSAY BY GREGORY PARDLO”:

“If we believe that we live in a meritocratic society, then we must believe that when entire communities fail to achieve social and economic stability, they only have themselves to blame. We can only reach such a conclusion through moral indifference and willful historical ignorance, which is not (necessarily) racism, but it is an ignorance that finds its antidote in the kinds of inquiry and analysis that are now being painted with the term ‘critical race theory.’”