It’s one branch of tree

What’s wrong with critical race theory is not that it might induce some white children to feel guilty about how Blacks have been treated in America for the past 500 years. Instead, the fallacy of critical race theory is its failure to recognize that racism is simply one branch of the tree technically known as xenophobia (fear and hatred of strangers), a tree that has flourished throughout recorded history.

Other branches of this tree are religious persecution (such as antisemitism, the violent conflicts between Catholics against Protestants during the Middle Ages, and the wars that Christians waged against Muslims during the Crusades), along with misogyny, fear of immigrants and so forth.

The universality of xenophobia, its existence throughout recorded history, and the lack of a widely accepted remedy don’t justify passive acceptance of it.

We know that xenophobia has historically been associated with economic stress and rapid technological changes, as demonstrated by its current spread throughout much of the Western world.

Most of these concepts are of ancient origin. They are explored in great detail in a newly published book, “Of Fear and Strangers: A History of Xenophobia,” written by Dr. George Makari, a psychiatrist and historian who is director of the Institute for the History of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.

For anyone interested in learning more about xenophobia, the book provides an up-to-date comprehensive study of the subject.

RICHARD A. WILLIAMS

Little Rock