Fear of CRT across the country is alarming

Thank you for publishing the informative essay by Jacey Fortinn (Aug. 8, “Critical race theory: A brief history”). The paranoid fear of CRT sweeping across the country is alarming. People who do not even know what CRT is denounce it with fear-based certitude in school board meetings and on Fox News. This has the potential to cripple progress in race relations and delay racial healing for several more centuries.

Why is there so much misplaced fear in America at the moment? People fear people of other races, ethnic cultures or any kind of difference more than we fear the deadening effects of bigotry and hatred.

We fear vaccination more than we fear a viral pandemic. We fear enacting reasonable gun regulation more than we fear the rapid escalation of gun violence in our streets. We appear to fear trusting democratic government more than we fear fascism. Most alarming, we fear truth more than we fear unfounded conspiracy theories, ignorance or outright lies.

To continue wanting to hide in self-made protective cultural bubbles in 2021 rather than face the reality of the racial divide in our country and do the necessary bridge-building to heal it is the kiss of death for the principles upon which the Founders established our nation.

Welcoming diversity, embracing multiculturalism, recognizing systemic racism — these are not dangers to be feared. Rather, they are positive building blocks of a future grounded in “liberty and justice for all.”

SISTER PATRICIA MCCANN

Oakland