“DIVISIVE"

How the right enforces the myth of American unity

- Stephen Kearse

WEEKS BEFORE losing the 2020 election, President Donald Trump offered a glimpse of the tactic that has defined his second term. It took the form of an executive order banning federal workplace diversity training; the tone was grave, the legalese pulsing with indignation. Public servants, contractors, and military personnel, Executive Order 13950 alleged, were being taught hate, and "divisive concepts" promoted by a "malign ideology" threatened to resurrect ideas "soundly defeated on the bloodstained battlefields of the Civil War." This neo-Confederate enemy, as it turned out, was almost any mention of racism, and specifically critical race theory (CRT), an academic framework that studies how racism shapes law, health care, and education.

Joe Biden's administration rescinded the order. But during his presidency, the right continued to obsess over CRT and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), contorting them into a raging kaiju. Red-state lawmakers piled on gleefully, introducing hundreds of bills, resolutions, and policies circumscribing how racism and inequality are addressed in public forums ranging from K-12 schools and universities to state health departments. "Critical Race Theory is divisive and undermines the cohesion of our troops," Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) tweeted in 2021. Such "divisive concepts," declared a 2022 Tennessee law barring diversity training at public universities, "exacerbate and inflame divisions."