What the hysteria over critical race theory is really all about

Watching the news or browsing social media, it would be easy to think that critical race theory is a complicated, controversial, or new idea.

But critical race theory, created four decades ago by legal scholars, is an academic framework for examining how racism is embedded in America’s laws and institutions. It is just now receiving widespread attention because it has morphed into a catchall category, one used by Republicans who want to ban anti-racist teachings and trainings in classrooms and workplaces across the country.

Over the past six months, Republicans...