Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had “no reason” to invoke books relating to critical race theory during the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Hannah-Jones made the comments during the National Antiracist Book Festival hosted by Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research.
Cruz asked Jackson if she agrees with the book “Antiracist Baby,” authored by the director of BU’s Center for Antiracist Research Ibram X Kendi, who has said that racial discrimination is not always “inherently racist.”
“Since the 1960s, racist power has commandeered the term ‘racial discrimination,’ transforming the act of discriminating on the basis of race into an inherently racist act. But if racial discrimination is defined as treating, considering, or making a distinction in favor or against an individual based on that person’s race, then racial discrimination is not inherently racist. The defining question is whether the discrimination is creating equity or inequity. If discrimination is creating equity, then it is antiracist,” Kendi wrote in his 2019 book “How to Be an Antiracist.”
