If you don't watch MSNBC on the weekend, consider yourself fortunate. It's even nuttier than on weekdays. On Saturday, MSNBC weekend host Tiffany Cross claimed Critical Race Theory is just the latest culture war boogeyman conservatives are using in their attempt to "whitewash" America. Yet, she also maintained on her Saturday show that CRT is necessary in order to explain why 1619 Project creator Nikole Hannah-Jones was initially denied tenure at the University of North Carolina.
Cross came out of commercial break playing a clip of Sen. Tom Cotton saying that CRT should not be taught in the service academies after an Air Force Academy professor wrote a Washington Post op-ed claiming it was necessary to teach cadets about racism and its history.
Calling Cotton's position, "garbage," Cross warned "Republicans at the conservative gathering known as CPAC, they continue to stoke fears over their latest culture war boogeyman: Critical Race Theory."
Claiming to know what conservatives really want, Cross declared, "actually what they want is to whitewash the truth about America. The one that they think already exists and the one that we are trying to bring into existence."
Trying to provide evidence for her claim, Cross declared:
Meanwhile, this week the news surrounding Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure fight with the University of North Carolina was an example of what the theory teaches: that racism is so entrenched in every aspect of our lives and an overqualified Pulitzer Prize Winner and MacArthur Genius had to threaten a lawsuit in order to be given begrudgingly the same opportunity as white people who came before her in that position, and ultimately she chose an HBCU instead.
Technically, Cross isn't wrong to say that CRT proves Hannah-Jones was initially denied tenure because of racism, but that is only because CRT's circular reasoning forbids people like Cross from acknowledging that critics left and right panned the 1619 Project as historically inaccurate.
In an interview with Hannah-Jones and fellow Howard University faculty member Ta-Nehisi Coates, Cross asked, "You’ve really been in a lot of battles and it started with the launch of the 1619 Project to introduce the debate around Critical Race Theory and now this fight around tenure. I'm just curious from you, what has this process taught you about the current state of America today?"
Proving all 1619 Projects correct, Hannah-Jones claimed, "What it taught me is that the work that Ta-Nehisi and I do do, the work that you do, is vital because we are still fighting against the instincts that were baked into a country that began with chattel slavery."
She asserted systemic racism can be seen in "the wave of voter suppression laws and anti-free speech laws that are trying to stop us from learning the true history of our country. All of these efforts are really affirming and confirming why we do the work that we do, which is when it comes to our politics, our culture, our society, race continues to be an organizing factor."
The media continuing to claim Republicans are suppressing the vote and accurate history, will not suddenly make it true.
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Here is a transcript for the July 10 show. Click "expand" to read more.
MSNBC
The Cross Connection with Tiffany Cross
11:00 AM ET
TIFFANY CROSS: Alright, welcome back to The Cross Connection. Now, you'll likely hear more of this, let’s just call it what it is, garbage, from Republicans this weekend at the conservative gathering known as CPAC as they continue to stoke fears over their latest culture war boogeyman: Critical Race Theory. But actually what they want is to whitewash the truth about America. The one that they think already exists and the one that we are trying to bring into existence. Meanwhile, this week the news surrounding Nikole Hannah-Jones's tenure fight with the University of North Carolina was an example of what the theory preaches: that racism is so entrenched in every aspect of our lives and an overqualified Pulitzer Prize Winner and MacArthur Genius had to threaten a lawsuit in order to be given begrudgingly the same opportunity as white people who came before her in that position.
And ultimately she chose an HBCU instead. She is joining the Mecca, Howard University, along with Ta-Nehisi Coates, who is to culture what Marvin Gaye is to soul, what Nasir Jones is to hip hop, and what Jean-Michel Basquiat is to art. Joining me now is the brand new inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism from Howard University, the wonderful Nikole Hannah-Jones and Sterling Brown Chair in the department of English at Howard University, Ta-Nehisi Coates. I am so thrilled to have you both here. Nikole, you are everything, my friend. I'm just so happy for you and thrilled and congratulations to the students at Howard because they are in for a treat this fall. You’ve really been in a lot of battles. I mean, it really started with the launch of the 1619 Project to introduce the debate around Critical Race Theory and now this fight around tenure. I'm just curious from you, what has this process taught you about the current state of America today?
NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES: Well, thanks for having us both on, excited to be here with you. What it taught me is that the work that Ta-Nehisi and I do do, the work that you do, is vital because we are still fighting against the instincts that were baked into a country that began with chattel slavery. So, all of the arguments we're seeing that we don't come from a fundamentally racist country, our past is not a racist past, that racial inequality, anything we see today when it comes to racial inequality, is simply a matter of individual choices, all of that is being disproven by what we're seeing across our country. Not just with my tenure fight. That's the least of our worries in this country. But the wave of voter suppression laws and anti-free speech laws that are trying to stop us from learning the true history of our country. All of these efforts are really affirming and confirming why we do the work that we do, which is when it comes to our politics, our culture, our society, race continues to be an organizing factor.
