In the summer of 2021, I opened my local paper (a print copy, even) to find a featured column on “the disturbing consequences of critical race theory.” “College students learn Critical Race Theory's roots; K-12 students get the theory's poison fruits.”1 Krista Kafer, the author, was born in Colorado, where she now writes on educational themes for The Denver Post.

A local voice in a local opinion section, at a glance. This chapter will conclusively show that there is little of the local here, save a vague initiative or two and some quotes suggesting their threat to the dominant community. Something about “white families in this city giving up something” and “reallocating resources to our black and brown schools.”

The other local twist takes the shape of worried parents in the area. “Teacher and mom Amanda Towry … who is earning her Ph.D.,” for example, “resents the insinuation that as a Hispanic woman she is oppressed.” Ah yes, that warrant again: Others say so too—this time, a woman of color (double tick!) and well-educated to boot (bonus!). Towry is not alone, of course:

Now there is a student who can summarize the takeaways! Or perhaps Kopfle latched on to these sound bites when she heard—on Fox News, Facebook, or wherever else—that critical race theory (CRT) ought to alarm her. Or could it be that Kafer projected these talking points? Plausible, since the barest search reveals she spent nine years in DC as an education policy expert at The Heritage Foundation, a well-known think tank on the right.

In the end, it doesn't matter, because one thing we can say for sure. None of them, not even Kafer, is the author of this story or the feeling it spreads. ‘People’ are worried, but it's not exactly their concern. They do share it, though—as in, pass it around and feel it in common. CRT is a spreadable menace; you can just sense it.

How did it become so?