Critical race theory (CRT) is a way that scholars study and teach civil rights and the history of race, especially in the United States. Critical race theory shows another way of thinking and doing things than mainstream American liberal racial justice. CRT looks at social, cultural, and legal things and the way they affect race and racism. CRT says that the reason white people ended up and stayed richer and more politically powerful than people of other races was not only because of people acting racist on purpose. It was also because of complicated, changing social rules that people didn't always know were there.