Commentary Concerns about critical race theory are overblown, according to former President Barack Obama. In a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper on June 7, Obama assumed a dismissive tone when addressing the ideology: “Lo and behold the single most important issue [to the Republican Party] apparently right now is critical race theory,” he said sarcastically. “Who knew that that was the threat to our republic?” Critical race theory is an ideology on the rise in academia and increasingly in mainstream culture. Critical race theory posits that the primary characteristic that defines people and their relationship to the outside world is the color of their skin. The theory prioritizes immutable characteristics over personal substance or, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., content of character. Therefore, parents have been rightfully outraged as this neo-racist philosophy creeps steadily into schools and curricula. In recent months, conversations about critical race theory have …