You have a point, PoliTalker. CRT has been around for a long time but became a hot button issue only recently.
Found this in a piece on the history of CRT opposition:
"...Enter Christopher Rufo, a 36-year-old self-described “political brawler” from Gig Harbor Washington. He, like other political hustlers, had recognized the need to replace vacuous terms like “political correctness” and “cancel culture.” After reviewing a 2020 City of Seattle anti-bias training session, Rufo found the “perfect villain.” By cherry-picking a few Marxist academicians, he found a way to tie anti-racism to anti-capitalism. Ignoring far more relevant influences like Martin Luther King, he discovered a way to turn Critical Race Theory into a political cudgel. This insight brought him to Tucker Carlson and the Trump White House.
And so the campaign to vilify Critical Race Theory took shape, starting with a concerted effort to mischaracterize it. Blur the distinction between pedagogy and curriculum. Accentuate the most glaring examples of dubious anti-racism techniques (e.g., privilege ranking and bookshelf decolonization). Reframe it as an effort to indoctrinate young children. Avoid any constructive discussion of improving specific techniques. Conflate it with terms that poll poorly (e.g., Antifa and wokeness). Redefine it as an assault on American values.
The next phase of the anti- Critical Race Theory campaign? Create a story with vivid enemies and heroes. Attack progressives not as advocates of equal opportunity, but as arrogant academicians leading woke mobs against honest, hard-working (and non-racist) whites. Portray Critical Race Theory opponents as brave cultural heroes manning the ramparts against Marxists who would brainwash our children and destroy our nation. And cloak the campaign in disingenuous rhetoric, such as the trope that fighting racism is no longer necessary in a nation that elected a Black President."
https://www.civicway.org/saving-democracy/critical-race-theory-fact-versus-fiction/