  Visual culture has long been deployed by actors across the political spectrum
as tools of political mobilization, and have recently incorporated new
communication tools, such as memes, GIFs, and emojis. In this study, we analyze
the top-circulated Facebook memes relating to critical race theory (CRT) from
May 2021 - May 2022 to investigate their visual and textual appeals. Using
image clustering techniques and critical discourse analysis, we find that both
pro- and anti-CRT memes deploy similar rhetorical tactics to make bifurcating
arguments, most of which do not pertain to the academic formulations of CRT.
Instead, these memes manipulate definitions of racism and antiracism to appeal
to their respective audiences. We argue that labeling such discursive practices
as simply a symptom of "post-truth" politics is a potentially unproductive
stance. Instead, theorizing the knowledge-building practices of these memes
through a lens of political epistemology allows us to understand how they
produce meaning.
