King's approach was the antithesis of CRT. King was a universalist, like Du Bois and Malcolm X after he left NOI. Bell and Crenshaw were identitarians--their tradition is that of Marcus Garvey and Elijah Muhammad.

https://medium.com/a-universalist-in-an-identitarian-age/identitarianism-and-identity-politics-the-essential-facts-163757fc9045