Divided We Stand | Center for Equal Opportunity

Writers said to inhabit the political center (usually means they are liberal] are reporting some interesting news, which is, as Eric Kaufmann says in the New York Times, that “the country is not divided by racial conflict but by conflict over racial ideology.” As he also says, “America isn’t racially divided, it’s divided by racial ideology.” Seems right to me.

“Race pertains to communities defined by ancestry and physical appearance,” says Kaufmann, while “racial ideology turns instead on race as a political idea.” Kaufmann says that white is “a description of a person’s race whereas feelings about whether whites are privileged or whether diversity makes the country stronger are [expressions] of a person’s racial ideology.”

Kaufmann’s piece confirms what might be called division by racial ideology. He says that this kind of division is “a good thing for the country because ideological differences, however lamentable, are less polarizing than racial conflict, in which whole communities mobilize against an enemy.” He cites survey results showing that liberal whites are “setting the tone on these issues.” His hope is that “American political elites” (whatever their race and ethnicity) can help heal the country’s divisions.

What such “healing” would mean is not elaborated but going after such “micro-aggression” statements as “America is a colorblind society” would be a regrettable project. After all, America has become a more colorblind society thanks to its colorblind laws. Consider the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbade discrimination in public accommodations and employment and has proved one our most effective laws ever.

Kaufmann treats surveys on diversity in which 2018 voters were asked whether increasing diversity made the United States better or worse, or made no difference. Here my patience with the poll and survey world starts to run out, for it is not clear what “increasing diversity” might have meant to those surveyed. There already is a lot of diversity out there, and some of it has led to lawsuits, including one joined by the Center for Equal Opportunity that challenges the “diversity rationale.” As our readers know, diversity has been used to justify racial preferences in admissions, with discrimination the result.

So would increasing diversity lead to more discrimination, rather than eventually putting a stop to it? If that’s what diversity means, put me down for colorblind equal opportunity instead.

Meanwhile, making a contribution to diversity is the New York Times, which included this earnest reminder at the end of Eric Kaufmann’s article:

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles . . . .

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