John Marshal Harlan, the subject of last week’s column, said in his dissenting opinion of Plessy v. Ferguson — “Our Constitution is color blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful.”
Today, I want to focus on these five words, “Our Constitution is color blind.”
This sentiment and desire of many of our country’s leaders goes back to our founding fathers.
The Declaration of Independence, penned by Thomas Jefferson says, “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Notice it does not say, “all white men.”
Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. each fought for and demanded a color-blind society.
What does that mean?
Andre Archie, Professor of Philosophy at Colorado State University and author of The Virtue of Color-Blindness, explains it: “To be color-blind is to be guided by the belief that immutable traits, such as race, tell you nothing important about a person. The color of your skin is as meaningless as the color of your eyes. What matters are your actions.”
This dream was effectively reached when a majority of Americans elected Barack Obama, President of the United States. This is not to say that racism was eradicated. However, compared to the 1960s, a tipping point was reached.
When Obama was elected President, Archie said, “No one who espoused overtly racist views was taken seriously in America.”
Today, the calls for a color-blind society are being replaced with anti-racism.
One of the leaders promoting this new movement, Ibram X. Kendi, a professor at Boston University, defines it as follows: “The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”
Kendi explains the world by race. A more antiseptic term for this is Critical Race Theory (CRT). Another acronym that pushes this flawed theory is DEI — Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
This is the path that President Joe Biden’s Administration is taking us down.
Last week, his administration announced the appointment of Zakiya Carr Johnson as the State Department’s chief diversity and inclusion officer.
Johnson previously said the US is a “failed historic model.”
Johnson signed onto a letter in June 2020 that outlined these antiracist comments —“We strongly believe that feminist leadership must be antiracist in order to transform our societies. Today we call for… long-term transformation… We will do our part to uplift and amplify feminist leaders of color, counter White-centered feminism trends and narratives, and share Black and Brown feminists’ wisdom and recommendations.”
Here are some headlines that highlight this trend:
• Minnesota school district seeks to hire $100-200k ‘antiracist’ official who can examine ‘Whiteness’
• NYU hosts anti-racism workshop where White parents reflect on ‘internalized White superiority’
• Antiracist ‘radicalization’ in medical field is causing new discrimination: physician
• Seattle’ antiracist’ training teaches city employees Whites are ‘oppressors’
• Austin city agency offers racially segregated ‘antiracist’ trainings for ‘white folks’ and ‘people of color’
Civil rights activist Robert Woodson says, “Those who continue to push this race agenda are euro-centric, they assume that the destiny of Blacks is determined by what White people do. That has never been the case.”
According to Archie, “You can’t follow Kendi’s “antiracist” philosophy and, at the same time, endorse King’s “I Have a Dream” message. One judges people by their race, the other by their actions. One loathes America, the other has faith in America.”
A color-blind society calls for loving your neighbor, as Jesus commanded us. Anti-racism and racism both sow the seeds of hate and division. This is a cancer spreading in our society, and like any cancer, left unchallenged, it will destroy its host, America.
