Kramer, race and demagoguery....

by Terry Michael, December 3, 2006

Michael "Kramer" Richards' use of the "N" word unleashed a torrent of really stupid media babble.

"Thoughtful" liberal columnists told us it was proof racism is alive and well in America. Hustling demagogues like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton got the TV time-crack to which their giant egos are addicted. And black "comedians" and hip hop "artists" reassessed their own use of the racial expletive.

Truth is, the glass is more than half full in the battle against racial prejudice in America, even though liberal racialists and self-styled black "leaders" don't seem to want it to be. The universal condemnation of Richards ought to be regarded as anecdotal proof that we have a consensus against racism. And we have had for decades, since the morally authoritative civil rights movement of the mid-20th Century won not only legal but cultural and societal sanctions against treating individuals by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character.

But self-righteous white liberals insist on seeing racists behind every bush, just as the Joe McCarthy's of the Cold War hallucinated ubiquitous communists. And the civil rights industry that has developed along with the spoils system of identity group entitlements has a vested interest in keeping the specter of white racism alive and well, by promoting identity group consciousness -- so they can market their diversity training, minority contracts, corporate covenants (aka, shake-downs of big business) and other tribal identity based products.

If we want to end race consciousness in America, we need to end it on the left as well as on the right.

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