Racism

I will start with a definition. If I base my judgments about, or shape my interaction with, another human being based on the color of his or her skin, I am a racist. My goal is this regard should be color blindness. I should follow MLK’s admonition to judge every human being I interact with by the content of his or her character.

I profoundly disagree with almost every statement that emanates from members of the so-called Squad. I profoundly disagree with their policy prescriptions. They are socialists. That form of political, economic and social organization has failed miserably every time it has been tried. One of them is an an anti-Semite. The others seem comfortable with her position.

By expressing that opinion, I am sure I will be labeled a racist. My response would be threefold. First, you have confused me with someone who cares about being labeled. Second, I have virtually identical problems with the pronouncements and policy prescriptions of Bernie Sanders (who is a Jew) and Elizabeth Warren (whom we know to be 99+% Caucasian). Third, I would suggest that a rush to ad hominum critique is a failure of intellectual courage. The appropriate response would be to argue the efficacy of socialism and Antisemitism. Minds are seldom changed by insults.

There is, however, a more important point to be made. The excessive and inappropriate use of a term of condemnation denigrates its value. The terms racist, Nazi and fascist are now flung around like confetti.

Almost everyone reading this is too young to remember the saga of Chicken Little. On several occasions, he sought help by declaring “THE SKY IS FALLING; THE SKY IS FALLING.” Those who came to his rescue found him uninjured. On the day the sky actually fell, nobody came to help because he had used up his credibility. Racism is not extinct in our society but it is relatively rare. Don’t use the term unless you are sure it is applicable.