Category: Race
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Dolezal, Knowledge, and Belief
R. C. writes, I hadn't heard of the Dolezal case until reading your blog post. It occurred to me that this case might serve as a counterexample to the standard epistemological position that belief is necessary for knowledge. I don't know Dolezal's psychological/epistemic state. But suppose she knows that she isn't African-American by race, but…
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Rachel Dolezal, the Black White Woman
Malcolm Pollack offers some astute analysis: Centuries ago Voltaire said that “to learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” I now offer you Pollack’s Principle of Privilege: To learn where privilege lies, simply see how people choose to identify themselves. Once upon a time, people of mixed…
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‘Structural Racism’ and Conservative Cluelessness
I caught a segment of Sean Hannity's show the other night during which a 'conversation' transpired over the recent spike in violence in Baltimore in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. At 2:06, Adam Jackson, activist and CEO of Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, begins a rap replete with…
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Micro-Agressions = Micro-Nooses
No day without some new bit of academic lunacy. Re: the brouhaha surrounding poly sci prof Jerry Hough of Duke University.
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Did Rand Paul Really Say That?
Heather MacDonald: Announcing his presidential bid this month, Sen. Rand Paul said he wants to repeal “any law that disproportionately incarcerates people of color.” Did he really say that? If yes, then he's pandering Hillariously . 'People of color,' to use the politically correct phrase, are disproportionately incarcerated because they disproportionately commit crimes. Is Rand…
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Citizens Lynching Citizens
Imagine a history teacher who tells his students that in the American South, as late as the 1960s, certain citizens lynched certain other citizens. Would you say that the teacher had omitted something of great importance for understanding why these lynchings occurred? Yes you would. You would point out that the lynchings were of blacks…
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Residual Political Correctness Among Conservatives
Over at NRO, I found this in an otherwise very good column by Charles C. W. Cooke: I daresay that if I had been in any of the situations that DeBoer describes, I would have walked happily out of the class. Why? Well, because there is simply nothing to be gained from arguing with people…
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Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter From a Birmingham Jail”
Essential reading.
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‘Religious Profiling’
I heard Nicholas Kristof use the phrase the other night. But is there such a thing as religious profiling? I have argued that there is no such thing as racial profiling. The gist of my argument is that while race can be an element in a profile, it cannot itself be a profile. A profile…
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A ‘Progressive’ Paradox
Leftists like to call themselves 'progressives.' We can't begrudge them their self-appellation any more than we can begrudge the Randians their calling themselves 'objectivists.' Every person and every movement has the right to portray himself or itself favorably and self-servingly. "We are objective in our approach, unlike you mystics." But if you are progressive, why…
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What’s it Like to be a Wop in Philosophy?
Here. Combox open.
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Bill O’Reilly Blasts Bozo de Blasio
We need more of this sort of thing. Less 'civility,' more condemnation of liars, race-baiters, and inciters-to-violence. Civility is for the civil, not for mendacious, self-serving, underminers of civil order. There can be no civility without civil order. The stinking lies and deceptive half-truths surrounding this topic come from the top down, from Obama, through…
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Eugene Robinson
Eugene Robinson is one of those black commentators whose tribal identification makes it impossible for him to be objective. His latest column begins like this: WASHINGTON — It is absurd to have to say this, but New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, activist Al Sharpton and President Obama are in no way responsible for the…
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Larry Elder Talks Sense on Race
We are being inundated by a tsunami of toxic Unsinn from the Left anent race. Sadly, a lot of this sewage comes from blacks, many of them well-placed and privileged, but profiting from the lies and slanders and hence assiduous in cultivating their 'grievances.' That a few blacks talk fact-based sense is encouraging.
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Do Black Lives Matter?
Of course they do. All lives matter. Black lives, white lives, yellow lives, red lives, even redneck lives. And let's not forget the lives of black cops. They too matter. Did someone well-placed proclaim that black lives don't matter? Who? When? Where can I find him? All lives matter. It follows that black lives matter,…