The charges of white privilege and systemic racism that are tearing the
country apart fIoat free of reality. Two known facts, long since
documented beyond reasonable doubt, need to be brought into the open and
incorporated into the way we think about public policy: American
whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians have different violent crime rates
and different means and distributions of cognitive ability. The
allegations of racism in policing, college admissions, segregation in
housing, and hiring and promotions in the workplace ignore the ways in
which the problems that prompt the allegations of systemic racism are
driven by these two realities.
What good can come of bringing
them into the open? America’s most precious ideal is what used to be
known as the American Creed: People are not to be judged by where they
came from, what social class they come from, or by race, color, or
creed. They must be judged as individuals. The prevailing Progressive
ideology repudiates that ideal, demanding instead that the state should
judge people by their race, social origins, religion, sex, and sexual
orientation.
We on the center left and center right who are the
American Creed’s natural defenders have painted ourselves into a corner.
We have been unwilling to say openly that different groups have
significant group differences. Since we have not been willing to say
that, we have been left defenseless against the claims that racism is to
blame. What else could it be? We have been afraid to answer. We must. Facing Reality is a step in that direction.
