Who Are the Racists: Conservatives or Liberals?

Hardly a day goes by that someone of prominence
-- a politician, a talk show host, an entertainer

-- doesn't call some conservative -- or Conservatives
generally -- racist.

Here are typical examples:
The Chairman of the Democratic Congressional

Campaign Committee, Congressman Steve Israel:
"To a significant extent, [conservatives]

are animated by racism."
TV newscaster Ed Schultz:

"This is what the Republican Party stands for. . . : racism."

Oprah Winfrey: "There's a level of disrespect
for the office that occurs in some cases

and maybe even many cases because [the President
is] African American. There's no question about that.

" To call someone a racist should be a very serious matter.

A racist is a person who believes
that one race is inherently superior or inferior to another.

It's not intelligence or goodness
that determines an individual's worth;

it's his or her skin color.

To say that racism is foolish and stupid -- not
to mention evil -- is to understate the case.

But, according to many of their critics, conservatives
are that stupid and that evil.

But, with few exceptions, conservatives are
neither. So why is the charge even made?

The answer is primarily political: to maintain
black support for liberals and liberal policies.

To back up this charge, the accusers point
to conservative policies.

So let's examine some conservative policies
to see if they are, indeed, racist.

The longstanding conservative opposition to
Affirmative Action is a good place to start.

It was Democratic President, John F. Kennedy,
who first used the term "affirmative action" in 1961.

But Affirmative Action, in the way
we think of it now, wasn't implemented until 1970,

during the Administration of a Republican
President, Richard Nixon.

The theory was that, because of historical
discrimination, blacks were at a competitive

disadvantage to other races and ethnicities.
To erase that disadvantage, standards that

most blacks presumably couldn't meet had to
be lowered.

One could make the case that this policy had
some utility when it was first put in place.

But that was a long time ago. The conservative
position is that blacks have repeatedly proven

they can compete with anyone without the benefits
-- demeaning benefits, I might add -- of lower standards.

There are countless examples of
black success in every field at every level.

The policy is no longer necessary.

But the conservative argument goes further.
Study after study shows that, in the case

of college admissions, Affirmative Action
actually hurts many blacks. By lowering admissions

standards for blacks (and some other minority
students), colleges set many of these students

up for failure. They get placed in schools
for which they're not prepared.

And high black dropout rates confirm this view.

So does common sense.

If white students with mediocre SAT scores
were admitted to Ivy League schools,

they, too, would be set up to fail.

Let's do the math: Conservatives believe that
blacks and other minorities are every bit

as capable as whites of succeeding as policemen,

firemen,

businessmen,

lawyers,

doctors,

politicians,

and college students.

Yet, for this belief
conservatives are called racist.

The irony, of course, is that those who accuse
conservatives of being racist believe that

blacks and other minorities are not as capable
as whites of succeeding and therefore still

need Affirmative Action, almost a half century
after it was first implemented.

Let's look at another issue where this contrast
between conservatives and those who accuse

them of being racist is even more starkly
drawn -- Voter ID.

Conservatives say that America should require
that every voter present an ID when he or she votes,

just as European countries do in
order to help keep their elections honest.

Are all these democracies racist? Of course
not.

Yet, the accusers say that conservatives who support Voter ID are racist.

Why do they say this? Because, they argue,
it's really a ruse to prevent blacks and minorities

from voting, since many of them just aren't
capable of acquiring an ID.

Can you get more condescending than that?

Let's be real. You need an ID to drive, to fly, to buy a beer, even to purchase some cold medicines.

Whites can do it, but blacks
can't? Tell me who the racists are again?

One more example: it's conservatives who push
for school vouchers, which would allow all parents,

not just wealthy ones, to choose
their children's school. It's the other side

that doesn't trust minority parents to select
an appropriate school for their children.

Why aren't the people who compel black children
to stay in terrible schools the racists?

At some point, maybe you'll start asking yourself,
like I did:

Who's really obsessed with race? And whose
policies really hurt blacks and minorities?

Maybe it's not who you think it is.

I'm Derryck Green of Project 21 for Prager
University.