by
I
was recently on a radio program commenting about the U.S. Supreme Court
decision striking down Arizona’s law requiring proof of citizenship when people
register to vote. One caller seemed quite happy with the decision because, it
seemed, he believed there is widespread racism. I responded that those who make
such allegations are bound to provide some evidence, and of course he didn’t
and moved on to other comments. He didn’t even seem to think it necessary to
explain why the simple act of requiring such proof, since one has to be a citizen
to vote, constituted racism. Indeed, when I suggested that he ought to explain
what he means by “racism,” he didn’t address that either. This brief episode
illustrates a problem that has been around for sometime: All too many see
racism, sexism, homophobia, or some other kind of socially condemned
discrimination as ubiquitous, as the cause of a whole host of ills. It is, of
course, the basis for a “civil rights” mentality that easily becomes the basis
for civil wrongs.
We
are all aware of America’s past: slavery, Jim Crow, lynchings, voter
disenfranchisement. One cannot say that our history has been entirely
exemplary. We don’t live in the past, however, but in the present and we have
to accept the realities as they now are. Of course, there are present cases of
unjust discrimination. To claim, however, that this is an era any way
comparable to Jim Crow is simply preposterous and often done for crass
political advantage—like when the Tea Party movement is accused of racism for
defending traditional constitutional principles. Such claims as racism are also
used to ignore serious policy deficiencies that actually often have the effect
of damaging the dignity of groups they aim to help, as in the case of fostering
government dependency and the consequent stifling of personal initiative.
Serious
racial incidents and outrages against other groups are seldom officially
generated, as in past times, but are perpetrated by fringe white supremacists
and criminal hooligans as in the James Byrd, Jr. and Matthew Shepard cases.
Moreover, our supposed civil rights spokesmen—usually either self-appointed or
leaders of some interest group—seldom comment about the discrimination against
groups that cannot claim the status of “protected.” This is what we see with
affirmative action and outright quotas, as well as in the myriad cases of
employers, teachers, and institutions falsely accused of sex or disability
discrimination and the like and then raked over the coals of an investigation
or legal action. In fact, cases of true official discrimination have become so
hard to find that the crusaders for equality have turned to elaborate
statistical schemes to supposedly “prove” discrimination. So, we are told that
statistical studies show that the imposition of capital punishment is
discriminatory because it falls heaviest on certain minority groups (usually
not discussed is that capital crimes are disproportionately committed by
certain demographic groups—and usually against other members of that group).
Now, we see the Obama administration moving against businesses that do criminal
background checks because they claim this violates the civil rights of certain
minority groups—again, ignoring the fact that statistically people in those
groups have committed criminal offenses in disproportionate numbers. It is
claimed that certain political structures, such as at-large city council seats,
are discriminatory because they reduce the political clout of certain groups.
So we have to adopt a certain view of representation that changes the character
of the political institutions and ushers in a whole range of unforeseen
consequences, including other types of discrimination.
Stephen M. Krason's "Neither Left nor Right, but Catholic" column appears monthly (sometimes bi-monthly) in Crisis Magazine.
He is Professor of Political Science and Legal Studies at Franciscan
University of Steubenville and co-founder and president of the Society
of Catholic Social Scientists. His latest book is The Transformation of the American Democratic Republic (Transaction Publishers, 2012).
No comments:
Post a Comment