Your conservative friends aren't racists, and the accusation provides cover for real racists

I have known real, actual, honest-to-God racists. They do still exist, and unfortunately, many of them have crept out of the shadows under the Trump presidency. I never in my life thought I would have to argue against the absurd concept of “genetic heritage” and serious suggestions to divide the U.S. into ethnic microstates, but that’s exactly the kind of reactionary undercurrent that serious constitutional conservatives have had to stave off for the last couple of years.

And our efforts are frequently hampered by the left’s insistence on dishonestly weaponizing those terms against those of us holding the line. It also evidences a flippancy about the issue of race that’s unbecoming to those who claim to stand up for equality.

People who call conservative Daily Wire editor Ben Shapiro a white supremacist can’t be taken seriously, and undermine their own credibility on issues of race. Shapiro was the top target of journalistic anti-Semitism, according to the Anti-Defamation League, and social media attacks against him over the last two years provide a snapshot of what real racism looks like.