In recent years, I have devoted considerable time to exposing the radical Left’s politics of “whiteness,” which posits that white identity, culture, and power are irredeemably oppressive and must be “abolished” in favor of alternative modes of being. “Whiteness” represents the metaphysical essence of left-wing race politics: an irreducible force of evil, a master synonym for racism, oppression, inequality, and suffocating bourgeois norms; anything saturated with its properties can be automatically categorized and condemned. In practice, the politics of whiteness has translated into the demonization of European-Americans in primary school curricula, the performance of elaborate “white privilege” rituals in the workplace, and outright segregation in many public institutions. All of it is done to solve “the problem of whiteness.”

Some pushback has resulted. In the years following the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots, conservatives have exposed the poisonous politics of left-wing racialism, shutting down some of the bureaucracies that push it and proposing a reaffirmation of the ideal of colorblind equality. Unfortunately, some on the right would snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, preferring instead to adopt the basic framework of identity politics and simply reverse its polarity. Dismayingly, a sentiment is rising in some corners of conservative politics that the answer to left-wing identity politics is right-wing identity politics.

[It’s the “sauce for the gander” reaction, or perhaps a more purposeful Alinksy Rules application in making your opponent live by their own rules. In both cases, it’s dangerously short-sighted, and even historically bankrupt. The current progressive obsession with racialism is itself a reaction to centuries of American racialism expressed in slavery, the Klan, and Jim Crow. The only way to end this practice is to end racial/ethnic determinism entirely. As John Roberts wrote this term, the only way to end racial discrimination is to stop discriminating on the basis of race — in all directions. Otherwise, we risk transforming American governance into a permanent victimology redistribution system. — Ed]