“...on Sept. 11, I remember racism completely evaporating in one hour.”

Even though open racism is universally condemned, race is still an issue. Why? Though racism as such does not exist, racial preconceptions do. For example, my black supervisor was once called racist by a black kid for “acting white.”

I found the situation peculiar as for my supervisor to be racist he would have to be racist against himself. This hints at the real nature of racism today.

Today “race” has two definitions of. First, there is race as defined by skin color, and then there is “race” as defined by preconceptions of these races. This second concept comes from identity politics.

Identity politics reduces politics to power relations between groups but doesn’t recognize universal moral principles. Its emphasis on power relations is seen in radical politics stressing Hispanic or black “power,” or white supremacist groups stressing white “power.”

After research, I discovered that this emphasis is rooted in critical theory or cultural Marxism and focuses on inequalities of power. Furthermore, it is polylogist, meaning it believes that groups have unique “logics” that are incomprehensible to outsiders.

Despite its moralistic rhetoric it’s really amoral, as it disbelieves in objective principles.

Consequently it perverts politics by caring about power redistribution regardless of moral considerations. This can be seen in affirmative action policies that give artificial advantages due to race. Politics is about power, but it’s about using power to pursue objective good.

Despite its intent it causes more racial division than it eliminates. It pits races against each other and then condemns the “advantaged group” through political correctness when they complain about it.

I saw an example of this recently where editorialist Leonard Pitts rightly complained about racism in society, but then faulted people for not putting up with divisive politically correctness. What he fails to understand is that promoting “diversity” is really promoting what I call “divisivity.” For all of the sappy feelings surrounding diversity, it causes more divisiveness than acceptance.

Cultural Marxism creates the illusion that different races think and behave differently. For all its condemnation of prejudice it creates politically correct prejudices by stamping people with predetermined identities. These illusions should be removed so everyone can see each other as the neighbors and fellow citizens they really are.

We must understand that despite our different appearances and illusory preconceptions, we are very much the same and recognize the goals and ideals we share. At this point many examples come to mind.

For example, on Sept. 11, I remember racism completely evaporating in one hour. In the months following Sept. 11, there were no white, black or Hispanic people in the country. Instead we were all red, white, and blue colored people united in the war on terror.

Even on a more practical level, we have much in common. Last year, for example, the Sioux tribe in South Dakota impeached its president for attempting to open an abortion clinic on tribal property.

I am proud to say I live in the same nation with these people, and can unite with them to fight for such things as fetal rights. Additionally, it seems that family values have support across communities, not to mention the religious heritage many of us share.

To end racism, an analogy from a show we grew up watching called “Power Rangers” comes to mind. Instead of pitting “black power” against “white power” we should celebrate all forms of racial “power” but then emphasize that we should unite these powers to fight for our shared values. We should view people such as Martin Luther King Jr. not as African-American heroes but as American heroes. There is no “race” among friends.

What we need is a wise Zordon figure, or rather a lot of them, to remove the illusions that divide us and show us how to unite our powers to fight for our shared values. These leaders should not to give the impression that they are doing this for the sake of interracial unity however or it might give the impression of being based on the sappy political correctness concepts of diversity and multiculturalism.

By replacing racial identities with nationalism, and identifying people of all races with our shared national identity, we can overcome the identity politics that divide us. If we combine our powers and resolve, then perhaps like the Astro Megazord, we can build an unstoppable force. Go, Go, American Rangers!

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