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Identity Politics Archive

Tuesday

20

April 2010

0

COMMENTS

Busting The Equal Pay Day Nonsense

Written by , Posted in Identity Politics

Another leftwing myth shattered:

Today is Equal Pay Day. Feminist groups and political leaders have set aside this day to protest the fact that women’s wages are, on average, 78 percent of men’s wages. “This date symbolizes how far into 2010 women must work to earn what men earned in 2009,”says the National Committee on Pay Equity. The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has enlisted supporters to wear red “to represent the way the pay gap puts women ‘in the red.’” There will be rallies, speak outs, mass mailings of equity e-cards, and even bake sales featuring cookies with a “bite” taken out to represent women’s losses to men. The National Organization for Women (NOW) suggests women gather together at local bars for “Un-happy Hours” where they can share their dissatisfactions. “See if a local bar, club, or restaurant (try the women-owned ones first!) will give you drink specials [where] women pay 78% of their tabs and men pay 100%.”

I seriously doubt women are paying for 78% of their drinks to begin with.  Sorry, back to the smack-down:

Excuse me for interrupting, but this holiday has no basis in reality. Even feminist economists acknowledge that today’s pay disparities are almost entirely the result of women’s different life choices—what they study in school, where they work, and how they balance home and career. This is not to deny that some employers will try to pay Jill 78 cents and Jack $1.00 for an identical job. But our strict laws give Jill the right to take that employer to court. The claim that American women as a group face systemic wage discrimination is groundless.

…Psychologist Susan Pinker has aptly noted that men are more likely than women to give priority to salary and promotions over personal fulfillment. Women are not as ready to sacrifice their deep interests in, say, history, psychology, or public policy—“all in order to fix, sell, or distribute widgets” or “to spend the best years of [their lives] planning air conditioning ductwork for luxury condos.” Men also work longer hours and are more willing than women to take dangerous but well-paid jobs as truck drivers, loggers, coal miners, or oil riggers. (My American Enterprise Institute colleague Mark Perry has suggested we designate October 11, 2020, Equal Occupational Fatality Day. That is how far into the future women will have to work to experience the same number of work-related deaths that men experienced in 2008 alone. )

Sunday

18

April 2010

0

COMMENTS

New York Times Runs Racist Op-Ed Against Tea Party

Written by , Posted in General/Misc., Identity Politics, Media Bias

Charles M. Blow, a regular columnist for the New York Times, has taken the already despicable race narrative on the Tea Parties to another level.  He begins with a bit of “diversity” hunting:

I had specifically come to this rally because it was supposed to be especially diverse. And, on the stage at least, it was. The speakers included a black doctor who bashed Democrats for crying racism, a Hispanic immigrant who said that she had never received a single government entitlement and a Vietnamese immigrant who said that the Tea Party leader was God. It felt like a bizarre spoof of a 1980s Benetton ad.

The juxtaposition was striking: an abundance of diversity on the stage and a dearth of it in the crowd, with the exception of a few minorities like the young black man who carried a sign that read “Quit calling me a racist.”

…It was a farce. This Tea Party wanted to project a mainstream image of a group that is anything but. A New York Times/CBS News poll released on Wednesday found that only 1 percent of Tea Party supporters are black and only 1 percent are Hispanic. It’s almost all white.

The implication: a lack of the kind of diversity Mr. Blow deems important (because there are other kinds, which he apparently doesn’t care about) is somehow condemning.  Notice he never actually explains the logic for how this matters.  But don’t hold your breath waiting for Mr. Blow to similarly investigate an NAACP event, or the next Million Man March.

But that’s hardly the worst.  Things really get ugly when he begins using his own racist attacks:

And even when compared to other whites, their views are extreme and marginal. For instance, white Tea Party supporters are twice as likely as white independents and eight times as likely as white Democrats to believe that Barack Obama was born in another country.

Furthermore, they were more than eight times as likely as white independents and six times as likely as white Democrats to think that the Obama administration favors blacks over whites.

Thursday night I saw a political minstrel show devised for the entertainment of those on the rim of obliviousness and for those engaged in the subterfuge of intolerance. I was not amused.

Because, you know, white views are just naturally extreme and marginal, so even by that standard the tea parties are on the fringe!  What a racist.  Can you imagine the New York Times running an op-ed that says “even compared to other blacks, their views are [insert negative attribute]?” The author of such a statement would be crucified.

He then doubles down with a racist attack on the black speakers, who he dubs a “minstrel show.”  Apparently no black person is capable of the free thinking that might lead them to be there because they believe in the cause. Oh no.  They must be getting used or duped.  I wonder if Mr. Blow has ever applied the same logic to his employment at the upper-class, white New York Times.  Probably not, because if he did his head might just explode.

Thursday

14

January 2010

0

COMMENTS

Justice Sues New Jersey For “Racist” Police Test

Written by , Posted in Identity Politics, The Courts, Criminal Justice & Tort

When the city of New Haven tried discriminate against the police officers who passed their promotion test, because they weren’t appropriate ‘diverse’ for the PC crowd, the Supreme Court rightly struck it down.  Now, the Justice Department’s Civil Right Division is suing New Jersey for not discriminating on behalf of black and hispanic officers who don’t pass the written exam for promotion in the same numbers as white officers.  Though of course that’s not how they frame it.

The exam, a written test that New Jersey police officers must pass in order to advance to the rank of sergeant, quizzes candidates on state and local laws.

“This complaint should send a clear message to all public employers that employment practices with unlawful discriminatory impact on account of race or national origin will not be tolerated,” said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will take all necessary action to ensure that such discriminatory practices are eliminated and that the victims of such practices are made whole.”

Actually, what this complaint tells us is that it’s more important to bow at the alter of identity politics than to insure that police officers know and understand the laws which they are tasked to enforce.  Unless there is evidence that the test itself is inherently racist, i.e. that the questions somehow lend themselves to be answered better by white test takers than others, then there is no discrimination.  But there is no such evidence.

The entire argument of discrimination is based on nothing more than a few percentage points of difference between how white and minority candidates perform.

White officers pass the New Jersey test at a rate of 89 percent, as opposed to 77 percent of Hispanic candidates and 73 percent of African-American candidates.

So what? What percentage of right-handed and left-handed people pass the test?  What percentage of blondes and brunettes?  How is race any more relevant to understanding the law than these entirely superficial characteristics?  The fact of the matter is that races are not taking the test – individuals are.  Individuals who study and know the material pass, while individuals who are not prepared or sufficiently well versed in the law fail. Those who fail should not be promoted. Dicing these individuals into artificial categories and comparing passing percentages is entirely meaningless.

“Our suit does not have an issue with a written exam period, but we do believe it has a disparate impact on African-American and Hispanic candidates,” Alejandro Miyar, a spokesman at the Justice Department Civil Rights Division, told The Daily Caller.

Disparate impact is a little-known legal term that describes an employment practice that isn’t intentionally discriminatory, but which results in a discriminatory outcome. It is forbidden under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Disparate impact was first described by the Supreme Court in the 1971 case Griggs v. Duke Power Co. which found that “good intent or absence of discriminatory intent does not redeem employment procedures or testing mechanisms that operate as ‘built-in headwinds’ for minority groups and are unrelated to measuring job capability.”

One would think that understanding the law goes to the heart of measuring the job capacity of police officers.

Tuesday

12

January 2010

1

COMMENTS

Use Caution In Chastising Reid

Written by , Posted in Identity Politics

Harry Reid is taking a lot of heat for the recently revealed statement he made regarding Barack Obama during the presidential campaign.  The new book, Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime, revealed that Reid thought Obama’s electoral chances were improved by the fact that he was light-skinned and had no “negro dialect” unless he wanted one.

Is this statement racist as many are claiming?  It is certainly about race, but I reject the identity politics tactic of taking anything racial and making it racist when it serves partisan purposes to paint it as such.  The fact of the matter is that there is nothing in the context of Reid’s statement that suggests racial prejudice.

He used the word “negro.”  This is an old fashioned word, for sure, but it was never one associated with racial venom the way other words have historically been.  Moreover, it is still used by many national black organizations, such as the National Council of Negro Women or the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Club.  Simply saying “negro” is not racist.

Beyond the word choicHarry-Reide, the content of his statement reflects his opinion of the rest of America’s views on race, not his own.  And there is likely a grain of truth to the idea that a lighter-skinned candidate who sounds more or less white would face less racial resistance than other black candidates.  But even if it’s wrong and reflects an unfairly pessimistic view of American racial tolerance, that doesn’t make the statement itself racist.

It is interesting to note that Reid acknowledged Obama’s tendency to pander to black audiences by putting on a phony accent, where he drops his g’s and mimics the cadence of MLK.  But beyond that, I find the statement wholly uninteresting.

It is fair to point out that a non-liberal would undoubtedly be tarred as racist for making such a statement, but we can’t confuse pointing out hypocrisy with engaging in it. To brand Reid’s statement as racist in the process of pointing out hypocrisy is to undermine the very position we have rightfully staked out in the past: talking about race does not make someone a racist.

Thursday

10

December 2009

0

COMMENTS

Obama Resists Efforts To Make Recession About Race

Written by , Posted in Economics & the Economy, Identity Politics

Although he hasn’t been afraid to play the identity politics game on other issues, President Obama deserves credit for so far resisting the attempts from people like Jesse Jackson to turn our recession into yet another issue about race.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson has joined black lawmakers in their push to get the White House to do more to directly help African American communities disproportionately hurt by the nation’s severe economic recession.

Jackson, who noted that he was not invited to President Obama’s recent jobs summit, said he has requested a meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner to talk about economic aid for depressed minority communities. No meeting has been set.

In recent days, Obama has pushed back at the idea that his administration should focus economic revitalization policies on specific ethnic and racial groups. In an interview with USA Today and the Detroit Free Press last week, the president said, “The most important thing I can do for the African American community is the same thing I can do for the American community, period, and that is get the economy going again and get people hiring again.”

The President is exactly right here.  Helping the entire economy is right now the best way to help any particular subset of the population.

Now if we can just get him to look at policies that will actually help the economy, instead of constantly aiming to squeeze it under the twin burdens of higher taxation and greater regulation.

Thursday

12

November 2009

0

COMMENTS

Nobody Expects The Racial Inquisition!

Written by , Posted in Education, Identity Politics

Or “Equity Teams,” as they prefer to be known:

As part of its plan to comply with a federal desegregation order now decades old, Tucson’s school district adopted racial quotas in school discipline this summer. Schools that suspend or expel Hispanic and black students at higher rates than white students will now get a visit from a district “Equity Team” and will be expected to remedy those disparities by reducing their minority discipline rates.

That is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever read. The insidiousness of identity politics and the hyper-racial practitioners who thrust it upon society cannot be overstated.  These race-mongers are a menace.

Monday

19

October 2009

0

COMMENTS

Racists Upset Over Minority Homecoming Winner

Written by , Posted in Identity Politics

Nikole Churchill is a minority at her school.  In today’s day and age, one would think that wouldn’t be a big deal, that there wouldn’t be a racist uproar if she won a beauty pageant and was named Homecoming Queen.  Clearly, one doesn’t study at the alter of identity politics.  You see, Nikole is a white student at a historically black college, so all bets are off:

Nikole Churchill, 22, won the contest at the college town in southern Virginia, but while she was all smiles, not everyone in the community was happy about the victory, the Times reports.

As well as the walkout, Miss Churchill had to contend with scowls, rather than the traditional sunny smiles, when she posed for a portrait with the runners up. All nine of the other contestants in the competition were black.

The following day Miss Churchill was heckled at a college football game and a previous Miss Hampton University said she was “very shocked” there was a white winner. “We’ve never had one before,” Patrece Parson said.

Ridiculous.

Wednesday

14

October 2009

0

COMMENTS

No Whitey Zones

Written by , Posted in Identity Politics

I not too long ago highlighted what I’m now going to call a No Whitey Zone, which are places where the idea of a white person holding an elected position is especially distasteful to local race-mongers.

Another No Whitey Zone has been discovered in Baltimore, Maryland:

“Our concern is who would the governor appoint?” Cheatham said. “Here you have a predominantly African-American city. What if the governor appointed somebody white? … Would he appoint someone Irish to be the mayor?”

A bloody leprechaun in government? The horror! This is particularly amusing considering that the previous mayor, and now current governor, is not only white, but with a name like Martin O’Malley is probably at least 200% Irish.

Hat tip: QandO

Monday

12

October 2009

0

COMMENTS

So Do It

Written by , Posted in Identity Politics

President Obama promised this weekend that he will end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell:

We cannot afford to cut from our ranks people with the critical skills we need to fight any more than we can afford — for our military’s integrity — to force those willing to do so into careers encumbered and compromised by having to live a lie. So I’m working with the Pentagon, its leadership, and the members of the House and Senate on ending this policy. Legislation has been introduced in the House to make this happen. I will end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. That’s my commitment to you.

I agree with the President.  The policy costs us valuable service members at a time when we need them most.  It’s a self-imposed burden that we can not afford.  But why is he talking instead of acting?  His majority is not going to get any bigger, and ought to be enough to pass what is in the end fairly simple legislation if he simply picked up the phone and told Congressional leaders to get it done.  As usual, he’s all talk and no substance.

Thursday

1

October 2009

0

COMMENTS

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About Me

profileI serve as Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-profit think tank dedicated to preserving tax competition and free markets. This site features my personal views, which are not reflective of CF&P.

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