Race

A water drop and ripples

We have to tell the young that America just about had the racial division beat.

By Justin Katz | July 26, 2024 |

Hard to believe it was 16 years ago America elected Barack Obama to the presidency.  In office, he did, indeed, usher in a revolution in American politics and society, and 16 years is many years of people coming of age without really knowing what things were like before the event.  Cynical Publius tells the truth:…

A water drop and ripples

Forced integration is not the way to solve segregated outcomes.

By Justin Katz | May 28, 2024 |

The problem at the heart of well-meaning progressive policies is that they tend to ignore second-order effects.  They want outcome X, so they push policy U and ignore that side-effects V and W also happen, and consequences Y and Z might not prove desirable.  Housing mandates, for example, require on their face that we cede…

A water drop and ripples

Our institutions are guided by primitive and simplistic racism

By Justin Katz | February 14, 2024 |

I used to spend time pointing out the problem with this sort of bean-counting racism (and sexism), but it hardly seems interesting anymore.  The findings aren’t meant to indicate anything real; they’re simply intended to promote a simple-minded ideology.  We can see this in the fact that the conclusions only ever point in one direction. …

Jose Clemente Orozco, The Clowns of War Arguing in Hell

Don’t ignore this telling statement from Brown University.

By Justin Katz | December 18, 2023 |

In the context of a young generation that thinks in terms of oppressor versus oppressed in a battle of mutual genocide, Brown University’s Otherization of everyday Americans is dangerous.

An colonial elite looks in a broken mirror while leaving the scene of an assault

With Thanksgiving for our national inheritance, let’s turn away from the turmoil progressive division will create.

By Justin Katz | November 22, 2023 |

As we all prepare (if only nominally) to recall the gratitude we ought to feel for the establishment of the beacon of freedom into which we were born, with a specific nod to a moment of shared humanity on Thanksgiving, take a moment to play with a fancy interactive infographic Bloomberg published in September. The…

A water drop and ripples

A passing thought on Washington Trust’s recent troubles in Rhode Island.

By Justin Katz | November 20, 2023 |

Conversations related to the Washington Trust settlement with the government, requiring the bank to address alleged racial discrimination on its part, indicate two views or standards for handling blame in society. One side is convinced that somebody is to blame for the circumstances of life and that the job of society (particularly government) is to…

Man Shakes Money Out of Another Man's Pockets

I’ve got no special feelings for Washington Trust, but I don’t trust the plaintiff.

By Justin Katz | September 28, 2023 |

Yesterday, through the ministrations of U.S. District Attorney Zachary Cunha under Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Biden administration pressured Rhode Island’s Washington Trust bank into a multimillion-dollar settlement and imposed a big PR hit over alleged racism in its lending practices.  Journalists are faithfully transcribing the “redlining” narrative they’ve been handed, which means our state…

A water drop and ripples

The Smithians do what Marxists promise, including on race.

By Justin Katz | February 23, 2023 |

For several reasons (voluntary and not-so-voluntary), I’ve been digging into Marxism a bit more over the past year.  I mean both ol’ Marx himself and his followers, up to modern practitioners.  One point that has come home very strongly is that the ideal that Marxists sell is actually the end toward which a system built…

Racial conflict fist as a green light

Politics This Week with John DePetro: When Activism and Complaints Become Community

By Justin Katz | December 5, 2022 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz wonder about the consequences when activism swamps everything.

Racial conflict fist as a green light

Elorza’s reparations head fake is telling.

By Justin Katz | August 24, 2022 |

Although families and individuals who can show a direct link to harm by a specific government entity should, of course, have recourse, the idea that a city, state, or country should broadly atone for the sins of the people who used to live there is wrong-headed even in concept — more so in a churning,…