on The Immorality Of Racism

The moderate-conservative Republican blogger opines: "It has been asserted by various wags, some of them thoughtful, others less so, that there is some fundamental flaw by way of apology of racism in blacks who are conservative and travel in Republican circles. I speak for myself. My interest in racism is primarily academic, and it has been longer than I actually thought. Race has very little to do with the reason I am a Conservative. In fact, my interest in race and racism was probably the only reason that I was a Progressive so long. It can honestly be said about my interest in racism, that it was a 'special interest'. The more often the subject of race and politics comes up, the more I tend to be convinced that Cornel West was right about blacks in his 'Breaking Bread'. He essentially implied that African Americans, by and large, do not see their participation in Western Democracy as a 'natural phenomenon'. He said that there is a set of existential dilemmas - a need for meaning - that gets in the way of blacks' ability to play the game of rational self-interest according to the rules of the System. That their interpretation of the System's exclusion of them from it on the basis of color has become a large mental hurdle."

He continues his commentary: "I have always asserted, from a cultural black nationalist perspective, that the mental liberation required to beat this existential hurdle is the responsibility of black people - that the solution is known and all that is lacking is the discipline and willingness to accomplish it. I also have asserted that the diminishing presence of racism in American society requires less attention to this problem, despite its focus in much of black politics and culture. And thirdly I have always asserted that the success of the civil rights movement and anti-discrimination laws in America is essentially irreversible and that any separatist ideology is doomed to failure. Integration is destiny, all Americans have a multi-racial future."

More commentary from Cobb: "There are those, and I have been among them, who would agitate for a criminalization of racism, to put additional moral power in the hands of the state. On the issue of 'hate crime' I have been a supporter. But I have come to recognize that the existence of hate crime statutes are not a deterrent to crime and that what anti-racist activists truly desire is to change the way of thinking, not just of would be criminals, but of most Americans. This then is a political and a moral imperative - not a matter of crime and punishment. The presence of racism as a phenomenon in American society is adequately handled by the law, and all 'subtle' racism that doesn't rise to the level of a crime is a manifestation of sin, of evil."