The Left is obsessed with race. America has left it behind

If you listen to the ravings of the denizens of the Left in the media, in Congress, in Hollywood, and in academia, you would think it is still 1964, when the Civil Rights Act was passed, and that racism is not only still prevalent everywhere across the country, but that it is still accepted by our culture and society, morally and legally.

But nothing could be further from the truth. These haters of America refuse to recognize the enormous change that has occurred in America in the last 60 years. They refuse to acknowledge that the American people have left the poison of racism and discriminatory conduct in housing, employment, education, culture, voting, and everyday life so far behind them, you can’t even see it in the rearview mirror anymore.

Not only is discrimination illegal, but racism is looked upon today as immoral and socially unacceptable behavior. Except in the liberal world, where the “right” kind of racism is not only acceptable but demanded due to the racial spoils system that progressives established. A racial spoils system that says you should discriminate to benefit certain Americans, while punishing other Americans based on the color of their skin. And if you question that discriminatory behavior, you are the supposed racist.

Acknowledging the momentous, beneficial transformation that has occurred across America will not happen either. Liberal advocacy organizations, from the NAACP to the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and so many others, as well as Democratic politicians such as Senate Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), thrive on perpetuating the notion that racism is still rampant and that, far from improving, things have gotten worse. To do otherwise would be to crimp the donations that fund their organizations and political campaigns, pay their salaries and benefits, and get them the media attention and votes they crave but rarely deserve.

Which is why, as the pending indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center alleges, the SPLC secretly funneled millions of dollars to marginal racist and neo-Nazi organizations to keep them going. The SPLC even bribed recalcitrant members who had second thoughts and wanted to leave these horrible groups to stay and keep organizing and leading them. If the SPLC and its sister organizations can’t continue to scare the public with their false claims that we are a “racist nation,” a “hotbed of white supremacy,” then the money they need to continue to exist might well dry up.

Don’t think America has changed? According to Gallup, in 1958, only 4% of Americans approved of interracial marriages. By 2021, interracial marriages had become so acceptable and such a non-issue that 94% of Americans approve of them.

Remember how the Left, especially university administrators at “elite” schools, railed about the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard that finally ended racially discriminatory practices in college admissions? A 2022 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 82% of adults said that colleges should not consider race or ethnicity when deciding which students to accept. In other words, average Americans, unlike America’s elites, overwhelmingly are against any kind of discrimination in education.

Similarly, a 2019 survey found that 74% of adults are against discrimination in the hiring process. It is no doubt a shock to the pushers of racial preferences, which they disguise under the deceptive name of “affirmative action,” that the majority of Americans believe the only consideration in hiring should be the qualifications of prospective employees, not their skin color. Gosh, what a “racist” concept.

A coalition of advocacy groups demonstrate outside of a hotel where members the quarterly NFL league meetings are being held on October 17, 2017 in New York City. Owners, players and commissioner Roger Goodell are all expected to attend. The activists spoke of having solidarity with athletes and coaches around the country who have kneeled in protest of racial injustice, especially in policing. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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Instead of being a “pretty racist” nation as was recently claimed by the sadly misinformed Sunny Hostin on The View, America today is the exact opposite, except in places where radical leftists like Hostin spout their drivel. People like her perpetuate the worst stereotypes about Americans, stereotypes that just aren’t true and aren’t accurate.

In fact, while the Left still inhabits a fever swamp of imagined racism, perpetual victimization, and undisguised hatred for anyone who disagrees with them, the rest of us have moved on. Real Americans, the folks who work hard every day regardless of their race to support their families, get their children educated, put food on the table, and keep this country going, inhabit what I like to call a Waffle House America. It is an America that limousine liberals like Hostin and Joy Behar don’t recognize.

Waffle House is an American institution, a restaurant that serves basic American staples at affordable prices and is always open. You go into any Waffle House anywhere, and you will see a microcosm of America. You see every race, color, and ethnicity, and you’ll see folks at every level, from retirees to construction and other blue-collar workers to men in business suits (like me).

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Not too long ago, I was in a Waffle House in a Southern state that folks like Hostin and Behar no doubt believe is still a member of the Confederacy. It was very crowded, and there was a line of people waiting to get a table. An elderly black couple walked in, obviously retirees, and the man was using a cane. The guy at the head of the line, whose appearance would no doubt have labeled him as a typical Southern racist red neck in the eyes of Hostin/Behar and their ilk, had just been offered to be seated. But when he saw this elderly couple, he told the manager to let them have his table.

That is America today. The racist America of the Left only exists in their imagination. And that is something for which we should all be grateful.

Hans von Spakovsky is a senior legal fellow in the Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law at Advancing American Freedom.