Professor Ibram X Kendi is the unremarkable, unapologetically racist “academic” who has become the go-to-guy for guiding woke public sector leaders on how to recognize racism and the through line between systemic racism yesterday and today. In an environment where Kendi’s woke disciples initiate daily reports of racism everywhere, it is a useful skill to be able to recognize racism and any through lines. Why not test your skills? Keep in mind that racism is discrimination based on race, religion, or ethnicity. 

Historical: 1700-2000

1. All North American slaves, excluding spoils of war, after 1700 were black. Was this racist? 
2. Free Irish were used instead of Black slaves for dangerous work because slaves were too valuable. Was that racist? 
3. In 1863 slaves were freed. In 1864 a new immigration act was passed permitting indentured servitude for White ethnicities from southern and central Europe. Was this racist?
4. Were laws preventing Catholics and Jews from voting and holding office racist?
5. Jim Crow laws disproportionately disenfranchised black people. Were they racist? 
6. The Ku Klux Klan used violence to make Black people uncomfortable. Was this racist?
7. In the mid and late-1800s Irish-American citizens and legal residents were deported because they were poor. Was that racist?
8. Was the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act racist?
9. The 1924 Immigration Act aimed to halt immigration specifically against Whites from Italy. Was it racist?
10. Were signs that said no colored people allowed racist?
11. Were signs that said Irish, or Filipino, or Jews prohibited racist?
12. In the 19^th century, public schools taught anti-Catholicism. Was this racist? 
13. In the early 20^th century, the number of qualified Jews accepted into Ivy League universities were subjectively restricted. Was this racist?
14. During WWII, the U.S. government reluctantly agreed to accept 1,000 Jewish refugees trying to escape the Holocaust. Was this racist?
15. Historian Arthur Schlesinger (1888-1965) called the discrimination against Catholics “the deepest bias in the history of the American people.” Was this racist?
16. After WWII, Congress agreed that it was unfair to have American systems that encouraged or condoned preferences or discrimination based on race/religion/ethnicity. Systemic racism was made illegal in 1964. Was this racist? 
17. Since 1964, American private and public institutions have succeeded in ending systemic discrimination by dismantling discriminatory laws, practices, and programs. In the 21^st century, America has the most successful minority populations in the world. Some are more successful than White Protestants. Is this racist? 

Present

1. About 0.04% of White people are White supremacists. Is labeling White people white supremacists racist? How about White Republicans?
2. The media airs truncated and edited cell phone video encounters between Black people and police, but not any other racial/ethnic group. Is that racist? 
3. Americans were wrongly told it was racist to protect the southern border. Is it racist to condone practices that encourage the sex trafficking of Latino children and women? How about indentured Latino laborers?
4. Kamala Harris tied White supremacy to violent Asian hate crimes when the data shows that most violent Asian hate crimes are committed by Blacks. Was that racist?  
5. The successor nations of the White supremacist empires are America’s NATO allies. At the NATO collective security meeting, President Biden didn’t discuss White supremacy as the biggest security threat Americans face. Is his administration racist against White Americans? 
6. Today, Blacks and Latinos have preferences over Whites and Asians in Ivy League and other universities. Is that racist?
7. Is centering the study of history on discriminatory practices against Blacks, while excluding the same for White ethnicities racist?
8. Black Lives Matter (BLM) uses violence to make White people uncomfortable. Is this racist?
9. Is it racist to teach schoolchildren that Whites are oppressors? 
10. Is it racist for schools to teach ethnic studies but exclude White ethnicities?
11. Is it racist to have laws and policies that charge/convict Whites and Asians for crimes when Blacks and Latinos go free for the same crimes?
12. Is it racist for private and public sector institutions to have programs that make White people seek redemption for the 1.25% of Americans that had slaves in 1860?
13. Is a government racist when it gives preferences to BIPOC, a group that includes everyone but White people?
14. Is it racist for private and public sector institutions to pejoratively label White people as privileged because they are White?
15. When “progressive” legislators engage in anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric that supercharges Jewish hate crimes, is this racist?
16. When Kendi said, “How can you hate a group of [White] people for who they are?” Was this racist? 
17. When Kendi accused Whites of creating AIDS to commit genocide on Blacks, was this racist?
18. In 2020 and 2021 American educational, government and private sector institutions/systems are creating laws, policies and programs that mandate, encourage, or condone preferences or discrimination based on race/religion/ethnicity. Is this systemic racism?

If you answered yes to all questions but 16 and 17, you know more about racism than Kendi and his disciples. You also know there are no through lines. Americans kiboshed that possibility in the 20^th century. Racism today is a product of power-seeking opportunists like Kendi, Project 1619’s Hannah-Jones/NY Times, BLM, CRT opportunists, the Left and other wokerati. They try to fool people by calling racist policies/programs/laws anti-racist. In history, this chapter will be called The American Era of Wokery. It will be remembered as America’s second regrettable peculiar institution that inferred and designated some people, based on race, as inferior. Unlike the first peculiar institution, this one isn’t legal or an accepted global practice for the period. 

It is not the 0.04% White supremacist population that poses the biggest threat to a cohesive America -- it is the peculiar institution of wokery. 

Image: Paul M. Walsh

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