Coleman Hughes, writer and opinion columnist specializing in race and public policy, discusses the importance of colorblindness and the suppression of free speech. The podcast explores the paradox of America's founding, the intellectual power of Martin Luther King Jr., the life of civil rights organizer Beyard Rustin, views on social welfare policies, voting habits, and US foreign policy.
Colorblindness should be the guiding principle to make decisions, promoting unity and minimizing racial biases.
Despite progress, eradicating racism completely may be unattainable, but striving for colorblindness remains essential in poverty and public policies.
America's unique experiment of defining itself around an idea rather than ethnicity requires minimizing tribal instincts and promoting colorblindness for successful coexistence.
Deep dives
Importance of Colorblindness in America
Colorblindness is crucial in the United States to overcome tribal instincts and promote equality. Unlike most countries, America defines itself as a nation where people of any race, color, or creed can define themselves as American. To govern this experiment successfully, it is important to minimize state laws that take race into account, strive for equal treatment, and separate race from the state. This approach, inspired by figures like Martin Luther King, aims to promote unity, trade, and friendship among diverse groups while minimizing the negative effects of tribalism.
Challenges and Hypocrisy in Achieving Equality
The transition from a world with pervasive slavery and no concept of racism to modern society with human rights and liberalism was always going to involve hypocrisy and challenges. While progress has been made, eradicating racism completely may be unattainable. Despite this, striving for colorblindness remains a valuable approach. While humans might be unable to completely eliminate the tribal instinct, colorblindness can guide decision-making processes in poverty and public policies, promoting fair treatment and reducing racial biases.
The Fragile Experiment of America's Achievements
America's unique experiment of defining itself as a nation around an idea rather than ethnicity presents great challenges. The idea that anyone, regardless of race, color, or creed, can become an American is fragile but unprecedented. To successfully live, trade, and befriend each other in a diverse society, minimizing tribal instincts and promoting colorblindness becomes crucial. While it is challenging to achieve, the separation of race and state, rejecting discriminatory laws based on race and promoting equality, offers the best way to govern this unique experiment.
Challenging the Narrative of Colorblindness
Colorblindness advocates for treating individuals as individuals, beyond markers of group identity that may overshadow their particularity. Arguing against the notion that a completely colorblind society is feasible, colorblindness can serve as a guiding principle in personal and public decisions, avoiding discrimination and promoting equality. Moreover, acknowledging the complexity of ideals, colorblindness provides a North Star that acknowledges the timeless human tendency to form tribes while advocating for living, trading, and coexisting without succumbing to our worst instincts.
Examining the Role and Impact of DEI Organizations
DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) organizations at universities have been criticized for lacking diversity of ideas and suppressing freedom of speech. Recent manifestations of antisemitism have highlighted the limitations of these organizations in addressing specific issues effectively. Intersectionality, a governing ideology at many campuses, struggles to handle Jewish grievances due to its focus on oppression and the challenge posed by Jewish success in America. While some may hope that universities will take action, it is unlikely that a significant shift away from intersectionality and towards diversity of ideas will occur.
"I'm under no illusion that humanity will completely eradicate the racial tribal instinct or racism or bigotry itself. But I feel that colorblindness is the North Star that we should use when making decisions," argues Coleman Hughes during a live taping of The Reason Interview with Nick Gillespie podcast in New York City.
Hughes is a writer, podcaster, and opinion columnist who specializes in issues related to race, public policy, and applied ethics. His new book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America is about returning to the ideals of the American Civil Rights movement because our departure from the "colorblind ideal has ushered in a new era of fear, paranoia, and resentment." When his recent TED talk was seen as "hurtful" by some TED conference attendees, for example, he discovered that TED actually suppressed his presentation. Hughes describes how that situation left him concerned, "that TED, like many organizations, is caught between a faction that believes in free speech and viewpoint diversity and a faction that believes if you hurt my feelings with even center left, center right or, God forbid, right-wing views, you need to be censored."
