I’ll start with this post by Mike Benz:

If one really wanted to diminish the importance of “race,” one would not capitalize only one “race” but not others. But this is a minor skirmish. As I’ve written before, the very concept of “race” is a grift; the usage of the concept of “race” has never enhanced human flourishing. It only pits us against one another. It’s time for all of us to wake up and abolish the use of “race.” We can talk about each other perfectly well without use of the term “race,” which, at best, serves as a proxy for other things.

Sheena Mason argues that “race” is not biologically real—she points to evidence showing extensive human migration and mixing, where traits like skin color do not reliably correlate with ancestry (e.g., two dark-skinned South Africans can be more genetically divergent than one is from a light-skinned Swede).

She argues that “race” serves to perpetuate racism, a hierarchical system that disguises itself as innate differences. She critiques both “anti-racist resistance” (which centers race in analysis, as seen in thinkers like Ibram X. Kendi) and “color-blindness” (which ignores race but still treats it as real) for inadvertently reinforcing racial categories.

For Mason, undoing racism requires dismantling the belief in race altogether. A central tool in her approach is the “racelessness translator,” which “translates” race-based language into non-racial terms to reveal underlying issues (e.g., reframing “racial disparities in policy effects” as class-based inequities).

There is no such thing as “race,” even though racism can still be found. There are people who will nevertheless assure us that “race” is a meaningful term and who discriminate against those of a particular “race.” They should be prosecuted under civil rights laws. It’s time for the rest of us to move on.

For more, see my previous post, “Race is like Astrology.”

[Supp Sept 11 2025]

I agree with Eli Steele:

In the wake of Iryna Zarutska’s brutal murder — a grim reminder of how liberation ideology’s tribalism can ignite violence — the tragedy of today’s white identitarian movement comes into sharp focus. Those who embrace “whiteness” as their defining badge are merely mimicking the failed racial movements of the past, doomed to repeat their mistakes.

Growing up, I saw black militants shackle themselves to an identity defined solely in opposition to the “other.” Their existence was a sad one, their rhetoric an endless loop of victimhood — forever blaming “The Man” for their unfulfilled ambitions. They were nothing without the “other.”

No wonder my father fled that world.

Today’s white identitarians, seduced by the fleeting thrill of racial pride, are stumbling into the same trap. The rush of “whiteness” will fade, leaving them mired in the same toxic resentment that poisons movements like Black Lives Matter. Why would anyone aspire to mirror the racial obsessions of the Left?

True liberation lies not in trapping oneself in a racial cage but in embracing the expansive, imperfect promise of the American identity — one that transcends the petty tribalism of race. Rooted in one law for all citizens, regardless of color, this identity offers a path to a future far greater than any racial movement can provide. That is why embracing the American identity remains the grand achievement.

[Supp 2025.09.11]:

Eli Steele (son of Shelby Steele) nails it with this post on X:

In the wake of Iryna Zarutska’s brutal murder — a grim reminder of how liberation ideology’s tribalism can ignite violence — the tragedy of today’s white identitarian movement comes into sharp focus. Those who embrace “whiteness” as their defining badge are merely mimicking the failed racial movements of the past, doomed to repeat their mistakes.

Growing up, I saw black militants shackle themselves to an identity defined solely in opposition to the “other.” Their existence was a sad one, their rhetoric an endless loop of victimhood — forever blaming “The Man” for their unfulfilled ambitions. They were nothing without the “other.”

No wonder my father fled that world.

Today’s white identitarians, seduced by the fleeting thrill of racial pride, are stumbling into the same trap. The rush of “whiteness” will fade, leaving them mired in the same toxic resentment that poisons movements like Black Lives Matter. Why would anyone aspire to mirror the racial obsessions of the Left?

True liberation lies not in trapping oneself in a racial cage but in embracing the expansive, imperfect promise of the American identity — one that transcends the petty tribalism of race. Rooted in one law for all citizens, regardless of color, this identity offers a path to a future far greater than any racial movement can provide. That is why embracing the American identity remains the grand achievement.

More about Eli, from Batya Ungar-Sargon:

Eli Steele’s great-grandfather on his father’s side was born into American slavery. His grandmother on his mother’s side escaped the Nazis, then went back and rescued her entire family. His father is Shelby Steele, the famous Black conservative and author of “The Content of our Character,” a book that got him cancelled back in the 1990s… Steele’s third film, “What Killed Michael Brown,” stars his father, who is now a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

[Supp 2025.09.12]

Eli Steele: “Systemic racism is a Leftist invention to exploit white guilt and grab power.”