MLK’s Statement on “Black Power”

Matt Orfalea Tweet:

It's as if the DEI officer didn't even read the book by MLK that she's promoting, as she goes on to push blatant racism. Here's what MLK actually said in that book.

"One unfortunate thing about Black Power is that it gives priority to race precisely at a time when the impact of automation and other forces have made the economic question fundamental for blacks & whites alike. In this context a slogan “Power for Poor People” would be much more appropriate than the slogan “Black Power”.

-Martin Luther King Jr, "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?" (1967)

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Vivek Ramaswamy Holds Up the Mirror to The Washington Post on the Topic of Racism

The conversation:

Washington Post Reporter: Do you condemn white supremacy and white nationalism?

Vivek Ramaswamy: I mean, what this? Who are you with? With the Washington Washington Post? Alright, so Potato Potato, okay.

Of course, I condemn any form of vicious racial discrimination in this country. But I think that the presumption of your question is fundamentally based on a falsehood, that that really is the main form of racial discrimination we see in this country today. Institutionalized racial discrimination that we see doesn't come from somehow discriminate against people on the basis of some tentative white supremacy. It's based on affirmative action. It's based on actually discriminating against people on the color of their skin in a way that's actually institutionalized today. Was there a point in our history, a point in our prior national history where there have been vicious forms of anti-black or anti-brown discrimination throughout this country after the Civil War and otherwise? Yes. But you're looking in the rearview mirror and using that to pose a question today that is so far removed from what the reality is in America today, this myth of white supremacy. The closest you can find is Jesse Smollet, where you were all were actually speaking of trust in the media jumping up and down over some false narrative. The best way you're able to find your best instance of white supremacy was a guy who was actually paying his other fellow people to be actually staging something that didn't happen.

And so stop picking on this farce of some figment that exists at some infinitesimally small fringe of the American public today to open our eyes to the actual real threats that we face. And I think that it's frankly questions and framings like that have caused the American public to lose all trust in the mainstream media, I'm sorry to say, for good reason.

Washington Post: Can you say that you condemn white supremacy?

Vivek Ramaswamy: I'm not going to recite some catechism for you. I'm against vicious racial discrimination in this country. So I'm not pledging allegiance to your new religion of modern wokeism, which actually fits fits the test. I'm not going to bend a knee to your religion. I'm sorry. I'm not asking you to bend the knee to mine. And I'm not going to bend the knee to yours. But do I condemn vicious racial discrimination? Yes, I do. Am I going to play your silly game of gotcha? No, I'm not.

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The Pandemic of Resegregation

Eli Steele, writing at the Daily Mail:

When I learned that Boston's mayor Michelle Wu hosted a racially segregated holiday party for the city council's 'Electeds of Color,' I wondered: would I have been invited? After all, my father is black, but my skin looks white. The 'no whites' gathering was exposed this week after a city employee accidentally emailed invitations to Caucasian council members before hurriedly rescinding the offers....

[Above: Instagram photo published by the Office of Boston Mayor Wu]

It is incredible that nearly 60 years after the Civil Rights Act outlawed segregation in America — the country is once again grappling with this vile practice.

Today, in the name of social justice, K-12 educators divide students by race. Whites are told they are the oppressors while students of color are the oppressed. Teachers and administrative staff are separated into racial 'affinity groups'.

Our universities are no better — everything from freshmen orientation to housing decisions are determined according to immutable characteristics.Some colleges, including Harvard, hold 'special' celebrations during graduation week — whites and Jews excluded.

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Andrew Sullivan’s Prescription for Curing our Bad Case of DEI

We've got an enormous problem with DEI. It goes completely against what all of us seek when we need the best surgeon to operate on us, the best engineer to design a new bridge or the best pilot to safely fly us home. Even though we all know this, many of us have been afraid to say this lately. It is entirely rational and humane to seek out the best qualified people to fill jobs. Full stop. Although it is often a challenge to decide who is the best qualified person for the job, there is no close competitor to basing our decisions on merit.

Andrew Sullivan succinctly articulated the way forward:

End DEI in its entirety. Fire all the administrators whose only job is to enforce its toxic orthodoxy. Admit students on academic merit alone. Save standardized testing — which in fact helps minorities, and it’s “the best way to distinguish smart poor kids from stupid rich kids,” as Steven Pinker said this week. Restore grading so that it actually means something again. Expel students who shut or shout down speech or deplatform speakers. Pay no attention to the race or sex or orientation or gender identity of your students, and see them as free human beings with open minds. Treat them equally as individuals seeking to learn, if you can remember such a concept.

I've promoted this idea throughout the Great Awokening, hearing mostly crickets or criticism from intelligent people. Countless people I know have been sitting on their hands--refusing to say what they really think. They worry, often justifiably, that saying out loud what they really think will cost them their jobs and/or their reputations.

Speaking out in favor of merit as the only basis for hiring isn't just a platitude or an emotion. Consider, finally, this excellent article setting for the many reasons for hiring solely on the basis of merit: "In Defense of Merit in Science." Here is the abstract:

Merit is a central pillar of liberal epistemology, humanism, and democracy. The scientific enterprise, built on merit, has proven effective in generating scientific and technological advances, reducing suffering, narrowing social gaps, and improving the quality of life globally. This perspective documents the ongoing attempts to undermine the core principles of liberal epistemology and to replace merit with non­scientific, politically motivated criteria. We explain the philosophical origins of this conflict, document the intrusion of ideology into our scientific institutions, discuss the perils of abandoning merit, and offer an alternative, human­centered approach to address existing social inequalities.

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