This, headlined "Racism in retreat," seems a little delusional to me:
Well, here we are. Are there some bigots? Of course. Did they, or any purported instance of "racism" during the campaign, keep Barack Obama from the nomination?
His victory demonstrates the main platform of my race writing. The guiding question in everything I have ever written on race is: Why do so many people exaggerate about racism?
This exaggeration is a nasty hangover from the sixties, and the place it has taken as a purported badge of intellectual and moral gravitas is a tire-block on coherent, constructive sociopolitical discussion.
A lot of damage has been done by those in the race-grievance industry who have exaggerated, for their own purposes, the continuing existence of racism in America. But the solution is not to exaggerate how far we've come. There are probably a lot more secret racists than secrret sexists in this country, as the coming election will no doubt demonstrate. And, as the Wright-Trinity fiasco has demonstrated, black racism is a problem as well. We have come a long way but still have a long way to do on race in America.
