Dispelling Myths: A Critical Assessment Of Progressive Ideologies On Race And Society

• Discussion:

          -The following text expands upon ideas explored in the past few articles on this site. The aim here is to delve deeper into claims about the interplay of race and societal norms in our current cultural landscape. The arguments scrutinized in this piece reflect a spectrum of progressive religious and secular perspectives. Many people seem very confused today about what to believe and fail to discern what truth is. Excerpts from a critic are cited in bold and followed with critical commentary:

          "Even if unconscious, they thrill to the violence, in thought or word or deed, toward objects of their hate. And usually the object’s circuit hate have been objects of hate for centuries of White Americans."

          That sort of assessment rests on a sweeping generalization of an entire people group, millions of whom this person has never met or could meet in a lifetime. It is also impossible for one to know what the "thrills" of one's heart are apart from some outward manifestation of them or a revelation from God, much less that of millions of other people. Further, critical race theorists generally take statements that deemphasize race to be racist.

          "Even white women accede to violence against other white women in order to “preserve” White Supremacy, from where they get their 2nd class citizen status. 2nd class only to white men."

          This is an assumption about what white women allegedly are complicit with and what their motives are in the context of racial relations. It is the product of an ideology which does not demand evidence in the conventional sense of the term to verify it. The guilt lies in the mere fact that one was born with a certain set of genetic characteristics. One does not actually have to do anything wrong to be considered guilty, which is not justice in the traditional sense of the term.

          "They couldn’t care less that black women die in in maternal care much greater numbers proportionately than white women."

          Chronic health conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and obesity contribute significantly to maternal mortality rates, not racial biases.

          "They couldn’t care less that black men are convicted at much greater percentages for low level. Times, like drug possession, than white men. That is, if the black man survives being arrested while driving it taking in a cell phone."

          This is a highly contentious claim which oversimplifies the context of alleged racial disparities in our justice system:

          "Using quantile regressions, we estimate the size of racial disparity across the conditional sentencing distribution. We find that the majority of the disparity between black and white sentences can be explained by differences in legally permitted characteristics, in particular, the arrest offense and the defendant’s criminal history. Black arrestees are also disproportionately concentrated in federal districts that have higher sentences in general."

          The above-cited allegation about higher arrest rates based on racial bias describes a scenario that was plausible during an earlier period of American history when racist views actually were a mainstream part of the culture.

          "They didn’t care that Mr Floyd was choked to death over 9 minutes for a misdemeanor. They didn’t care about any of the advertised executive lynchings - no concession that maybe a couple were wrong?"

          Labeling this incident as "choking to death over a misdemeanor" ignores the high-pressure context that law enforcement officers often face. Even if the details surrounding the death of George Floyd are correct as presented, this argument misses the point. It takes much more than isolated incidents to justify the claim of a general trend in society. Further, sympathy should be extended because he is a human being, not because of his skin color being black. The crucial mistake of critical race theory is that it extends generosity to certain groups of people in such a way that the encounters of others get overlooked and minimalized.

          "Thugs are the ones who have killed off their empathy, their compassion, their humanity when it comes to the suffering of those who were the objects of our greatest national crimes - and yet who physically empowered the economy and physically built the infrastructure of a Superpower."

          Innovative minds from a wide variety of backgrounds have propelled technological advancements and policy reforms, further shaping the nation's success. The story of building a superpower is one of collective effort, unity, and shared progress. It includes as a whole the contributions of all who worked toward a better future. Further, America is the only country where one is free enough to brazenly cut it down without any fear of punishment by the government.

          The underlying assumption behind this sort of thinking is that people should be able to make a profit off the suffering of their ancestors, which is despicable in and of itself. If we had the ability to resurrect slave owners from the dead, then by all means, charge them with crimes against humanity! In addition, Christianity is blind to ethnic distinctions. It is a message of grace and forgiveness, not counting the offenses of other people against oneself. We are forgiven of our sins in Christ, and we are to extend that forgiveness to others who truly are our enemies.