Manufactured racism is the greater evil

Racism has evolved. Historically a social barrier, it has become a contemporary political tool. That’s not to say racism is nonexistent. Racism exists aplenty, in and toward all races. Our world is filled with people who harbor illogical hatred based solely on race or ethnicity. Race relations would take a giant step forward if only we would acknowledge this basic fact. But as long as demagogues can parlay even the most innocuous example of “racism” into political points, race relations will suffer.

Such demagoguery was recently displayed in Wildwood, New Jersey, sparked by a “Whites Only” sign in a hotel parking lot. The sign was immediately declared a racist act, perhaps even a hate crime. No other explanation would suffice. But common sense and economic reality suggest that public racism played little to no roll in posting the sign.

What business owner would risk a policy of public segregation, even if it reflected their private views? The economic consequences are too great. As it happens, the offending sign wasn’t erected with the hotel’s cooperation or knowledge. It was apparently a tasteless prank, perpetrated with gutless anonymity. Sans demagoguery, the sign would’ve been a non-story. But a demagogue surfaced in the form of Wildwood mayor Ernie Troiano, who seized the opportunity to prove his racial tolerance.

Mayor Troiano apologized on behalf of Wildwood, calling the sign “the worst thing anybody can do to anybody.” Troiano added, “For someone to do that, that’s a sick person.”

The Mayor’s contentions are demonstrably absurd. There are innumerable acts one person can commit against another that trump an anonymously posted “Whites Only” sign in an obscure hotel parking lot. In fact, screaming racial epithets at the top of one’s lungs pales compared to mankind’s capacity for genuine inhumanity.

It’s far worse for a man to rape three women in front of a five-year-old girl while the child begs the assailant not to hurt her mother and sister. Caging and starving someone until they begin to eat their own skin is an affront far greater than racism. So is beating an old man to death with his own cane, or drugging a man, tying him to a bed and severing his penis. For an 11-year-old girl to be kidnapped and subjected to 18 years as the “wife” of a maniacal degenerate also exceeds racism in terms of incivility.

A “Whites Only” sign in a hotel parking lot is a minor inconvenience compared to the horrific torture humans can inflict on each other. I’d rather be called a cracker any day than to endure the previously described abuses. And when it comes to a “sick person,” whoever posted the “Whites Only” sign pales in comparison to the Ted Bundys, Jeffrey Dahmers, and Charles Mansons of this world.

Only a fool would declare racism extinct. Every race and ethnicity under the sun practices racism to some degree. But modern racism is less about promoting petty bigotries than about gaining political advantage. Without racism, liberals can’t depend on 90-percent of the black vote in any given election. Without racism, politicians and bureaucrats would be forced to seek genuine solutions to problems they now tackle with insipid phrases like social justice, equal educational opportunity, and undocumented immigrant. Without racism, hustlers like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would have nothing to hustle.

Society cringes at the mere mention of racism. Our culture has been conditioned to avoid challenging even the most banal racial allegations. Small wonder we fail to recognize how thoroughly racism has been politicized. Authentic bigotry is an undeniable character flaw. But manipulating racism for political advantage is a far greater character flaw than racism itself.

As long as people like Ernie Troiano are ready to apologize on behalf of an entire city for the action of an anonymous idiot, there will be racial division. As long as politicians and social activists gain advantage from manufactured bigotry, there will be racial strife. Racial manipulation is a grave evil and a greater danger to American culture than authentic discrimination.

A society’s greatest weapon for countering the race hustler is to confront their agitation outright. Shouting discrimination should never serve as conclusive evidence that racism has occurred. Making this approach a reality won’t be easy; it will demand courage and discipline. Anyone who follows this path can expect to take some arrows. But it’s the only path that can possibly lead to racial harmony. Continuing to treat every racial allegation like a Klan lynching will only produce further racial division.