Below is my column in The Hill on the reemergence of separate but equal policies from housing to graduation to even holiday parties. Many on the left are now embracing race-based exclusions as a certain article of faith. That was vividly shown in the race-based holiday party thrown recently by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
Here is the column:
For some, it seems, Christmas is so last century, and “Festivus” is so last decade.
Happy Plessivus, the new rage in politically correct holiday celebration.
Now, as we approach the 70th anniversary of the rejection of Plessy v. Ferguson and the concept of separate-but-equal with the Supreme Court’s 1954 landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, many people seem to be embracing racial segregation as a public good.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu offered just such an alternative with a holiday party that excluded guests on the basis of race. Wu was criticized after her staff mistakenly sent the entire city council an invitation to the party at the city-owned Parkman House. However, the invitation told white city council members that they could not attend due to their race.
It was not exactly what most of us think of as being in the spirit of the holidays. Yet, it is precisely what Wu wanted to capture for a racialized holiday theme with a hefty helping of identity politics.
It seems that, today, the three kings would be told by the angel to just drop off the gold, frankincense and myrrh at the door of the stable if they were not the right race.
What was most striking about the controversy is that Wu’s office apologized — but not for the racially exclusive policy. It apologized for sending the invite to white city council members.
Despite the criticism, Wu proudly posted a photo of all the attendees at her “electeds of color” holiday party. Six of the city’s 13 council members are people of color.
Imagine the reaction if the mayor held a holiday party only for white city council members. She would be called the Bull Connor of Christmas.
Yet, such racism is now not just acceptable but seemingly popular. The mayor used official property and staff to hold a racially segregated event, but many in Boston were apparently thrilled.
Roughly 20 years ago, I wrote about how we seemed to be moving toward a revival of separate-but-equal in schools, dorms, graduation ceremonies, events, and academic programs that excluded some students on the basis of race.
Some supporters defended Wu by arguing that such racial segregation is needed to make minorities feel safe or accepted, even on the ultra-left Boston city council, on which members of color are one seat short of an outright majority.
The case for such race-exclusive dinners was made by then-Justice Henry Billings Brown almost 125 years ago, when he explained that some people simply find the “commingling” of races to be “unsatisfactory.” He said that for a 7-2 majority in Plessy v. Ferguson.
It is not the taste of discrimination but the ease of the discrimination that is so alarming. Racial segregation now appears to be an article of faith for too many on the left.
It has gotten to the point that Super Bowl champion running back Rashard Mendenhall was entirely comfortable in declaring that whites are “not even good at football. Can we please replace the Pro Bowl with an All-Black vs. All-White bowl so these cats can stop trying to teach me who’s good at football.”
That could be the perfect combination for the racially intolerant: A race-based holiday dinner at Mayor Wu’s house, followed by a racially segregated holiday football game.
Wu’s dinner and Mendenhall’s posting are, ultimately, trivial matters compared to a wide array of policies and programs that are again dividing the nation along racial lines.
Courts have repeatedly found the Biden administration to be engaging in racial discrimination in such programs. In Wisconsin, for example, a federal court stopped Biden’s controversial $4 billion race-based federal relief program for farmers, holding that white farmers were found to be “experiencing discrimination at the hands of their government.” Another court held that the administration engaged in systemic discrimination in implementing COVID-19 relief for restaurants and bars.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that racial discrimination does not become good policy despite being carried out with the best of motivations. In 1989, in City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co., the high court ruled that “legislative assurances of good intention cannot suffice.”
The public agrees. A majority has long rejected racial criteria in areas like college admissions. Yet, despite the Supreme Court recently declaring such criteria to constitute racial discrimination, some colleges and universities are circumventing the decision with new pathways to maintain race-based admission goals.
Such politicians and educators are responding to a segment of our population driven by identity politics — even for holidays. Christmas is now viewed by some as just another race-based jump scare, seen through the lens of race and the dangers of what some have called “white privilege” disguised as Santa.
There is an alternative: We could use this holiday to celebrate our shared values and strengthen our interconnectedness. Instead of looking through the lens of race, we could just look at each other as individuals — even if it is just once a year.
Instead, we seem to have our own versions of “Krampus,” who would come around every year to chase naughty children and maybe even drag them to hell. In Germany, Krampus added an edge to the holidays; you had to escape Krampus trying to hit you with a stick and stuff you into his satchel to make it to the big holiday payoff.
The one thing you have to hand Krampus, however, is that he did not discriminate. He would bag anyone for the holiday.
Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School.
Today’s power brokers and politicians are very comfortable to accuse the opposition of everything they themselves are guilty of . . . May the next round of social unrest be as peaceful as the last.
Michelle, it is strange that someone whose parents came from Taiwan to America for a better life after the Americans, mostly white, saved China from the atrocities of the WWII Japanese. Then, the Americans, mostly white, supported your parent’s country of Taiwan to become successful and free from the Communist butcher and dictator, Mao. You are a Democrat and Greenie Weenie, supporting the policies that will weaken America and support China. As mayor, you should work to reduce crime, improve services for the citizens of Boston, without raising taxes, and not the Woke agenda of the Biden / Obama socialists.
BTW, Under Biden, you can kiss Taiwan goodbye.
Here’s a Chinese take on how to handle race differences.
https://youtu.be/Few8kJ0zfnY?si=EMwqBoWo_MPRR71Z
Whoomp! There It Is
Freedom of association, Jonathan Turley. Tch, tch.
David, good point! But try it with white folks.
Hypocrite.
So Brown Vs. Board of education was wrongly decided ?
Your OK with separate but equal ?
Your OK with excluding blacks from country clubs ?
Of course he’s not. But Dennis plainly believes that racism can only exist if its against a protected group. And he gets his virtue ticket punched. Disgusting.
John, What will come about from blacks excluding whites from clubs and events? As for government matters, and government funded activities, I doubt that it is legal. But when it comes to private organizations then why can blacks bar whites but whites can’t bar blacks?
For that matter, why can there be historically black colleges but no historically white colleges?
Why black dorms but no white dorms?
Why black graduations but no white graduations.
Given black violence, black riots, black antisemitism, black crime, and virulent black racial hostility whites probably have better reasons for separation than blacks have.
I thought we were finally settling in and figuring out how to live together until Obama came along and stirred the pot like some evil witch in a play. Demons rose.
Now I am pessimistic.
The laws baring private discrimination are unconstitutional.
It never goes well when Government tries to require people to act in a presumptively positive way.
Free markets take care of descimintationt hat has no justification in fact naturally.
The Jim crow laws in the south can about because private actors would not decriminate to the desires of government on their own – they had to be forced to by law.
I stand against discrimination based on race, sex or creed. But just because I scorn those who do so does not mean Iit can or should be illegal.
Everything I dislike should not be illegal.
If colleges wich to discriminate against blacks, jews, asians, whites, straights, gays, … they should by law be free to do so.
If they wish to have restrictive speech codes – they should be free to do so.
Conversely colleges should not receive any fuinding or subsidies from government.
No Government grants, not government guaranteed loans.
There should not be barred from discriminating if they take government money. They should be barred from taking government money PERIOD.
And that is broadly true – not just about education.
I do not care about Historically black colleges, or womens colleges.
I do nto care if colleges wish to discrimate against whites, or asians. or conservatives or transsexuals..
I care that they receive my tax dollars.
The remedy for private discrimination is in the market place.
If you do not like the conduct of a college – do not attend that college.
What you may not do is use public taxes to fund any college – regardless of its policies.
John, Interesting but not really the problem. The current drive from blacks and enablers is toward tribalism and separation with emphasis on hostility towards whites and Asians, Mayor Wu notwithstanding.
Hostility to Asians has been brewing for a long time. It is mentioned in Keith Richburg’s great book, “Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa” when he refers to a discussion with his father about why so many blacks hate the Koreans who open businesses in Detroit. His father sounds very smart and says it is because Koreans do something and are successful while black folk do nothing. Basically it is envy and racial hostility. Notice, too, how black mobs attacked Koreans during LA riots. For Koreans business is actual business while for many blacks, even in Harvard, their business is race and it never stops. In fairness, white leftists and Progressives created and rewarded the race industry.
I think Mexicans are becoming white in the sense Asians have done in that they tend to be seen as individuals rather than as a tribe. The media prefers not to notice it but Mexicans and blacks don’t get along well either. Leftist academics and politicians want two tribes, ‘people of color’ on the one hand and whites on the other. But in communities it isn’t working out that way I think.
A lot of people just want to get along.
John,
This type of thing happening daily may push more whites into the Scott Adams camp, this and the blatant hostility shown to whites from ghetto alleys to the halls of academia.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/teens-charged-murder-fatally-assaulting-father-three-outside/#comments
I can almost invariably guess the race of the offenders from the headline alone.
And this: “Kill all white people”:
https://nypost.com/2023/12/26/metro/two-girls-14-and-16-stabbed-at-grand-central-on-christmas
“COLORED ONLY”
– MICHELE WOO HOO, RACIST BOSTON MAYOR, 2023
___________________________________________________________
INSANE “ASYLUM” FRAUD
SIX MILLION ILLEGAL ALIEN FOREIGN INVADERS UNDER DE FACTOR PRESIDENT OBAMA AND HIS MINION, DEMENTED PRESIDENT JOKE BIDEN
EIGHTY MILLION BEFORE THAT
THE MASS TRANSFER OF POPULATIONS IN THE NAME OF FRAUDULENT “FAKE” “ASYLUM” IS MASS FRAUD
AMERICANS EFFECTIVELY CEDE AMERICA TO MEXRICASIARABIA BY QUIT CLAIM DEED
THE U.N. GUFFAWS ZEALOUSLY!
___________________________________
The American Founders intended to, “…SECURE THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY TO OURSELVES AND OUR POSTERITY.”
They generally required voters to be: MALE, EUROPEAN, 21, WITH 50 LBS. STERLING OR 50 ACRES.
Immigrants seeking citizenship were required to be “…A FREE WHITE PERSON….”
_______________________________________________________________________________________
What the —- happened, Americans (actual)???
What happens when whites decide that seperate but whatever is a good idea after all?
These people may be getting closer to it than they think. Certainly the ‘people of color’ [ridiculous expression] keep making charming arguments for it.
I’ve never understood why “people of color” was OK but “colored people” was not. After all, it sounds stupid if I say, “I have a car of red” instead of I have a “red car.”
Is it possible that young Asian women are susceptible to group think? It seems like a disproportionate number of these woke warriors are Asian girls, glomming onto every trendy despotism. Is Mayor Wu all that? Gosh, I can’t believe it. It would be racist of me to believe it.
But I do remember a couple of left-coast Asian chicks playing for China’s Olympic team because they believe white racism in America is so much worse than Han racism in Xinxiang. Now I’m confused, again.
They say in Japan, “The nail that stick out gets hammered down.” Surely our Asian chicks aren’t genetically predisposed to hammering anyone who doesn’t follow the prevailing ego mass. It would be racist of me to believe that, wouldn’t it??
No, I would much rather believe that America’s young Asian ladies are women of agency who refuse to parrot every faculty crackpot. I would much rather believe their worldview is shaped by facts and experience, not be Colbert and Kimmel (the slobbering Dromedaries of late-night propaganda). I wish to believe they are not led by narcissists who hide behind a curtain of theory and make-believe.
I want to believe our Asian ladies are both kind and fair… unlike Mayor Wu. Please, prove me right.
“I want to believe our Asian ladies…”
Welcome back, Diogenes.
China has used its influence and money to promote politicians that disrupt America and aid China. I will not say Wu is under Chinese influence, but if the data shows that more of these young Asians like Wu exist, then it should. Chinese influence could be a factor. Today, a sizable number of politicians have been influenced by Chinese money and deception, so I expect that to be true among Chinese women.
Good to hear from you, again, Alan 🙂
You may have mistakenly blundered into being unreasonably guilt-ridden and self-destructive, entirely without rational basis, taking the nation with you.
How was the Western world created if not for healthy, appropriate, and resolute aggressiveness?
The Western world was certainly not created by self-destructive, timid milquetoasts whose sole desire is to acquiesce and be dominated.
I go for a drive; there are dead bugs all over my car.
C’est la vie!
I blundered into a moron who doesn’t understand sarcasm. How’s that for aggression?
That’s a start. We’ll send you out with General George Armstrong Custer next mission. Keep up the good work.
I don’t understand, George. I’ve often supported your comments. Never attacked them. I’m getting both misunderstood and insulted by this Anonymous guy. I never expected this from you.
I agree, this is nonsense. And I especially like to see that places like Florida and Missouri are rejecting the teaching of anything other than white Northern European history. I mean come on. The rest of the world are a bunch of bargains so why teach black history. Nonsense. Only white northern europeans count. I mean come on. look at a picture of Jesus. The guy is clearly of Norwegian descent.
How original! Swoon!
What happens when whites decide that seperate but whatever is a good idea after all?
These people may be getting closer to it than they think. Certainly the ‘people of color’ [ridiculous expression] keep making charming arguments for it.
Swedish.
Thank you, he could be swedish.
The history of humanity is a long history of the epicenter for human advancement moving throughout the world.
We should study all of it. We should especially study the development of human thought of ideas principles and values as they moved through the world, How they evolved through Egypt, and india, and china and greece and rome and …
Until a few hundred years ago europe was among the most backward parts of the world.
In the past 500 years it and then the US have become the pinacle of human development.
It is possible, even likely that cuitting edge will move from the west from the US elsewhere over time.
But for not it is HERE.
All of world history should taught. Further that hisotry should cover the advanced of concepts ideas and values over time.
And that history should end with the study of the west – of the US.
Because that is the best we have done so far – and we should understand that.
If you wish to criticize that – to point out its flaws and its hypocrocay – Fine – that is a good thing.
But you must does so starting with the FACT that you are criticizing the flaws in THE BEST HUMANS HAVE DONE SO FAR.
You can and should teach the contributions of the rest of the world – almost everything that is the west, the US today – built upon what came before.
With very few exceptions the principles ideas and thought that make the US the west today are principles, ideas, values we stole from the best of the rest of the world. But WE are still inarguably the best instantiation of humanity – until another nation or people do better.
The left hasn’t completely destroyed the country…yet. We are headed there at a very rapid pace, however.
Absolutely, follow the right wing people that are banning books. Only book approved by the ultra right wing threesome for me but not for thee group should be allowed in libraries.
what books are banned Bill? I cant find a single banning
Catcher in the rye, 1984, brave new world, there are a host of book banned in libraries anywhere the group threesome for me but not for thee can get their claws into. Interesting how the group Moms for Liberty turned out to be a sex orgy group isn’t it.
The sophomoric is strong with this one.
brandrunner902cbad416, (aka bob, svelaz, sammy, elvis bug, bill g, dennis, gigi, fishwings) is just mad he cant pick up his groomers reading material anymore at the grade schools where he diddled kids. ghey periodicals like “Inches”, “Honcho”, “Hung” “blue boy” were placed in school libraries by him to do his bitter bottom moves!
🍑
People that throw out crap like this without knowing anything about the person they are accusing, are usually guilty of what they accuse. I mean just look at Mom’s for Liberty. They ranted about the dangers of group sex and Lesbians, turns out the leader was involved in group sex and a lesbian relationship. My guess is Seth is speaking from experience. If the shoe fits, throw out accusations to distract.
Yes, Absolutely M4L should be destroyed because the husband of someone who has not been part of the group for 3 years has been accused of something salacious.
And Joe Biden is responsible for what his former gardner’s boyfriend did yesterday.
“Absolutely M4L should be destroyed because the husband of someone who has not been part of the group for 3 years has been accused of something salacious.”
No, not at all. Just pointing out how hypocritical the group is. M4L group is a failure all their own. Their picks for candidates this past election bombed pretty bad. Did any one of them win? I’m pretty sure nearly all of them lost elections by big margins.
So go ahead, run trump as the prez candidate. He will fail as has most of his picks for candidates over the past 8 years.
Their picks for candidates this past election bombed pretty bad.
How many elelctoral failures did Lincoln have
2010 saw the biggest change from Democrat to Republican on the coattails of Obama.
Who’s the hypocrite?
The fact remains that books are not being banned. Parents are asking school why books contain words a pictures describing the sex going in in Senate hearing rooms is in the shelves in schools so 3rd graders have access
You using the book placement in elementary libraries as some proxy, is a weak argument. The books aren’t banned, anymore that Playboy was banned.
Bill, the only books banned are books banned by leftists, books like Dr Seuss and To Kill a Mockingbird. The books you claim are banned are just books pulled from CHILDREN’S LIBRARIES.
Guys like Bill say that pulling Deep Throat from a kindergarten library is movie banning. So dumb as to be painful.
Hullbobby, aside from being an ignoramus and mistaking the facts, Bob G. is a prude. He wants to dictate the sexual behavior of others. I wonder how that goes over with gays and LGBT?
HullBobby,
Found a pic of Bill: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/prominent-transgender-activist-tied-pennsylvania-dems-charged-raping-two-underage-boys
The partner of a woman who has not been part of the group for 3 years is accused of sexual assault and you jump to the conclusion the group is about orgies ?
I do not know what the truth is regarding Mr. Ziegler – as the #me too movement has shown us – sexual assaults occur all too often without regard for the politics of the offenders, but false claims also abound – all too often motivated by politics.
If Mr. Ziegelr is found guilty – he should be punished appropriately.
regardless even the allegation here is pretty removed from Mom’s for Liberty – except in the minds of left wing nuts.
Right now Left wing nuts want us to beleive that there is no relationship between the conduct of Hunter Biden and his father,
But with Respect to Mom’s for liberty the same people are asking us to beleive that we must intimately tie the current conduct of Joe Biden’s former dog walkers spouse to Biden himself.
The books you listed are innapropriate for childrens libraries – they do not need to be banned there – because providing them to children would be just as illegal as sharing your pornhub account with a child.
I know this is hard for left wing nuts to grasp but our laws – do to near unanimous public support criminalize providing sexual content to children.
We can debate the merits of this, and I strong suspect that the inability to police the internet will ultimately lead to the end of these laws. At the same time most of us do NOT think that childhood should be filled with sexual content.
I would note that many of the same books you list are CURRENTLY banned by the left.
Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer was banned a century ago for representing southern blacks favorable. Today it is being banned by the left for portraying them negatively as well as using the N word.
Beyond charged topics like race and sex – where I wonder why it is that we must inculcate left wing values into children at the earliest age possible ?
It should be self evident to people that all material is not appropriate for children. Whether it is the latest issue of Playboy or Principia Mathematica – some things are just not going to be approriate to young people.
One dumb Republican shouldn’t stereotype all Republicans. Same goes for Democrats!
“One dumb Republican shouldn’t stereotype all Republicans. Same goes for Democrats!”
*****************************
You judge a political movement by its current leaders and not the rank and file:
Merry Christmas Professor. Thank you for your moral clarity and impeccable legal analysis.
Throughout most of our history, the “good thinkers” viewed America as a melting pot of various groups, living peacefully in mutual recognition of lhe benefit of free institutions. But after WWII, when Democrats looked at the large African-American populations in Northern cities like Detroit, they decided that they could make such populations reliable client groups by convincing them that were victims of the hostility of the majority white population. Thus began systematic racial politics. Thus, after 70 years of media propaganda, we have reached a point where the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants fans the flames of black hostility to the descendants of European immigrants, while sending her own daughter to an exclusive private school where the black population is probably close to nil.
With apologies to Steely Dan. 😉
Are you racist Mayor Wu?
Are you really just a shadow
of that Wallace that we knew?
Have you hated, have you tried
to keep out ordinary guys?
Just because their eyes are blue.
Are you racist Mayor Wu?
one might get the impression this was never about equality but advantage…
Time to tear down all the monuments to achieving racial equality. The inmates now have control of the penitentiaries, and all the doors have been unlocked.
Is there a legal cause of action under Federal, Massachusetts or Boston law to address what Mayor Wu did?
Who ever thought that separate college dorm facilities, separate curriculum, and separate Christmas parties would make a comeback after the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960’s ??? It’s the wokster’s new Confederacy. Who knew !!! Let’s all find Krampus while there’s still time. Merry Christmas, Jonathan, to you and your family from New Mexico.
My school district is in the process of adopting a strategic plan that aims to increase the percentage of “Black/African American and Latinx” students who are proficient in math and reading/writing by three percentage points each year compared to one percentage point for all students in aggregate, meaning a less than one percentage point increase for students who are not Black/AA or Latinx.
If these targets are met, there will be a much faster reduction in the number of non-performing Black/AA and Latinx students compared to other students.
The plan is silent as to how the district will bring about this disproportionate result, except to say it will be done “through robust equitable instruction.”
The district has individualised data on all students, so it knows precisely who is underperforming and who is not. It does not need to use race as a proxy for underperformance.
The purpose of this is clearly to reduce the significant “achievement gap”. But even with that achievement gap, the demographics of the district are such that there are significantly more underperforming students who are not Black/AA or Latinx than those who are. Under this policy, the ratio of the former to the latter will increase.
Do you think this is a good policy?
Do you think it is legal?
@Daniel: RE:”Do you think this is a good policy?..” Why children fail has less to do with ‘equitable instruction’ and more to do with a host of factors which the pedagogical community understands, and decades of ‘doing’ and billions of dollars, have yet to overcome. I was teaching middle school science in NYC during the ’60’s when they instituted the great ‘community control’ effort. 60 years later they are still up the creek without a paddle because the root causes remain unchanged.
Roland Fryer did a fascinating project in Houston where he was given complete control of underperforming schools populated largely by disadvantaged minority students. He achieved significant improvements in math. He applied best practices from charter schools which he identified as:
1. Better teachers;
2. High expectations;
3. Increased “time on task”; and
4. Data-driven adjustments.
There was no reference to “equity” or “culturally responsive teaching” or a “culturally relevant curriculum”, all concepts to which my district’s plan refers.
Plessy v. Ferguson stood for 58 years before Brown v. Board. Some say that Plessy has never been explicitly overruled some 127 years later. Isn’t Plessy what progressives like Michelle Wu call a super precedent?
Separate but equal Christmas parties.
What’s not to love?
Wu’s act doesn’t surprise me – Boston is a racist town, always was, always will be.
But, she can’t be all bad – got herself a whitey husband and a whitey neighborhood in the burbs. Only 21% black.
Nothing like a wokie to act racist vis-a-vis whiteys publically, yet live in a majority white town that relegates them to the fringes, aka the ghettos.
Gotta love liberalism.
Wu does NOT live in the Boston suburbs. Probably like wherever you live, you have to live in the place where you are mayor