GREG JINKERSON writes:

Regarding the thread about black culture under modern liberalism, I agree wholeheartedly that the Great Society scheme, particularly the Civil Rights Act of 1964, amounted to a huge step in the wrong direction for blacks politically. The CRA lent official credence to the racist notion that all of the problems of black people can and should be attributed to the lingering racism of white people. The act also hardened into concrete certain ancient feelings of suspicion and fear between black and white Americans, emotions that were showing many signs of being replaced by a realistic if fragile kind of peace. Whereas blacks were moving steadily into patterns of healthy community life in the USA up to the time of the civil rights agitation in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, the decision to enlist a host of new laws in order to force artificial uniformity upon black and white economic outcomes has done unspeakable damage to race relations in America. This is hardly surprising because by focusing naively upon the economic plight of blacks (and only upon economics), liberals expose the fact that they view human life as if it consisted in the pursuit of bread alone, instead of making a more honest assessment of what the good life really entails. And anyway, as Sage McLaughlin notes, the Great Society has not been the promised boon to black culture that President Johnson foresaw. Instead it has reinforced racist assumptions that not much should be expected of blacks economically, leading to spurious talk of collective societal guilt and even proposals of reparations for slavery to those whose ancestors were slaves.

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