When Race Trumps Merit

1. "Disparate Impact" Drives a Cultural Revolution

The driving concept behind this revolution is disparate impact.

A new cultural revolution. The year 2020 marked a pivotal moment, with major institutions endorsing the view that the United States is defined by systemic racism, epitomized by George Floyd's death. This cultural revolution targets meritocracy, the rule of law, and civilizational inheritance, labeling them as impediments to "racial justice."

Disparate impact ideology. This ideology presumes that any standard or norm disproportionately affecting blacks is a tool of white supremacy. If racial demographics in institutions (like colleges or workplaces) don't match national population percentages, standards must be lowered for "racial equity." This approach, initially a legal tool, has become a pervasive cultural one, discrediting high standards and color-blind policies.

Examples of impact:

• Redfin removed crime data from its website, deeming it biased.
• NIH was urged to fund researchers who "look like the country."
• San Francisco's Lowell High School replaced merit-based admissions with a lottery, leading to a 300% increase in D/F grades.
• SAT/ACT scores are being dropped by universities due to their "disparate impact" on minorities.

2. The "Bias Fallacy" Ignores Real Skills and Behavioral Gaps

But racial disparities in outcomes are overwhelmingly the result of measurable differences in achievement and behavior, not the result of racism.

The presumption of proportionality. Disparate impact thinking assumes that, absent unfairness, racial demographics in every institution would mirror the general population. This leads to the "bias fallacy," where any underrepresentation of blacks in fields like science or overrepresentation in crime is solely attributed to racism, making it taboo to consider differences in skills or behavior.

Documented academic gaps. Objective measures consistently show significant average academic skills gaps. For instance, in 2019:

• 66% of black 12th graders were "below basic" in math, compared to 29% of whites and 20% of Asians.
• Only 7% of black 12th graders were proficient in math, versus 28% of whites and 37% of Asians.
• Similar gaps exist in reading, ACT, SAT, GRE, and LSAT scores, indicating a severe shortage of competitively qualified black candidates for cognitively demanding professions.

Behavioral differences also contribute. Beyond academic skills, behavioral factors play a role. One-third of black males have felony convictions, signaling involvement with street culture. High rates of out-of-wedlock births in the black community (over 70%) mean many black females face solo child-rearing responsibilities, making career advancement more challenging.

3. "Equity" Undermines Science and Medicine, Threatening Lives

Vast sums of public and private research funding are being redirected from basic science to political projects aimed at dismantling white supremacy.

Medicine's racial reckoning. The medical field has been profoundly impacted by the hypothesis that racial disparities in the profession and health outcomes stem from systemic racism. Major medical organizations, like the AMA, have adopted "racial justice" plans, calling for identity-based preferences in admissions and leadership.

Lowering standards and reorienting research:

• The US Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) Step One is now pass-fail, to reduce pressure on minority students and allow more time for "anti-racism advocacy."
• Medical school honor society (AOA) criteria are changing to "holistic" systems, boosting minority selection.
• Despite persistent academic gaps (e.g., black MCAT scores in the 37th percentile vs. white in 71st), black applicants are admitted at vastly higher rates than similarly qualified whites/Asians.
• NIH funding is redirected from basic science to projects addressing "structural racism" and "health disparities," with grant applications requiring "diversity plans."

Suppression of scientific inquiry. Dissenting views, like those of Dr. Norman Wang who highlighted the academic skills gap, are ruthlessly punished, leading to retractions and professional ostracization. The insistence that health disparities are solely due to systemic racism, rather than individual behavior or biological factors, devalues basic science and impedes medical progress.

4. Classical Arts Are Attacked for "Whiteness," Fostering Mediocrity

The campaign against classical music has been particularly heartbreaking.

Classical music's "racial reckoning." Classical music organizations, from orchestras to conservatories, have confessed to "systemic discrimination" and "white supremacy" due to the historical lack of black representation. Critics like Alex Ross and Philip Ewell denounce the canon (e.g., Beethoven's Ninth Symphony) as a symbol of white male superiority.

Demands for quotas and "de-blinding":

• Organizations like the Sphinx Organization demand racial quotas for soloists, audition candidates, and repertoire (e.g., 20% "Black and Latinx" composers).
• Calls to end "blind auditions" (where musicians' identities are concealed) are made, despite their purpose to prevent bias, because color-blindness is now deemed discriminatory.
• New diversity officer positions are created in financially struggling institutions, often filled by individuals without musical backgrounds.

The cost of "equity" in art:

• Talented black musicians like Joseph Striplin and John McLaughlin Williams attest that the field is not currently racist and that black musicians are welcomed.
• The low percentage of black orchestral musicians (1.8%) is attributed to a lack of early exposure and training, not discrimination.
• The promotion of lesser-known black composers (e.g., Joseph Bologne, Florence Price) is often driven by political motives, with exaggerated claims of merit, rather than genuine artistic value.

5. Museums and Academia "Cancel" Western Art and History

The persistent denigration of our cultural institutions and their supporters as bearers of oppressive white privilege is taking its toll.

Museums as "agents of change." Art museums, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago, have redefined their mission to be "anti-racist" and "agents of change." This involves reinterpreting Western art through a lens of "colonialism, slavery, and war," while simultaneously celebrating non-Western art uncritically.

Examples of "cancellation":

• The Art Institute of Chicago eliminated its highly trained, predominantly white volunteer docent program, replacing them with a few paid "equity-focused" educators, deeming the docents "barriers to engagement."
• The Met's "Fictions of Emancipation" exhibit reinterprets Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's anti-slavery sculpture Why Born Enslaved! as "fetishizing violence and submission" and a "disturbing fantasy of aestheticized bondage."
• Yale University eliminated its foundational two-semester Western art history survey course, citing "Eurocentrism" and "problematic" content, despite offering numerous non-Western alternatives.

Erosion of scholarship and artistic integrity. This trend involves:

• Disparaging philanthropists and founders as "white supremacists" or "colonialists."
• Applying a "hermeneutics of suspicion" only to Western art, while uncritically glorifying non-Western traditions, even those with problematic historical practices (e.g., human sacrifice).
• Allowing student demands and identity politics to dictate curriculum, rather than scholarly merit or historical significance.

6. "Disparate Impact" Fuels a New Crime Wave and Anarchy

As long as disparate impact remains the primary focus of New York’s leaders, the crime surge will continue.

Decriminalization and rising crime. The focus on disparate impact has led prosecutors, legislators, and police chiefs to roll back criminal penalties and enforcement, particularly in areas where blacks are disproportionately involved. This has resulted in a dramatic increase in crime, reversing decades of successful crime-fighting strategies.

New York City as a case study:

• Homicides in NYC surged 41% in 2020, and shootings rose 103% from 2019.
• Police Commissioner Dermot Shea disbanded plainclothes anti-crime units, which proactively removed armed felons, in the name of "community" (avoiding disparate impact).
• Following this, shootings jumped 205% in two weeks, and overall arrests plummeted.
• Bail reform eliminated cash bail for many misdemeanors and felonies, putting repeat offenders back on the streets.

National consequences. The year 2020 saw the largest percentage increase in homicides in US history (29%), with new records set in many cities in 2021. Traffic enforcement is also curtailed due to disparate impact concerns, despite research showing high-crime areas most need it and that criminals often violate traffic laws.

7. Double Standards and Selective Outrage Distort Justice

Calling whites racist is not racially divisive, however, in establishment thinking; referring to “law and order” is.

Racialized political discourse. Political leaders, like Joe Biden, consistently frame "systemic racism" as a "white man's problem," while simultaneously condemning "law and order" rhetoric as racially divisive. This creates a double standard where accusations of white racism are normalized, but criticism of black behavior is taboo.

Examples of double standards:

• McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski was condemned as "racist" for suggesting parents of children killed in Chicago gang violence "failed those kids."
• Conversely, the white parents of school shooter Ethan Crumbley were lauded for being charged with involuntary manslaughter, with media celebrating parental responsibility.
• The media largely ignored the brutal rape and death of a white woman during Miami Beach spring break chaos, while focusing on alleged police "anti-black bias" in response to the disorder.

Erosion of accountability. This patronizing attitude absolves blacks from responsibility for their actions, attributing all crime to racism. It undermines the expectation that all citizens should adhere to the same standards of conduct, fostering a "cultural dysfunction" with lethal consequences.

8. The "Ignored Body Count" of Black-on-Black Violence

Police shootings are not the main problem afflicting urban black communities; criminal violence is.

Misplaced focus on police shootings. While police shootings should be minimized, they represent a tiny fraction of black homicide deaths (a little over 2% in 2020), far less than for white and Hispanic victims. The overwhelming majority of black homicide victims are killed by other blacks, a grim reality largely ignored by media and politicians.

The silent epidemic:

• Dozens of black children are killed annually in drive-by shootings, in their homes, or at family events, a toll that would be "inconceivable if white children were involved."
• In 2020, a sampling of four months showed countless black children and adults killed in shootings across major cities, often in gang-related violence.
• These incidents rarely receive national attention, unlike police shootings, because the perpetrators are predominantly black.

Consequences of silence: The "ghetto code against 'snitching'" and anti-cop rhetoric, fueled by disparate impact ideology, prevent identification of killers and cooperation with police. This leaves law-abiding residents of high-crime areas trapped in fear, begging for police protection that is increasingly withheld due to accusations of racism.

9. False Narratives About "White Hate" Increase Racial Division

Biden’s recurring suggestions that white hate crimes are America’s dominant reality is racial propaganda.

Distorted reality of hate crimes. The Buffalo supermarket massacre, a rare act of white supremacist terror, was amplified by media and politicians as emblematic of America's pervasive racial hate. However, FBI data from 2016-2020 show blacks are twice as likely as whites to commit hate crimes, and local data (e.g., NYC, LA) confirm this disparity, particularly in anti-Asian and anti-gay attacks.

Fabricated narratives:

• The Atlanta spa shootings, where a white man killed mostly Asian women, were immediately framed as anti-Asian hate crimes driven by "white supremacy," despite the shooter's stated motive of sex addiction.
• This narrative persisted even when evidence contradicted it, with critics of the narrative being labeled complicit in white supremacy.
• The actual perpetrators of anti-Asian violence (overwhelmingly black) are ignored or their actions are excused to avoid "disparate impact" on "Black and Latino communities."

Dangerous implications: This false narrative, that whites pose the greatest threat to black safety, is absorbed by the public, increasing black alienation and fear. It forms the basis for government policy, tech censorship, and risks escalating racial tensions into a "race war."

10. The Chilling Effect on Dissent Erodes Meritocracy

The costs of opposing the evisceration of standards, in other words, outweigh the benefits for anyone not driven by a transcendent (if self-destructive) commitment to principle.

Suppression of truth. The disparate impact crusade has created an environment where challenging its orthodoxy is "professionally suicidal." Scientists, academics, and arts professionals fear losing their jobs, grants, or reputations if they speak out against racial quotas or question the "systemic racism" narrative.

Erosion of excellence:

• The National Cancer Institute now urges its centers to nominate "broader pool" of candidates for prestigious awards, implying a dilution of merit-based selection.
• Working scientists observe that advancing "unworthy individuals" collapses the credibility of scientific enterprises, deterring the "best and the brightest."
• The fear of being labeled "racist" paralyzes leaders, preventing them from defending color-blind standards or their institutions' core missions.

The path forward. Ending this "disparate impact charade" requires:

• Prominent academics to expose the fictions behind the diversity crusade.
• Membership organizations to protect dissenters from retaliation.
• Legal and legislative action to remove disparate impact as a standard for discrimination.
• Elevating new black voices who advocate for achievement and self-discipline, rather than lowered standards.