The End of Race Politics (Coleman Hughes)

The Michael Shermer Show # 418
As one of the few black students in his philosophy program at Columbia University years ago, Coleman Hughes wondered why his peers seemed more pessimistic about the state of American race relations than his own grandparents-who lived through segregation. The End of Race Politics is the culmination of his years-long search for an answer.
Coleman Hughes is a writer, podcaster and opinion columnist who specializes in issues related to race, public policy and applied ethics. Coleman’s writing has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Quillette, The City Journal and The Spectator. He appeared on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in 2021.
Shermer and Hughes discuss: why he is considered “black” if he is “half-black, half-Hispanic” • what it means to be “colorblind” • population genetics and race differences • Base Rate Neglect, Base Rate Taboos • institutionalized neoracism • viewpoint epistemology • affirmative action • gaps in income, wealth, home ownership, CEO representation, Congressional representation • myths of Black Weaknes, No Progress, Undoing the Past • reparations • the future of colorblindness.
Contemplative yet audacious, his new book, The End of Race Politics, is necessary reading for anyone who questions the race orthodoxies of our time. Hughes argues for a return to the ideals that inspired the American Civil Rights movement, showing how our departure from the colorblind ideal has ushered in a new era of fear, paranoia, and resentment marked by draconian interpersonal etiquette, failed corporate diversity and inclusion efforts, and poisonous race-based policies that hurt the very people they intend to help. Hughes exposes the harmful side effects of Kendi-DiAngelo style antiracism, from programs that distribute emergency aid on the basis of race to revisionist versions of American history that hide the truth from the public.
Read Michael H. Bernstein's review of Coleman Hughes book, The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America: www.skeptic.com/reading_room/...
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[@skepticalbutopen4620]

Coleman is always interesting to listen to. He has a very bright future.

[@rpeck2832]

And he's young. Coleman will be around for a long time.

[@andrebaxter4023]

I totally relate Coleman on how things took a 180 in terms of race relations. I grew up not caring about race(still don’t). From my experience, most people felt the same way. The 90s and early 2000s were awesome. Now we’re in the Twilight Zone.

[@brianmeen2158]

Yep I grew up in the 90s too and while race was a thing - it wasn’t the most important thing .. today we have created a very strange atmosphere regarding race - we have gone backwards

[@sunnyla2835]

Love love love Coleman ❤ wise beyond his years, intelligent, talented, a man of immense integrity❤

[@Mark-hc8ek]

KZbin metrics is burying this channel

[@tuckerbugeater]

Maybe it's lack of interest.

[@ayotundeayoko5861]

subscribe to the channel!

[@crystalexarch217]

Excellent episode and engaging conversation with 2 of the greatest public intellectuals of our time.

[@kavorka8855]

Impressive at 27 to know so much about so many different subjects!

[@wadetisthammer3612]

24:38 to 25:05 - Good point about why some black folks would be attracted to Malcom X. 42:56 to 44:49 - Great analogy! 52:20 to 52:22 - That makes sense. I wonder why this isn't more widely adopted? 57:48 to 59:07 - Interesting point about welfare affecting black marriage rates. 59:09 to 1:01:41 - Why the differences within the same race.

[@brucecook502]

My experience growing up was similar in the sense that because I grew up in very diverse settings having lived in a lot of children's homes and boys homes growing up and all of us kids were friends with each other, race just wasn't a thing in my mind and in fact I wasn't exposed to racism until I was sent to a particular fundamentalist religious Boys Home in Panama City Florida, and it was very evident to me that these people that ran the boys home were racist. They in fact said that they would never ever accept any boys of color, and it was also the first time I heard anybody say behind the pulpit that the reason why black people exist was because they are descendants of Noah's son Ham who was cursed by God with black skin for homosexually raping his drunk father Noah. Yes you heard it, this is exactly how they interpreted that story in Genesis. I thought it was a very dumb thing when they said they would never adopt a colored kid because I just didn't see the difference between anybody, but apparently these religious Fanatics didn't see it that way. That's pretty sad if you ask me. Still to this day it only makes sense to me to judge someone by how that individual treats other people. People Are People, we're all human, so why treat anybody any differently.

[@machtnichtsseimann]

To be locked in to the superficiality of a person's "look", i.e. skin tone, rather than the beautiful complexity of their heritage, is still one of the saddest things about America. The genetics alone in each human being is fascinating. To just call someone "black" ( like Oprah did with Tiger in claiming him ) is unnecessarily reductionistic. We and should do better than that rather than force individuals to choose a color or 1/2 of their heritage while casting the other 1/2 off in shame.

[@mariacomninou4337]

In tort law (also often applied to criminal law) there is doctrine (based on common law) call the eggshell or thin skull rule. It says that you take the plaintiff as you find them and it is not a defense that the plaintiff had pre-existing conditions that caused or worsened the outcome of defendant's actions. Removing intent is not exculpatory, you may remain liable for e lesser offense.

[@RandyPass]

Coleman is in essence correct about the legal framework, although he doesn’t actually describe it properly. The court is always engaging in a truth seeking function. In general (both in civil and criminal cases), the party making a claim bears the burden of proof. In a criminal case, that is the prosecution because they are the ones saying the accused committed a crime. However, if the accused wishes to raise an affirmative defence (e.g. Not criminally responsible, which is what we used to call insanity), the burden rests with the defendant to prove that state of affairs. So, while the spirit of what he says is correct, he is technically incorrect in the way he presents it.

[@ceazaleo]

Refreshing conversation on a horse beaten to death by victim culture.

[@matt-30-]

Coleman Hughes seems like a nice young man. Someone like David Simon would take a wrecking ball of reality to his premises.

[@arcitejack]

This is brilliant

[@Clem62]

If you watch the documentary you will come away with enough doubt to realize it was an unfair trial. Unless the film makers left out key body cam footage, Floyd was treated fairly. The fact that all this footage wasn't shown at the trial should more than raise some eyebrows.

[@tonythomas1010]

Chauvin deserves to be in prison.

[@patrickl6932]

@@tonythomas1010Why

[@machtnichtsseimann]

Saying "You're one of my favorite black authors" is not necessarily racist. Why? America has been so conditioned, one example being the bullying of white people into racializing everything, that saying "black author" can come from a good place of striving towards respect and equality. It's similar to saying, "My friend, who's African-American.....". For vital reasons of uniting together as one nation my vote is to get away from Hyphenated-American identifiers, skin tone, and always describing one's friend or news item primarily through "race".

[@deathbysloth]

It's funny how I hear everyone on the Left talk about "systemic racism" as if we all know what it is, and I've never heard one of them tell me where these systems reside. I'd love for anyone to do so.

[@heteroerectus]

Systemic racism is where the law itself is racist, so non racists following the law are committing racist acts. An example would be affirmative action which mandates racial discrimination, not the example that race baiters will give you but it’s real. 😂

[@paigemccormick6519]

Good duo, thank you. I'm familiar with each one separately.

[@user-ll2ed3lt4g]

I like the intro, very insightful.

[@TheCheeseBaron]

Victim status equals social power. You can make other people do what you want if you put your victim hood in their face

[@connieconway244]

This blows my mind. I always thought it was personally weak to have a victim complex but it was more honorable to be responsible for overcoming your own obstacles without playing the victim

[@TheCheeseBaron]

@@connieconway244 I agree. The temptation to control those around you is a human weakness. A student can suddenly command intense power over a teacher by becoming trans for example, and an immature person finds great temptation in behavior like that

[@paigemccormick6519]

I can't wait to make early input to reasons for 2013 changes to race politics... Obama and Michelle on Trevon.

[@connieconway244]

Perceptive remarks on the importance of story in identity

[@morallygray3405]

What was the name of the study about perceptions of black deaths by police?

[@DonaldAMisc]

Both Pew Research and Gallup have polls regarding American's perception of race relations getting worse.

[@broccolihikicks]

How Informed are Americans about Race and Policing? (Skeptic)

[@kimberlyrichardson387]

Perhaps you’re referring to Roland Fryer’s paper published in the Journal of Economy, 2019?

[@tuckerbugeater]

Brazilification of America.

[@louislemar796]

I agree with much of what Coleman says, however his belief that "we" should work to "close the gap" between groups because it may result in resentment between groups is fallacious and in contradiction to his moral argument that we should judge people as individuals, by one's character and not by one's skin colour. Who cares if people resent those who are more successful? That's their problem, let them stew in their own resentment, don't penalise the successful because the wicked are full of hatred toward them. The government should not have the power to grant favours to any person or group which comes at the expense of others. That will only breed more resentment and tribalism. The successful with resent the unsuccessful because the unsuccessful will have coopted the state to plunder their resources, and the unsuccessful and resentful will recruit more envious people to their cause because Government has now legitimated their grievance and given them power to plunder others. Stop thinking in terms of "gaps", i.e. stop comparing yourself to others, life is not a competition against your neighbours. The only rational competition in life is the competition you have with yourself. You want to be better off today than you were last year, and better still next year. As long as you're improving by your own standards that should be all that is important to you.

[@stevenmyers6291]

The end of racism would be nice, but it isn't the world we now live in. The increase in anti-Semitism has been noted on this channel, yet there seems to be an implication that we ignore racism because it is so rare and doesn't really matter. I do agree with a lot of the points made here though. It seems like there's no scientific answer to how much racism matters, but there should be some common ground that we use to denounce the "white replacement theory" crowd.

[@ChucksExotics]

I'm someone who would be considered far right. And honestly, I prefer wokeness to the individualism Coleman promotes. I'd rather be hated as a White person, than to be forced into this delusion that we are all just individuals who aren't part of extended kin groups. I would even prefer White people to be oppressed and marginalized as Whites, rather than have the liberal colorblind multicultural utopia.

[@Jacob-Vivimord]

It almost looks like Coleman is reading a script, haha.

[@bryanutility9609]

One way to end race politics is to live amongst one’s own & avoid diversity.

[@tuckerbugeater]

Yeah, that's never led to war. Whites never killed each other once.

[@bryanutility9609]

@LuceliaBerger yes will I guess some people will always hate their own family.

[@bookinsights1092]

@LuceliaBerger There can't be racism within groups because there is only one race when you live with your own - no such thing as racism against the same race.

[@sunnyla2835]

Shermer, please stop dying your hair?

[@fullmatthew]

I want to like Coleman but it's hard for me to take him too seriously when he's citing the likes of Charles Murray, as if Murray were an honest actor.

[@benjaminperez969]

How do you know (as opposed to feel?) that Charles Murray isn't "an honest actor"? He might be presenting data that you don't like (I know that I don't like it), but not liking something isn't evidence for something not being true. Address his data, address his interpretation of his data, but avoid mind reading (soul reading), for that just gets in the way of getting closer to what's most likely true.

[@sulljoh1]

He's saying some interesting things but he's a bit too right for me

[@tinymutantsquid]

What did Coleman cite that Murray was dishonest about?

[@skepticalbutopen4620]

@@sulljoh1 that’s interesting because he’s more center left. You may just be far left.

[@benjaminperez969]

@@sulljoh1 He's not really "right"; in fact, he's a fairly moderate Democrat (e.g., voted for Biden). Not being "woke" isn't the same thing as being "right-wing." Indeed, plenty of liberals (like Colman) & even many progressives, including black progressives (e.g., Adolph Reed), aren't "woke." Although everyone who's "woke" is left-wing, not everyone who's left-of-center is "woke." (Does that make sense?) (Kind of like: although everyone who's "alt-right" is right-wing, not everyone who's right-wing is "alt-right.)