If one believes that the United States is intrinsically white supremacist, then I understand why he wants to destroy the American Republic. But a rational people should not leave the fate of the republic to the designs and delusions of a few. White supremacy is not in the DNA of the nation. If anything, it is in the DNA of the Democratic Party—the party of the slavocracy, of Jim Crow, and now of DEI.
Let’s recall together the 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson. Justice John Marshall Harlan, the sole dissenter in the case, wrote that the Constitution is “color-blind” and that the law should not allow states to discriminate based on race. Plessy v. Ferguson upheld racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. The case arose when Homer Plessy, a mixed-race man, violated Louisiana’s segregation law by sitting in a whites-only train car. He was arrested and challenged the law, arguing it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled against Plessy, stating that segregation was constitutional as long as the facilities provided to black and white people were “equal.” This decision legitimized racial segregation for nearly six decades until it was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
Now let’s recall Harlan’s words: “But in view of the constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our constitution is color-blind….” It’s true. There is no mention of race anywhere in the Constitution. Harlan continued: “In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.” Harlan then concluded with this: “It is, therefore, to be regretted that this high tribunal, the final expositor of the fundamental law of the land, has reached the conclusion that it is competent for a State to regulate the enjoyment by citizens of their civil rights solely upon the basis of race. In my opinion, the judgment this day rendered will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott case.”
Dred Scott v. Sandford case was a landmark 1857 Supreme Court decision that ruled against Dred Scott, an enslaved man who sued for his freedom after living in free territories. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney’s majority opinion declared that black people, whether enslaved or free, were not US citizens and had no legal standing to sue in federal court. The Court also ruled that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in US territories, effectively striking down the Missouri Compromise. This decision strengthened pro-slavery forces and Democratic Party hegemony and was a major factor leading to the Civil War. It was later nullified by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. In fact, the Fourteenth Amendment was written to recognize black Americans as US citizens.
Perhaps it goes without saying that Harlan was right, and in series of judicial decisions and the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Democrat regime of racial segregation was broken and his dissent was vindicated. We now look forward to finally realizing in our concrete lives the fundamental law upon which our civilization is based. The only people holding up progress are the Democrats who are desperate to keep alive the racial division that benefits the corporate state they serve. As for white supremacists, one would be hard pressed to find any. Not that they don’t exist, but that there are so very few.
* * *
“Joe Louis is a credit to his race—the human race.” —Sportswriter Jimmy Cannon
The evolution of racial progress can be seen in many domains of history. As something of a boxing historian, the history of the Sweet Science is for me a paradigm of racial progress. Consider the careers of three legendary fighters, heavyweights Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, and Muhammad Ali. These athletes show how sports mirror broader societal shifts, and chronicle the American journey out of racism.
Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion, faced persecution due to his race and defiance of social norms in early twentieth century America. After winning the heavyweight championship in 1908 (securing the world title in the minds of everybody in his 1910 beatdown of lineal champion Jim Jeffries), Johnson became a target of white supremacists and the government, especially for his relationships with white women. In 1913, he was convicted under the Mann Act, a law meant to combat human trafficking but often used selectively against black men. Johnson’s conviction, widely understood as racially motivated, forced him to flee the US for several years. He eventually returned and served a prison sentence. In 2018, he was posthumously pardoned by President Donald Trump.
In contrast, Joe Louis emerged as a hero not just for black Americans but for the entire country, embodying American courage and might during World War II, particularly as he rallied the nation in its fight against Nazi Germany by demolishing Max Schmeling before a packed Yankee Stadium on June 22, 1938. It took Louis a single round to get the job done. Hitler had held up Schmeling as the personification of the master race. The first fight in 1936 saw Schmeling defeat a young and overconfident Louis. By the time of the rematch, tensions between the US and Nazi Germany had escalated, and the fight became a symbolic battle between democracy and fascism. The decisive victory made Louis a national hero.
Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, defeated Sonny Liston on February 25, 1964 in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. This was the same year as the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act that outlawed racial discrimination in employment, federally-funded programs, and public accommodations. It ended institutional racism, guaranteeing equal access to restaurants, schools, and transportation. It strengthened voting rights and gave the federal government power to enforce desegregation. In the wake of this historic national achievement, and carried by his astonishing talent, Ali became arguably the most iconic figure in sports history, beloved by black and white Americans alike. His journey from a brash young champion to a revered elder statesman illustrates how far America has come in its recognition of racial equality.
* * *
I have been reflecting on all this over the last several days because Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett has been on a tear lately arguing that all the problems of black Americans as a group are the consequence of white supremacy. Crockett is determined to remind us that white supremacy is baked into American society. But is it? It’s hard to see how based on what I have just written. The nation’s love affair with Joe Louis told us that white supremacy was cracking. Louis exposed the fallacy of white racial superiority. By the seventies, black actors, athletes, comedians, musicians, and politicians took their place alongside their white counterparts. The three Michaels—Jackson, Jordan, and Tyson—became the face of their respective domains. The nation twice elected a black man. Those elections weren’t close.
It’s time to move on from the belief that American society is permanently imprinted by the legacy institution of white supremacy. The United States ended the trans-Atlantic slave trade, chattel slavery, and Jim Crow segregation. Today, America celebrates people from all races. The structures of institutional racism were knocked down a very long time ago. White supremacists are not keeping down black women like Jasmine Crockett. Materializing the ideal of a colorblind society is only being hindered by race merchants like Crockett and her ilk. It’s time for Democrats to quit the practice of racecraft.
They don’t want a colorblind America. They don’t stand with Justice Harlan (who was nominated by a Republic president, for the record). And some of us understand why the representatives of corporate state want to keep racial divisiveness going. It’s a power play that benefits the power elite. A majority of Americans, black and white, are wise to the ruse. Those who continue pushing the line only lose their legitimacy before the eyes of a nation ready to walk through the open door to a colorblind future.
But persist they will:
freedom and reason 
If you can’t recognize that systematic racial prejudice, or any kind of prejudice, doesn’t have to be explicitly built into an institution to have a massive impact, and usually isn’t built into an institution, than you’re a shit professor.
Identify the racism. Where does the belief that whites are racially superior to blacks prevail? After you show me where it prevails, explain how it has an impact. Where is the law? Where is the policy? Leave aside affirmative action and DEI, which does not benefit whites (or Asians). Show me where law and policy impact black Americans.