Attacks by the left on the fundamental American value of colorblindness

The intellectual Coleman Hughes made an appearance on “The View” and was met with hostility, almost as if he was wearing a white hood.

Hughes, a black political independent with a calm demeanor, was discussing his new book, “The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America.” 

Once, the concept of colorblindness was uncontroversial and seen as a fundamental American ideal worth striving for, despite falling short of achieving it.

In recent years, however, it has faced significant opposition. It contradicts the Left’s deep commitment to racial preferences, especially prevalent on college campuses, and clashes with trendy new forms of left-wing racialism.

It’s now viewed as naive, outdated, and even a tool used by sneaky racists to conceal their harmful intentions in lofty language. 

When Hughes appeared on set, co-host Sunny Hostin expressed her disapproval, claiming that colorblindness has been “co-opted” by conservatives and labeled the respected Hughes a “charlatan.”

All this, simply for advocating for equal treatment regardless of race. 

In response, Hughes remained composed and calmly pushed back against Hostin’s accusations without getting flustered or raising his voice.

Despite attempts to diminish his ideas, Hughes occasionally received applause from the studio audience for his common-sense views that still resonate strongly in America. 

As Hughes highlights in his book, a commitment to colorblindness is evident in the works of esteemed American writers and activists such as Frederick Douglass, Wendell Phillips, Zora Neale Hurston, A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, and Martin Luther King. 

The Left often tries to associate MLK with woke racial causes, but Hughes convincingly places the civil rights leader firmly within the colorblind tradition.

In a statement that might not be well-received on college campuses or on “The View” set, King asserted, “Black supremacy is as dangerous as white supremacy, and God is not interested merely in the freedom of black men and brown men and yellow men. God is interested in the freedom of the whole human race.”

Such a profound belief in our common humanity is shocking to today’s “anti-racists,” who Hughes refers to more accurately as “neo-racists.”

They share similarities with the white supremacists they oppose, as both deny the equality of all races and believe in the superiority of certain races.

Despite this, the neo-racist ideology is gaining traction in America’s elite institutions, fostering a narrative of racial conflict in recent years.

Hughes attributes the deteriorating race relations since 2013 to the rapid spread of racially charged false stories and myths through social media.

The neo-racists exacerbate divisions by attributing any racial disparities in America to racism while overlooking demographics, geography, and culture as contributing factors.

They disregard signs of racial progress to maintain their oversimplified condemnation of American society as inherently racist. 

For Hughes, the options are “a grim world where whites and non-whites continuously switch between roles of oppressor and oppressed” or a world where we reaffirm the principles of the civil rights movement.

The choice seems clear, yet the notion of colorblindness is now unacceptable to much of progressive America.

Hostin typifies this reflexive hostility to the idea of treating each other without considering race.

Twitter: @RichLowry