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DAVID DEMILO's avatar

That's why they had to invent CRT: so systemic would not be defined by the nature of laws, but by human nature. The racist is within all of us - that's what they mean by systemic. Their solution is cultural revolution. Know from whence they came.

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Jim Dueholm's avatar

Great and nuanced analysis. As for the take on Cohen, I grew up on a dairy farm in a horseless age, so I would call Cohen's claims bull manure. Jim Dueholm

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skyzyks's avatar

I’ve often wondered how it is that so many self-styled activists show no obvious training in rhetoric. A retired journalism professor? Is the state of journalism any wonder at all? Cohen and those like him are aware of the points you make and choose to ignore them; likely responding in bad faith to being confronted with them. Cohen’s piece is sophomoric and the whole systemic racism trope a ramshackle of ridiculousness.

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Paul Mirengoff's avatar

"Ramshackle of ridiculousness." Great phrase.

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skyzyks's avatar

Thank you.

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Tom's avatar

Excellent lawyerly (compliment) analysis. IMHO Powerline should have kept you on. Their loss I suppose.

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Paul Mirengoff's avatar

Thanks, Tom.

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Jfan's avatar

"A facially neutral rule or test that blacks fail at higher rates than whites does not disadvantage blacks due to racism or because they are black. Yet, unless an employer can show that the rule is job related (at a minimum), the practice of using the rule or test is illegal."

Actually there is one widespread employment practice with little relevance to job qualifications which persists: favoring recruits from particular colleges and law schools. I strongly suspect that this is the real reason colleges like Harvard are obsessed with making the racial balance of their admitted classes match their applicant pools. They likely think, as do I, that it is only a matter of time before someone sues Goldman Sachs, Skadden Arps, and similar high-prestige, highly paying employers for giving preferences to graduates of Harvard, etc. Once someone sues and wins, employers will stop giving preferences to irrelevant college credentials, and Harvard et. al. will no longer help with employment prospects. Since most of their students, and their parents, care more about jobs than educations, Harvard et. al. will see their prestige evaporate. However, such a suit can only succeed if giving favoritism to Harvard graduates has a racially disparate impact. This means that colleges can immunize themselves: If the racial composition of their classes matches that of their applicant pools, then an employment practice of favoring their graduates will not have a racially disparate impact. Elite colleges likely think they are in a race against time: They will effectively be destroyed unless they are able to immunize themselves by making their classes match their applicant pools before such suits are finally brought against employers.

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JP Mann's avatar

Just having my say, here:

https://wp.me/pbVbUZ-6pF

Cheers.

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Jonathan Dick's avatar

To the extent that any "systemic racism" exists, it is the fault of the left. The entertainment establishment, the media establishment, the education establishment: these are the levers of power in our society and they are (largely) controlled by the left.

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