With the left, it's all about the external. Take the exam school controversy I discussed last week, for example. Blacks, Hispanics, and Indigenous Americans are under-represented in top secondary schools, and that is a problem that needs to be addressed. But what does the left propose we do? Make the outcomes look equal by openly considering race in admissions and lowering the standards for these disadvantaged groups. These "anti-racist" activists offer nothing that will actually fix the root causes that drive the disparity, which include everything from widespread family breakdown, chronic (Democratic) mismanagement of urban school districts, incompetent teaching (including the promotion of curricula that abandon essential skills like, say, memorizing your multiplication tables), cultural pressures to avoid "acting white", and - yes, perhaps - lingering economic inequality that can be traced to past racist policies. (I'm willing to consider anything as long as you have the evidence.)
Or consider the San Diego Unified School District's decision to adopt an easier grading policy because Black, Hispanic and Indigenous students are over-represented among students who fail. According to this new policy, students will no longer be penalized for late assignments, poor attendance, or poor behavior; instead, they will be given essentially infinite chances to get their A's. Now: when it comes to learning outcomes, I happen to believe that mastery learning is the best approach -- that no student should be ushered on to the next level without demonstrating full proficiency on the previous step. Thus, I do think struggling students should get ample opportunity to review, revise, and remediate. At the same time, though, it is also important to teach teenaged students in particular proper work habits. In the adult world, everyone must properly manage his time, meet deadlines, and prioritize between competing responsibilities; if we don't prepare our students for this road, we are setting them up to fail later on. But does the left care about that? No. Once again, "anti-racists" are fixated on superficially burnishing the outcomes so everything appears equal; they have zero interest in doing anything hard (but genuinely helpful) like, oh, mentoring students in particularly difficult circumstances so they can meet ordinary expectations like turning their homework in on time.
Back in June, I wrote a little didactic tale in which the main character does something difficult and tangible to help a neighboring community in distress -- but because she fails to wear the correct symbol of concern (in this case, a blue scarf), she is attacked. My purpose there was quite overt: to point out the left's current defective modus operandi. According to the left, if you don't post that black square on Instagram, you're not fighting for "black lives." According to the left, if you're not perfectly proper in the language you use, you're a damned dirty racist who should be run out on a rail.
But when it comes to real-world successes -when it comes to truly changing things for the better - what people say matters very, very little; what matters much more is what people do. Think about it, and think hard. Who, in the end, is actually advancing the cause of racial equality: the gruff, unattractive, ethnic-joke-loving plumber and volunteer tutor who drills black kids in inner-city Detroit on their arithmetic -- or the impeccably-dressed suburban freelance journalist who writes long think-pieces on the inherent "violence" of "digital blackface" while sipping lattes in an upscale coffee shop? Anyone with two brain cells in his head realizes that the right answer is clearly the former.
So: 'Trump. Trump is the plumber. He's said a lot of cringe-worthy things (though the media, of course, have exponentially exaggerated these offenses against etiquette through open, brazen lying). But what has he done - what has he actually done - that merits the hysterical "racist/Nazi/fascist" labels that are heaped upon his head? I want receipts. I want evidence. And I don't want to hear about what he tweeted; I want to hear about policy and documented impacts.
In the meantime, here's what I see: I see that before COVID, economic prospects were looking up for struggling minority communities thanks to Trump's economic policies. I see the Trump administration talking to people concerned about criminal justice reform. I see the Trump administration actually avoiding needless foreign wars while still offering a muscular defense of our interests. I see, in short, Trump working towards many of the stated goals of the left. Yet the left refuses to give Trump credit for any of his efforts in this vein -- because the guy is just so gauche. He's just so ugly and common and gross. He doesn't wear the blue scarf.
And here's what I also see: I see leftists bleating all the right phrases and sporting all the right totems -- while simultaneously promoting - or at least enabling - activity that has worsened prospects for our most vulnerable. I've said it before and I'll say it again: How does trashing an urban neighborhood help any of the people who live there? How does creating new food and pharmacy deserts benefit minority communities? Leftists can't offer real answers to these questions because for them, it's all about the performance of compassion -- not about making observable progress.
BLATE: My vote for Trump is a vote for substance over surface.
