Monday, August 06, 2007
Whitewashing Racism
Rick Perlstein brings to our attention this excellent essay by Nancy MacLean, in which she examines the history behind Justice Roberts's decision prohibiting schools from pursuing diversity plans. As MacLean points out, the decision has its orgins in a concerted effort by segregationists to apply PR techniques to gain the advantage in the fight over civil rights:
Roberts’s decision, which denied local communities the right to choose race-conscious methods, is replete with quotable phrases from the lexicon conservative strategists honed in their think tanks in the 1970s and then carried into the nation’s courtrooms through their various legal societies.Titans of the conservative movement like William F. Buckley, Jr., Frank Meyer, and Irving Kristol were involved in the effort to use the language of civil rights to accomplish racist ends. Read the whole piece.
Labels: conservative movement, racism
¶ Posted by Paul Curtis 11:11 AM 
