Hypocrisy in Black and White

by John deLaubenfels

A recent issue of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution featured a large story on the front page of the Living section about a group formed to help young black professionals socialize.  There were quotes from many who said how much they loved the group, along with a big photo taken at one of the gatherings.

All the people in the photo looked quite nice, and I am delighted that they've formed this group and are having so much fun meeting members of the opposite sex (or, for those whose taste runs that way, members of the same sex).

But try, just for a moment, to imagine what would happen if someone formed a group specifically to help young white professionals meet other whites.  For starters, the group would get no write-up in the AJC (imagine the horror!).  In fact, if its existence were found out by any of the local "civil rights" activists, there would be loud screaming, followed by at least the threat of lawsuits, unless the group changed its charter to be open to all races.  Picket lines might be formed in front of local and/or national TV cameras.  Condemnation would ring out all around.

Talk about a double standard!

Why is it considered fine for blacks to create groups that are reserved exclusively for blacks, yet terrible for whites to do the same?

Now, maybe the group in the AJC story doesn't exclude whites.  But, at the very least, it is billed as being intended for blacks.  If a white, or several whites, showed up, it's a pretty safe bet that their presence would not be welcomed with open arms.  Everybody understands that, and the issue is unlikely to be raised. 

This club is, of course, only one of many examples.  There are black police officers' associations.  Black lawyers' associations.  Groups of every sort, all around the country, including the Black Caucus in the U.S. Congress.  In many of them, exclusion of non-black people is an explicit part of the group's charter.  A white person could not get through the door, period.

I've got no problem with that.  I believe that free human beings have a right to congregate with whomever they please, either socially or professionally.  It is simply a reality that many people of any race often feel they would like to spend part of the day with others who are more like themselves than the mix they encounter during the rest of the day.  It is not unhealthy, as long as the individuals involved are not bigots.  And, in my humble opinion, even bigots have the right to free association with people like themselves.

If a group is lobbying for racial preferences, I think they should not succeed: Racial preferences are racist by their nature.  But that's a separate issue; after all, a mixed-race group might lobby for preferences while another, racially exclusive group does not.  Either way, the right to associate with whomever you please should be sacrosanct.

So why are whites not allowed this basic right?

Yes, up till the 1860's, this nation enslaved black people.  That is a shameful blot on our history, a betrayal of the principles upon which this nation was supposedly founded.  Nobody argues that point any more (at least, it's been a long time since I've heard anybody call for a return to slavery).  And yes, blacks were also subject to official discrimination throughout much of the 20th century, with Jim Crow laws forbidding them from using drinking fountains, restrooms, and on and on.

That, too, is shameful.

Those past injustices are the excuse given for the situation today, whenever (as rarely happens) anyone asks.  That rationale is complete and utter nonsense.  Do two wrongs suddenly make a right?  Not to my mind!

Everything I've said about blacks and whites applies to women and men as well.  Women form all kinds of groups, social and business, to which No Man Need Apply, but at the same time have systematically gate-crashed associations reserved for men.  Apparently even the infamous Skull & Bones Society at Yale has been forced to go coed (why any woman would want to join such a bizarre group, other than to prove a twisted point, is beyond me).  I realize and respect the fact that women need to get a break from men now and again, but (and I hope this doesn't come as a terrible shock, ladies) men also need a break from women. 

It is time to end this blatantly racist and sexist double standard and to acknowledge that every person has the same rights as any other.