10 Reader Views on the Varieties of Anti-racism

This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.

Last week I wrote, “A child born today will turn 18 in 2040. What attitudes and actions toward race and ethnicity would we adopt today if we had the best interests of that rising generation in mind?”

Bekke writes, “We just need to be kind to each other, and remember the Golden Rule, which is taught in many religions and societies: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Claire wants people to be judged based on the content of their character, not the color of their skin:

Matters of identity have no material relevance (other than the aesthetic texture of local details). One should learn to discriminate between: decency and cruelty, sublimity and vulgarity, liberty and oppression, and other relevant tensions. An individual’s work or action is simply to embrace Column A (decency; sublimity; liberty) and reject Column B (cruelty; vulgarity; oppression). However ostensibly well intentioned, those who traffic in racial tropes invariably veer into Column B (see especially: politicians). One’s moral clarity or individual talent cannot be accurately predicted by his skin tone, pocketbook conditions, whether one was born nearer to a palm tree or a glacier, or any similar detail.

Michele urges “a shift away from individual identity around race and ethnicity” toward “cultivating a common humanity that celebrates differences and varied excellence.” She expounds:

As my kids’ schools segregate classmates into “affinity groups” that force students to “pick their tribe” and separate from one another to “safely discover their inward identity,” I instead encouraged my children to look outward to cultivate their differences and recognize those wonderful bits of common humanity that help us connect with each other. In that process they learned