Patrick Garry
Cultural Whiplash: The Unforeseen Consequences of America's Crusade Against Racial Discrimination

Racism in America has been called the elephant in the room that no one wants to recognize. Even though some have recently called for a national conversation on race, as if it were a subject never discussed or even acknowledged, in 2003 alone 776 books and almost 8,000 newspaper articles were printed on the subject.
During the civil rights era, racial discrimination was easy to spot in laws that made it difficult for minorities to vote or get decent jobs, enforced segregated schools, and denied minority students admission to many universities. Today, however, the racial climate is much different. Now we talk about "subtle" or "subconscious" racism, the sort of which the racist is unaware, that cannot be detected by the unassisted eye.
In this context, law professor Patrick Garry believes today's racial problem is not silence, but rather confusion. Accusations of racism are vague but pervasive that they have become an indictment against the very legitimacy of society as a whole. With this has come a suffocating social guilt, and that sense of guilt has resulted in a steady retreat from moral and value judgments on all cultural matters, not just those of race. The fear of being branded as a racist has become so intense among whites that—even in the wake of the 9/11 attacks—the nation is immobilized from doing anything to slow the tide of illegal aliens flooding through its borders for fear of being excoriated as racist. The situation is not helped by those groups and ideologies that employ charges of racism as a weapon in a larger political crusade that transcends race.
Garry addresses racism in America from the perspective of the cultural majority, unlike most books on the subject that focus on issues that are important to the victims of racism. Garry instead examines how whites have allowed themselves to be marginalized in the conversation on race, how the fear of being labeled as racist has resulted in whites withdrawing from any dialogue or moral judgment involving almost all cultural matters, and how racial fear and guilt are influencing the moral health of America.

Patrick Garry Interview Part One
Patrick Garry Interview Part Two

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Patrick M. Garry
Associate Professor of Law

The Moral Confusion of Race

 

 

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