Separate but Equal

White, Black, Muslim, Latino, Asian, Gay—we tend to be attached to whatever we are and the culture that comes with it. On a certain progressive site recently, we were asked to list some area in which we differed from the orthodox left. I wrote  that I believed in integration. That kicked up a storm. I was called the worst polite name possible on the left, “a white man.”

I was aware, of course, of the split between those who believe in integration (mixed marriage, mixed neighborhoods, mixed schools) and those on the left who prefer identity politics, a form of separate but equal. The questions include which is a more useful long-range strategy? Do we need both? Is American racism, as some now write, an unsolvable problem forever?

The separate but equal approach was once found lacking by a progressive Supreme Court (Brown v. Board of Ed), not because it is impossible but because “separate” is unconstitutional.