A calling out of hypocrites or a reductio ad absurdum?

The following passage is from a letter that reportedly was circulated by an outfit called Dallas Justice Now (DJN), a “racial equity group.” The letter reads like a parody, but apparently it is not:

We are writing to you because we understand you are white and live within the Highland Park Independent School District and thus benefit from enormous privileges taken at the expense of communities of color.

You live in the whitest and wealthiest neighborhood in Dallas, whether you know it or not, you earned or inherited your money through oppressing people of color. However, it is also our understanding that you are a Democrat and supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, which makes you one of our white allies and puts you in a position to help correct these cruel injustices.

We need you to step up and back up your words with action and truly sacrifice to make our segregated city more just.

Talk is not enough. Commit yourself towards taking action and making sacrifices to correct centuries of injustice. Open up spaces for Black and LatinX communities by refusing to send your kids to Ivy League and US News & World Report Top 50 schools and encourage friends, neighbors, and family members to do the same. Imagine if those hundreds of thousands of spots at these institutions were occupied only by marginalized communities. Imagine the opportunities. We can achieve true equity within our lifetimes but only if white folks are willing to sacrifice their privileges.

This is the pledge “the whitest and wealthiest” are asked by Dallas Justice Now to take:

As a white person with privilege both from my whiteness and my neighborhood I recognize the need to make sacrifices for the purpose of correcting hundreds of years of murder, slavery, discrimination, and lack of educational and economic opportunities perpetrated upon people of color. I understand that access to top schools is a key component in economic and social advancement.

Therefore, I commit that my children will not apply to or attend any Ivy League School or US News & World Report Top 50 School so that position at that school is available for people of color to help correct historical wrongs. If I do not have children under 18 then I will commit to encouraging my white privileged friends, neighbors, and family members with children to sign the pledge and holding them accountable until they do so.

On the DJN website, the Whites are then asked to check one of two boxes:

I am a racist hypocrite.
I agree (to take the pledge).

I suppose that people who truly believe they earned their money by oppressing “communities of color” might, if they feel guilty about it, want to make some sort of restitution. Whether they would (or should) want the restitution to consist of denying educational opportunities to their children is another matter.

In any case, the notion that the average wealthy white earned his or her money by oppressing communities of color is too absurd for even your average White leftist to believe.

There’s also the question of how much an Ivy League education would be worth in terms of “economic and social advancement” if top White high school students stopped applying. The biggest advantage of an Ivy League education, in my view, is being surrounded by top-notch students, a few of whom will be influential in one’s life during college and thereafter (as John Hinderaker was and still is in mine). That advantage will be watered down considerably if colleges and universities lack the opportunity to select top-notch students because parents sign and adhere to the DJN pledge.

Therefore, it’s not hypocritical for average White leftists to have their children apply to elite colleges and universities. Give DJN credit, though. At least they see through the “diversity” rationale for race-based admissions. They favor largely, if not entirely, Black and Latino student bodies throughout the Ivy League.

I suppose we can also give DJN back-handed credit for something else. The group has given Dallas-area liberals a feel for the absurdity of the BLM movement. That movement is not just about defunding the police (thereby making people of all races less safe). Nor is it about mildly redistributionist programs of the type that liberals comfortably can get behind.

BLM thinks all successful Whites owe their success to racism. And BLM wants its pound of flesh not just from all successful Whites, but also from their children.

DJN’s founder says with derision that that numerous wealthy white Dallas residents think they’re “allies” because Black Lives Matter signs sit on their property. Its letter puts them on notice that much more is required.

Let’s hope that DJN’s letter causes left-liberals to reconsider whether they really want to be allies with this extremist and racist movement.

NOTE: Steve’s take on the DJN letter appears just below mine. I hadn’t seen his post when I wrote mine.

There are similarities and differences between our takes. I hope readers find both useful.

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