Editorial Page
Washington Post

Dear People,

Jim Cohen (Letter to the editor, 2/5) complains that today race is defined by “political and cultural views and behaviors,” not by what he considers “the obvious fact” of a person’s race. We all know cases where racial identity is far from “obvious.” This is because race has always been “political and cultural,” and only vaguely related to biology. Even in the depths of unabashed white supremacy, an 1857 South Carolina court ruled that racial identity was set not just by appearance or “blood,” but “by reputation, .. reception into society.. [and] character and conduct...” In other words, though appearance and genealogy play a part, the powers that be have assigned “blackness” to people they were willing to dehumanize, while favored others were designated “white,” much like some Japanese businessmen in apartheid South Africa. Logically enough, this shared experience of abuse has fostered common (though not unanimous) “views and behaviors” among African-Americans.

Cohen also touts Alan Keyes’ 14 percent standing in the Iowa caucus as unheralded “racial progress.” In ideology, enthusiasm, and crowd appeal, Keyes is the closest to their beloved Reagan of any GOP candidate. Yet he was spurned by 6 out of 7 Iowa Republicans. But then, “whites” also belong to a political category with certain widely shared “views and behaviors,” as much as mention of that fact probably irritates and confounds Mr. Cohen.

Larry Yates