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No matter what ideological foundation a DEI program has, funds are better spent on programs like The Hidden Genius Project and MITES.

Erec Smith


There is no such thing as a panacea; few things are actual cure‐​alls in themselves, especially when it pertains to social issues. However, the closest thing to a panacea for contemporary social injustice—both actual and perceived—is the concept of individualism. It is the closest foil to what is, arguably, the most dangerous aspect of critical social justice activism: race fatalism, i.e., the idea that especially minoritized groups have no locus of control and are at the mercy of their hegemonic oppressors.
Unfortunately, too many social justice activists embrace this fatalism and, both implicitly and explicitly, demonize individualism as an inherently oppressive, white supremacist concept.
Race fatalism cannot exist without the idea that all people from a given race experience the world similarly (race essentialism), and that we are forever defined by our home environments (linked fate), concepts that could not be more opposed to individualism. Thus, to embrace individualism is to relinquish faith in the fundamentals of critical social justice.
Fortunately, when individualism destroys these fundamentals steeped in powerlessness, it gives birth to agency and freedom conducive to an empowered and fulfilled life.
The most egregious aspects of critical social justice activism—now wryly and/​or disdainfully referred to as "woke" activism—can be considered footnotes of fatalism: skin‐​color and or gender determine if you are a perpetual oppressor or a perpetual victim; racism will never go away and can only be managed; black kids can't learn math like other kids; all people who look the same or live in the same area are bound to a particular outlook and particular fate. All these suggest the "truth" of race essentialism, that racism is always already present, and that even words, if coming from an oppressor, are literal violence.
The power of this fatalism is weakened by the concept of methodological individualism, what can be understood as an embrace of free will with an acknowledgement that we live an interdependent existence, i.e., "no man is an island."
In recent essays, I describe such individualism as an antidote to race essentialism and linked fate. In "Individualism is a Social Justice Issue," I insist that the embrace of individualism can enhance racial justice through its implied refutation of linked fate and its conduciveness to defensive confidence.
Regarding linked fate, I write, "linked fate denotes the use of the social standing of a group as a proxy for one's individual identity, i.e., an individual's fate is inevitably and intricately linked to that of the group. Any individual that seems to escape this fate is considered an exception." Linked fate depends on the debunked stimulus‐​response theory in behavioral science: the idea that people who share the same race or culture experience the world the same way. Senator Tim Scott's passionate rebuttal of linked fate focuses on the idea that educational reform is the thing that can unlink fate most efficiently and instill a sense of agency in students, a sentiment elaborated upon by Ian Rowe.
Agency, or "agential fate," a concept of individual efficacy I support in "Ditching Our Discourses of Doom" (excerpted here), "can be construed as a confluence of pre‐​established circumstances—one's life experiences—combined with free will." This concept necessitates the belief "that each individual in a particular context may react to stimulus in different ways; that they each may have a different desired future state; and that their decisions and choices matter in relation to achieving those future states, we enter into a place of agency, possibility, and hope."
This agency, possibility, and hope imply the concept of defensive confidence I reference in a recent Discourse article. If people have defensive confidence—the confidence that one can successfully defend one's ideas in given situations—they are more likely to engage the world more courageously as individuals unbeholden to a group and is, ironically, more likely to have one's mind changed precisely because of this willingness to engage.
These concepts suggest the benefits individualism can have to a sense of social justice and, especially, in combatting the fatalism of social justice activism. Individuals can think independently, adapt to circumstances, and, therefore, more effectively exercise agential fate and defensive confidence, thus better ensuring an attempt to communicate across differences.
Sadly, the concept of individualism is almost anathema in critical social justice circles, in which group identity is favored and individualism is considered an oppressive concept. Race essentialism, which implies concepts like linked fate and group consciousness, is a foundational concept in critical social justice that is diametrically opposed to individualism.
Individualism is not only the best thing for curing the ills of social injustice; it is also, by nature, the downfall of critical social justice ideology. For this reason, maybe "panacea's" more colloquial synonym, "magic bullet" would be more apropos.

Erec Smith


On Friday, June 2nd at 3 PM, Cato will hold a book forum on the newly published Letters in Black and White: A New Correspondence of Race in America. This book is a epistolary correspondence between a white woman (Jennifer Richmond) and a black man (Winkfield Twyman). This book models civil discourse on race and illustrates how dialogue about this touchy subject can be difficult yet generative and, ultimately, worth it.
I am proud to have written the Foreword for this book. In that Foreword, available for free in The Journal of Free Black Thought, I explain what I see as the book's primary benefit.
Twyman and Richmond provide us with profound lessons: the power of immersion into cultural pluralities that shed light on our commonalities while appreciating our differences; the detriments of dogma and empty sloganeering; the necessity to define ourselves by our present and not our past; the importance of a black history that celebrates triumph as much as tragedy, etc. I could go on—and the reader will no doubt uncover their own lessons—but my main point is that a dialogue between two people can hold a trove of insights, considerations, and facts that power us toward that Blessed Society.
This is a valuably informative and entertaining book. "Edutainment," the hybridization of "education" and "entertainment," is achieved! And what better way to convey such an important message. As I write in the foreword:
I truly believe that it is exactly what we need at this moment in the American culture war of race relations. Not only does it provide perspectives one does not get from mainstream accounts of "whiteness" and "blackness," but it also shows the benefits of mature and honest dialogue, the need to embrace America's virtues in the face of its vices, and the promise of classical liberal values.

I hope you can attend the book forum and read the book at your earliest convenience.

Introduction: Something "More Than a Negro" -- The Primacy of Identity: Prefiguration, The Sacred Victim, and the Semblance of Empowerment -- So What is Empowerment? -- Disempowerment and Code-meshing Pedagogy -- The "Soft Bigotry" of Antiracist Pedagogy: Victims, Tricksters, and Protectors -- Conclusion: Getting Over Ourselves and Centering Empowerment -- Epilogue: Am I Overreacting?

American slavery as it was and is -- Where to start? -- Six African girls -- Star Trek, zombies and black America -- Wink's ancestral connection to American slavery -- Jen's ancestral connection to American slavery -- The psychology of descent from American slavery -- The lingering effects of slavery -- The last slave named Twyman -- Resentments and grudges -- Descendants need one another for healing -- Coming to the table -- The coming of a better time -- George Shrewsbury (1820-1875) -- George Boyer Vashon (1824-1878) -- John Mercer Langston (1829-1897) -- Joseph Hayne Rainey (1832-1887) -- Daniel Brown (1833-1885) -- Horatio A. Rankin (?-?) -- Jim Crow and Plessy v. Ferguson -- The rebirth of a nation -- The crossroads -- Jack & Jill : a way of being in the world -- On the road to Baltimore -- Watermelon -- Nothing to talk about : affinity in the age of diversity -- Cultural revolution -- Slogans & symbols -- Dogma.