Private Prejudice, Private Remedy; D. Bandow

Potomac Principles Private Prejudice, Private Remedy T here may be no more politically conten tious issue than race. The federal gov ernment has created a vast racial spoils system that often helps those who least need assistance. To be well-educated and well connected-that is, successful-is to gain the most from a system supposedly intended to help the victims of discrimination. But the perversion of such programs is not the most important reason to dismantle racial norming, quotas, preferences, and other forms of discrimination against the "majority." Justice should be based on individual, not group, treatment. To favor someone simply because he or she is black (or Hispanic, or whatever) is morally wrong. Doing so is also, in the long run, socially destructive, causing everyone to look at almost everything through a racial lens. The most elemental decisions about education and employment become political; even pri vate relationships increasingly polarize as everyone squabbles over their supposed "entitlement" by color. Lest one doubt the damage being caused by racial politics in America, one need only turn to two recent books: Paul Craig Roberts and Lawrence M.

Stratton's The New Color Line: How Quo tas and Privilege Destroy Democracy (Reg nery) and Terry Eastland's Ending AffirmaDoug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a nationally syndicated columnist. He is the author and editor of several books, including The Politics of Envy: Statism as The ology (Transaction), by Doug Handow tive Action: The Case for Colorblind Justice (Basic). Race also underlies most of the other critical issues facing our society: crime, economic opportunity, education, poverty, welfare. Too many political debates quickly descend into vicious squabbles over race, even though the solutions are usually simple to discern. Mrican-Americans are almost invariably the victims of perverse govern ment policies, which, though racially neu tral on their face, have a highly disparate impact. The minimum wage disproportion ately bars urban youth from the job market; welfare disproportionately disrupts inner city families and communities. And so on.

Here, too, less state control and more indi vidual freedom and community responsibil ity are the answer. Yet to criticize government intervention on race, especially the tendency of people to tum every private dispute, no matter how small, into a public crisis-via a formal lawsuit, government prosecution, or federal program-carries with it a responsibility to criticize acts of private discrimination and intolerance. That is, if we really believe that public law should not reach every obnox ious private act, then people who are moral as well as free should practice the alterna tive: applying social sanctions. The need for private action is probably greater than realized by most middleclass whites. Imagine stopping by the mall and buying a shirt that you liked. Imagine re turning to the shop the next day wearing the 517 518 THE FREEMAN • JULY 1996 shirt. Imagine being accosted by two secu rity guards, demanding to see the receipt for your shirt-which, not surprisingly, you didn't think to bring with you. Imagine be ing ordered to strip off the shirt and, even though a cashier remembered selling you one, told to bring in the receipt to retrieve your shirt.

Seem improbable? If you're a middle aged white, it's inconceivable. Any em ployee going up to such a customer and saying, "Excuse me, sir-that shirt looks like the type we stock. Where' s your re ceipt?" would earn a quick trip to the unemployment line. But an Eddie Bauer clothing store in a Washington, D.C., suburb forced Alonzo Jackson, a 16-year-old black male, to liter ally give the shirt off of his back to store security personnel. He went home in his t-shirt. He did find the receipt, though not without some effort. The store's manage ment wasn't entirely satisfied: explained spokeswoman, Cheryl Engstrom, "The amount on the receipt matched the pur chase, although the stub didn't specifically indicate whether or not it was the same shirt. " However, Engstrom added, the store "gave him the benefit of the doubt and let him keep it anyway." Mr. Jackson was lucky the store guards weren't checking underwear as well as shirts.

The treatment of Alonzo Jackson dramat ically demonstrates why race remains such a painful and divisive issue. Store personnel implicitly accused Jackson of being a crim inal and took his property-because he was black. It took a torrent of angry letters and phone calls from whites and blacks alike before the company formally apologized. That young black males are treated badly because they are young black males is not new. Cab drivers are less likely to pick up and jewelers less likely to buzz into locked shops African-American males. Stores are, as Jackson certainly knows, more likely to suspect young black males of shoplifting. The fear of African-American men is shared by many African-Americans-black cab drivers also pass by black pedestrians. It was Jesse Jackson, of all people, who once observed that "There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery-then look around and see someone white and feel relieved. "

Yet this understandable fear of a small number of predators who commit a dispro portionate share of crimes penalizes the vast majority of African-Americans who are not only decent, law-abiding people, but also the primary victims of crime. Explains the Justice Department, "Black households, Hispanic households, and urban households were the most likely to experience crime." In fact, blacks are 50 percent more likely than others to be victimized by a violent crime. People like Alonzo Jackson are pay ingtwice-they are more likelyto sufferfrom crime and be suspected of being criminals. And that has a larger social impact. Such treatment can only fan anger, frustration, and resentment. Victimology has become bigbusiness, with most everyone wanting to be called, and recompensed for allegedly being a victim. But there are real victims, like Jackson. What can we do? Some of the answers, as noted earlier, are better policy. Crime must be detected, punished, and deterred, espe cially in poor neighborhoods, where resi dents are so vulnerable. The government's educational monopoly must be broken, giv ing disadvantaged students a chance to re ceive a real education. The economy needs to be deregulated and opened to help every one, rather than controlled to enrich special interests, such as labor unions, which back laws like the Davis-Bacon Act, which re strict the hiring of minorities.

Racism is harder to address, especially through government. Some race-based de cisions, like those of cab drivers who pass by blacks, reflect reasons other than preju dice. Are we really prepared to penalize people who, even if wrongly, believe their lives might be in danger-especially when today's anti-discrimination laws have mis fired, creating a quota mentality and encour aging disappointed job-seekers to routinely scream racism?

PRIVATE PREJUDICE, PRIVATE REMEDY 519 We especially need to steer clear of the quota temptation that has so entranced politicians in Washington and across the nation. When the high school in Piscata way Township, New Jersey, facing the need to layoff one of ten business educa tion teachers, fired Sharon Taxman because she was white, it compounded rather than alleviated injustice. Cases like this also ensure that anger, frustration, and resent ment will rise among whites as well as blacks. At the same time, the kind of racist behavior exhibited by Eddie Bauer should be criticized and treated as socially unacceptable. As it was when consumers of all races demanded that Eddie Bauer apol ogize to Alonzo Jackson, else they would take their business elsewhere. And this is how it should be. As individ uals, we need to insist that racism is wrong. That means speaking out and taking action when necessary. The burden for doing so falls especially heavily on those of us who don't believe that every instance of offen sive behavior should be a crime. If political society is to do less, as it should, then civil society must do more. It becomes the duty of everyone of us to help shape society's moral code. D fhlSocialCritic Name _ Mail to: The SocialCritic Address 31121 MissionBlvd., Suite301 City State__ Zip __ Hayward,CA 94544 Had enoughof the liberalbiasin the popularnewsmedia?Had enoughof "donating"

an increasingamountofwhatyou earnto supportinefficient,bloatedsocialprograms? Had enoughof watchingour culturedegeneratebeforeyoureyes? Do you feel like a strangerin an increasinglystrangeland? If you answered"yes"to any of the above questions,then you will be interestedin a bold, intelligentnewmagazine,TheSocialCritic.No, youwon't find "inside-the-Beltway" gossip in this magazine.What you willfind is vital social and political commentaryby great social criticssuch as WilliamWatkins,Jr. of The Freemanand Dr. CharlesBaird, DirectorofThe SmithCenterfor PrivateEnterpriseStudies.The SocialCrific-a vitalcon servativeresourcenow in bookstoresacrossNorthAmerica. http://www.socialcritic.com ---~troducrorYOffer~4%Offth~~sstandprice.--One-year(six issues)subscription:$18.00 Pleasemake checkor money Two-yearsubscription:$ 34.00(19% off the newsstandprice) orderpayableto: The Social Critic TREmEEMAN IDEASON LIBERTY Alexisde Tocqueville: How People Gain Liberty and Lose It by Jim Powell A lexis de Tocqueville was a gentleman scholar who emerged as one of the world's great prophets. More than a century and a half ago, when most people were ruled by kings, he declared that the future be longed to democracy. He explained what was needed for democracy to work and how it could help protect human liberty. At the same time, he warned that a welfare state could seduce people into servitude. He saw why socialism must lead to slavery.