The End of Race Politics - by Coleman Hughes (Hardcover)

About the Book

"An exciting new voice makes the case for a colorblind approach to politics and culture, warning that the so-called 'anti-racist' movement is driving us-ironically-toward a new kind of racism. As one of the few black students in his philosophy program at Columbia University years ago, Coleman Hughes wondered why his peers seemed more pessimistic about the state of American race relations than his own grandparents-who lived through segregation. The End of Race Politics is the culmination of his years-long search for an answer. Contemplative yet audacious, The End of Race Politics is necessary reading for anyone who questions the race orthodoxies of our time. Hughes argues for a return to the ideals that inspired the American Civil Rights movement, showing how our departure from the colorblind ideal has ushered in a new era of fear, paranoia, and resentment marked by draconian interpersonal etiquette, failed corporate diversity and inclusion efforts, and poisonous race-based policies that hurt the very people they intend to help. Hughes exposes the harmful side effects of Kendi-DiAngelo style antiracism, from programs that distribute emergency aid on the basis of race to revisionist versions of American history that hide the truth from the public. Through careful argument, Hughes dismantles harmful beliefs about race, proving that reverse racism will not atone for past wrongs and showing why race-based policies will lead only to the illusion of racial equity. By fixating on race, we lose sight of what it really means to be anti-racist. A racially just, colorblind society is possible. Hughes gives us the intellectual tools to make it happen"--

Book Synopsis

An exciting new voice makes the case for a colorblind approach to politics and culture, warning that the so-called 'anti-racist' movement is driving us--ironically--toward a new kind of racism.

As one of the few black students in his philosophy program at Columbia University years ago, Coleman Hughes wondered why his peers seemed more pessimistic about the state of American race relations than his own grandparents-who lived through segregation. The End of Race Politics is the culmination of his years-long search for an answer.

Contemplative yet audacious, The End of Race Politics is necessary reading for anyone who questions the race orthodoxies of our time. Hughes argues for a return to the ideals that inspired the American Civil Rights movement, showing how our departure from the colorblind ideal has ushered in a new era of fear, paranoia, and resentment marked by draconian interpersonal etiquette, failed corporate diversity and inclusion efforts, and poisonous race-based policies that hurt the very people they intend to help. Hughes exposes the harmful side effects of Kendi-DiAngelo style antiracism, from programs that distribute emergency aid on the basis of race to revisionist versions of American history that hide the truth from the public.

Through careful argument, Hughes dismantles harmful beliefs about race, proving that reverse racism will not atone for past wrongs and showing why race-based policies will lead only to the illusion of racial equity. By fixating on race, we lose sight of what it really means to be anti-racist. A racially just, colorblind society is possible. Hughes gives us the intellectual tools to make it happen.

Review Quotes

"Humans have dignity and rights because of their ability to flourish and suffer, not their pigmentation. The affirmation of that moral principle here is humane, judicious, eloquent, and timely."-STEVEN PINKER, professor at Harvard University and author of Enlightenment Now

"No one gives me greater hope that we will one day come to our senses about race than Coleman Hughes. He is the living example of our future sanity." -SAM HARRIS, New York Times bestselling author of Waking Up

"When I started writing on race twenty-five years ago, I hoped young people would read me and be assured that being melodramatic, tribal, and pessimistic on race issues is not higher wisdom. Coleman Hughes is exactly what I hoped would happen, and this book is spun gold from start to finish." -JOHN McWHORTER, associate professor of linguistics at Columbia University and New York Times bestselling author of Woke Racism

"[Hughes's] thesis ought to become required reading for students of all races on every college campus in America." -GLENN LOURY, professor of economics at Brown University

"With unusual clarity, [Hughes] offers not merely a damning critique of all the ways the all-American skin game has failed us--he provides a compelling, positive vision of the heights we could reach together were we to finally stop playing." -THOMAS CHATTERTON WILLIAMS, author of Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race

About the Author

Coleman Hughes is a writer, podcaster and opinion columnist who specialises in issues related to race, public policy and applied ethics. Coleman's writing has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Quillette, The City Journal and The Spectator. He appeared on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in 2021.