Racism in America and reparations

Going back to 1967/68, one can find the recommendations of the Kerner Commission (prompted by the Summer 1967 riots) as a sensible way to move forward (e.g. new jobs and housing, desegregation). LBJ promptly ignored his own commission's recommendations and hardly much has changed in Congress in 50+ years (see the history of HR40 in Congress or the traction the discussion for reparations has received). 

A more interesting recent dynamic around CRT/woke/racism is John McWhorter calling out anti-racists as demagogues and inner-focused and as damaging as racists and proposing instead of a woke culture a simple activist program (e.g.  end the war on drugs, free contraception, teach phonics, promote vocational training). In one of his recent interviews, he mentioned Randall Robinson's The Debt (chapters: intro, restitution). I must confess that The Debt (at least the two free chapters I found) is very engaging and compelling. Here is what I wrote in response to someone posting a blurb about McWhorter's most recent book "Woke Racism" and a short NPR interview:

I disagree with some of his diagnosis (that somehow woke/antiracism is "polluting" the race conversation or that is as harmful as racism itself, to use his own words) and some of his prescriptions (which I largely agree with, see list further below), but McWhorter does make some very good points (even if he overshoots the mark at times).

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