Has Social Engineering Gone Too Far?
Let me answer my own question at the start. America is not an inherently racist country, but it has followed racist policies in the past. America is not a racist country, in part because it would be wrong to label all of society in that way. Most Americans are good people, not racist. It is the few who are not, and the racist policies that still exist in some ways (i.e., social injustice; police overreach in the treatment of Black Americans; unequal rates of incarceration…), that taint the notion of whether the U.S. is a racist country. However, there is a sense of intolerance towards others who are different from oneself from time to time.
A variety of policies have been pursued by those who seek to re-engineer American society. Some would say it is part and parcel of moving the U.S. to be a more socialist society. All we need to do is examine the reasons for the victory of Zora Mandani in the NY mayoral race. He is an avowed democratic socialist, a term that is not well defined. His influence comes on the heels of Senator Bernie Sanders who spread the gospel of socialism many years ago. In between, we have the so-called “Squad.”
The Squad is an informal progressive and left-wing faction of the Democratic Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. Members of the Squad are all members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. They speak out about discriminatory practices that harm one group or another–Groups that have been historically discriminated against in American society. The Squad was initially composed of four members elected in the 2018 U.S. House of Representatives elections: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ilhan Omar (MN), Ayanna Pressley (MA), and Rashida Tlaib (MI).
Dissecting Critical Race Theory (CRT)
Critical Race Theory (CRT) essentially holds that America’s legal and social institutions are inherently racist because they function to create and maintain social, economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites. What does this mean? Here are just a few examples of those historically racist tendencies.
· Unequal treatment under the law (e.g., penalties for crimes) of Blacks and Whites.
· Discrimination in housing policies (e.g., blocking Blacks from certain communities).
· Unequal access to education (e.g., schools in Black and other minority neighborhoods are inferior and underfunded).
· Paucity of opportunities to move into top positions in companies (i.e., women shut out of C-suite, representation on boards of directors).
· Police overreach in dealing with Black Americans versus Whites (i.e., higher percentage of Blacks incarcerated.).
· Underrepresentation of Blacks in state legislatures and Congress.
Civil Rights
I could go on, but I believe the case has been made that America has followed racist policies in the past. Are things changing? Yes, but not quickly enough.
It’s been more than 60 years since Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. In 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Forbidding discrimination based on sexual orientation has been prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 since 2020, as interpreted by the Supreme Court. In a landmark 2020 ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed that Title VII of the act, which bans employment discrimination based on “sex,” extends to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Gallup conducted a poll about racism against black people in the U.S. between June 2-26, 2025. One highlight of the study is that 83% of Black adults and 61% of White adults say racism is widespread.
Most of the people who believe racism is increasing blame it on the lack of fair treatment of Blacks. Biased treatment can show up by excessive stops of Black Americans in their vehicles. Another example is when Blacks are blamed first for something that goes wrong in society such as a theft or other wrongdoing. Otherwise, discrimination shows up in subtle ways, such as walking on the opposite side of a street when a group of Blacks are headed in the same direction.
Even though a majority of Americans believe racism against Black people is widespread in the U.S., most still think that civil rights have improved. The first poll back in 1995, shows that 83% of Americans believed the civil rights of Black people have improved. This rose to a high of 89% in 2011, during President Obama’s tenure, before declining to its lowest point, 59% in 2020, after George Floyd’s death focused national attention on race and policing practices. However, by 2021 U.S. adults were more positive about the civil rights of Blacks, although it hasn’t recovered to the 1995 level.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)
Significant numbers of Americans also think DEI initiatives are backfiring against the groups they’re intended to help, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, including many people who belong to those groups.
The findings suggest Americans’ views on racial discrimination have shifted substantially during the past four years, when many companies launched efforts to promote diversity within their workforces and the products they sold. Since then, many of those companies have reversed themselves and retreated from their diversity practices, a trend that’s accelerated this year under pressure from President Trump, who has sought to withhold federal money from schools and companies that promote DEI.
White Supremacy—White Privilege
We hear a lot about “white privilege” today. But what is it? White Privilege is the notion that there are inherent advantages possessed by a white person based on their race in a society characterized by racial inequality and injustice. This is a concept easier for me to accept than CRT. I believe white Americans have, historically, been the beneficiaries of favorable treatment in many areas of society. I have witnessed it first-hand in the hiring of coworkers by organizations that I have worked for.
Some go further and criticize America for structural racism: the historical and contemporary policies, practices, and norms that create and maintain white supremacy. They claim structural racism continues to disproportionately segregate communities of color from access to opportunity and upward mobility by making it more difficult for people of color to secure quality education, jobs, housing, healthcare, and equal treatment in the criminal justice system.
The concept of White Supremacy is anathema to me. It is the belief that white people constitute a superior race and should therefore dominate society, typically to the exclusion or detriment of other racial and ethnic groups, in particular Blacks and Hispanics. This is the kind of thinking that led to the insurrection on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. It is wrong and should be denounced by all people of conscience.
Summing it Up
President Trump and his administration seek to ban DEI teaching in schools primarily because they argue these programs are a form of illegal discrimination and promote what they consider to be “divisive” ideologies that undermine core American values of meritocracy and national unity.
At least 20 states have passed legislation restricting or banning DEI in various government settings, including higher education institutions. While a definitive number is hard to pinpoint due to the varying scope of laws (some target only higher education, others include K-12 or state agencies) and ongoing legislative changes, recent sources cite figures ranging from 15 to 22 states with enacted restrictions since 2023. At least 18 states have passed legislation restricting DEI in public colleges and universities.
Critics of the policies that I have addressed in this blog claim they create reverse discrimination whereby there is an emphasis on race in hiring and promotion decisions. There is a focus on group identity rather than individual qualifications and merit-based systems.
It seems the tide may be turning because of the influence of the Trump administration on national policies. Trump has pursued a broad campaign to end DEI programs, which includes terminating specific grants and threatening to withhold all federal funding from non-compliant colleges and K-12 schools. These actions are currently the subject of ongoing litigation and have faced mixed results in court.
We need to have Congressional hearings on the benefits (and harms) of these programs before we deem them to be unwanted in their entirety. Let’s invite college presidents and government officials for hearings—those who have had experiences implementing the programs into their core objectives. I worry, however, that if these programs are ended without serious discussions about their benefits, and there are many, we may be “throwing out the baby with the bathwater.”
Blog posted by Steven Mintz, PhD, Professor Emeritus Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on November 18, 2025. Learn more about Steve’s activities by visiting his website: www.stevenmintzethics.com.