The Real Culprits of American Racism? They Wear Robes

You’ve been force-fed lies on matters of race—about racism, about justice, and especially about who deserves blame. The truth? The real culprits wear robes—and they sit on the Supreme Court.

American democracy teeters on the brink of failure, in part, because the people—you—receive false information. False information on how to fix our problems. False information on who to blame for our problems. Even false information on what our problems actually are. This holds true in various aspects of American life, including race.

In my book, Their Accomplices Wore Robes, I explain that American society teaches us to believe that this nation suffers from a racial discrimination problem. In other words, you have learned that the evil we need to root out is racial discrimination and once we have purged that, we will have solved the dilemma. Race will cease as an issue. But no. Not true. A racial caste system problem plagues America. We have a racial hierarchy enforced by law, policies, and norms, that confines Black people to an inferior legal, political, and social status, from womb to grave. 

The villains in this story are not discriminators, but rather what I call caste preservationists, those who strive to maintain the racial caste system. And the heroes are caste abolitionists, those who work to destroy the caste system.

On matters of race, therefore, you have learned falsehoods. Our predicament does not call on us to solve a racial discrimination problem but rather a racial caste system problem.

But who should we blame for the existence of the racial caste system?

Well obviously, as an initial matter, we should blame caste preservationists. They aim to keep their boot on the neck of Black America and prolong the era of White supremacy. They get help from everywhere—from the statehouse to Congress, from the governor’s mansion to the White House.

But in my book, I argue that their most crucial allies have sat on the United States Supreme Court. Their most vital accomplices have worn robes. They still do.

In Their Accomplices Wore Robes, I wanted to demystify the Constitution and the role of judges.

I wanted people to understand that the Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution to the satisfaction of caste preservationists. But the Constitution’s text and history never required these outcomes. The black robes simply have chosen them. They have chosen to side with caste preservationists. Chosen to help maintain the racial caste system. The Court could have chosen a different path, one that produces an America without the dark clouds of a racial hierarchy.

If, after the Civil War, the Supreme Court were committed to preventing the existence of a caste system we could be enjoying a much different, much better America. We have many to blame for our current realities. But you should point the finger first at the Supreme Court.

And last, how do we solve this problem?

Well, change starts with us. We solve this problem by building a political movement that pursues the idea that we each have a right to freedom from being treated as a member of an oppressed caste. We have a right to freedom from caste.

A main ambition for me in writing this book was that I wanted to change how we conceive of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. 

Ratified after the Civil War, the Thirteenth guarantees freedom, the Fourteenth, equality, and the Fifteenth, voting rights. Alone, they’re powerful. Together, they’re transformative—what I call The Trinity. They turned a Constitution built to guard slavery into one that can secure freedom. We can use The Trinity to abolish caste. We each have the right to freedom from caste. Through these amendments, through The Trinity, we can create a country where a person’s identity cannot be the reason for their persecution.

The president nominates federal judges. The Senate votes to confirm them. Ask anyone you are considering voting for, especially those with a say in who sits on the federal bench, whether they believe we each, as Americans, have a right to freedom from caste. If they do not answer “yes,” find a candidate who will. You must consider your right to full freedom as non-negotiable.

A better country is within our grasps. But only if we demand it. Only if we refuse to live one more day in a nation ravaged by a caste system.

You now know what the problem is. You know who to blame. And you know how to fix it. The Constitution can either set us free or keep us bound. You decide. 

Stay brave.

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Order Their Accomplices Wore Robes here!