The definition of racism is expanding every day. For example, some New Jersey residents say a community that erects anticrime walls and gates, common in California and other states, is guilty of racism, no matter who lives there. But don’t we have a right to self-protection? In Georgia, a drugstore chain is accused of racism because it puts security tags on certain items to prevent shoplifting. But isn’t passive crime prevention acceptable? In Indiana, two white teenage girls are accused of “acting black” because they wear hiphop clothing—baggy jeans and boots—made popular by black performers in rap music videos. Now let me get this straight: clothes are racist? Heck, if that’s all it takes, I act black every weekend.

There’s more. High school students have invented the term “whigger,” which supposedly refers to a white person who wants to be black. That sounds like a stretch to me, but the term’s usage is growing. And Jesse Jackson, of all people, says, “There is nothing more painful to me . . . than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery. Then [I] look around and see someone white and feel relieved.” That was in our nation’s capital, where he lives. It’s true that black-on-black crime is increasing, but is Jesse Jackson racist? I doubt it.

However, he has a point. Crime is crime, whether it’s black-on-black, black-on-white, white-on-black, or any other combination. The beatings of Rodney King and Reginald Denny were both despicable and should have been condemned by both black and white leaders. And yet, they weren’t. We need leaders who are truly race-blind. Otherwise, we’ll continue to suffer both antiwhite and antiblack violence.

Segregation, planned or voluntary, is increasing—but not where you think. Of the six states with rapid re-segregation, four are in the north: Michigan, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland. Of the five states with the fewest whites in mostly black schools, all are in the north: Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. A recent study by Harvard University for the National School Boards Association found that “schools in the Northeast are the most racially separate of any region,” while “the South remained the most integrated region.” This confirms what Southerners who have lived in the north have long noticed: that segregation in the South did not foster the seething, unspoken, insidious racial hatred that still exists in the north. Compare the study’s actual facts to the holier-than-thou pronouncements of certain northerners over the last few decades.