When Anti-Racism Becomes Racism

For decades, Western societies have worked to eliminate racism from public life. Few would disagree that this has been a noble and necessary goal.

But what happens when the fight against racism loses sight of the principle that all people should be treated equally under the law?

That is the uncomfortable question raised by commentator Konstantin Kisin in his powerful recent video, Henry Nowak: How Anti-Racism Gave You Racism.

The video centres on the tragic death of 18-year-old British student Henry Nowak. After being stabbed multiple times in Southampton, Nowak reportedly told police officers that he had been attacked. Yet according to bodycam footage subsequently released, officers initially accepted the attacker's claim that he had been the victim of a racist assault and handcuffed the badly wounded teenager as he lay dying. The attacker was later convicted of murder. Hampshire Police have since apologised and an official investigation has been launched. 

For Kisin, however, the story is about much more than one terrible mistake.

He argues that the incident exposes a deeper problem within many Western institutions. Following the death of George Floyd in 2020, governments, corporations, universities and police forces embraced extensive anti-racism programs, diversity training and identity-based policies. While intended to combat prejudice, Kisin contends that these initiatives have sometimes encouraged officials to view people primarily through the lens of race rather than as individuals. 

The result is a form of institutional bias that would have been immediately recognised as racism had the races involved been reversed.

Kisin's central point is simple but provocative: racism cannot be defeated by creating new racial preferences or new racial assumptions. If accusations of racism are automatically given greater weight than evidence, if people are judged differently because of their ethnic background, or if equal treatment under the law is replaced by identity politics, then society has not eliminated racism. It has merely changed its direction.

Whether readers agree with Kisin's conclusions or not, the Henry Nowak case raises questions that deserve serious discussion.

Should police officers ever consider race when deciding whom to believe?

Can anti-racism policies inadvertently create new forms of discrimination?

Have Western institutions become so fearful of accusations of racism that they sometimes abandon the principle of equal treatment?

These are not easy questions, but they are questions that free societies must be willing to ask.

The ideal championed by Martin Luther King Jr. was that people should be judged by the content of their character, not the colour of their skin. Many would argue that remains the gold standard for a fair and just society.

We have drifted away from that principle. The pendulum has swung too far, and the pursuit of equality is being undermined by an ideology that increasingly treats people differently based on their racial identity.

Watch the video below and decide for yourself whether he is right.