After the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, prestigious American institutions, from the medical profession to the fine arts, pleaded guilty to “systemic racism.” How else can we explain why blacks are overrepresented in prisons and underrepresented in C-suites and faculty lounges, their leaders asked?
The official answer for those disparities is “disparate impact,” a once obscure legal theory that is now transforming our world. Any traditional standard of behavior or achievement that impedes exact racial proportionality in any enterprise is now presumed racist. Medical school admissions tests, expectations of scientific accomplishment in the award of research grants, the enforcement of the criminal law-all are under assault, because they have a “disparate impact” on underrepresented minorities.
Heather MacDonald offers an alternative explanation for those racial disparities.