Before it got swept up in the more divisive and counterproductive Black Power movement, the whole Civil Rights Movement was about not focusing so much on skin color. That’s the central message. Perhaps you missed it? You know … the whole “I Have a Dream …” speech you might’ve learned about in High School ….?

In contrast, the current movement is all about focusing on skin color, to the point where the ideal of race-blindness is absurdly considered a form of racism.

In other words, I’m not just saying “don’t go so fast” or “don’t be so abrasive.” I’m saying, “Be strategic. Don’t be stupid. Don’t be counterproductive. Don’t put a message out there that is the exact opposite of the ultimate goal.”

This current movement is splintering natural coalitions and losing natural allies. It’s creating more and more antipathy, especially within the white poor and working class (which is still a majority here). And it’s doing that not because it’s going too fast or being too abrasive, but specifically because it’s peddling pernicious racial stereotypes and racial essentialism and constantly reminding people of their racial identity in a way that makes poor, uneducated blacks more likely to embrace blackness and poor, uneducated whites more likely to embrace whiteness and all of us less likely to embrace each other.