Dr. Ben Carson, in a radio interview this morning, made a great point. He said that little children don’t think, care or talk about race. It’s true. To care about race, children have to be taught. Specifically, they have to be indoctrinated.

Today, little black (and white) children are indoctrinated with the idea that race matters more than just about anything. If you’re white, you’re to be humble and ashamed; if you’re not white, you don’t have to be humbled or ashamed. The implicit message can even be understood by a child: It’s not just that race matters; it’s that race is (in one case) morally shameful; and (in another case) an indication of achievement.

Race is totally genetic. It does not and should not matter, other than from the point of view of a biologist studying the human body and human genetics. But to make race matter, and to imply that race is a moral issue — involving either shame or pride — is worse than erroneous. It’s the kind of mistake that’s never innocent.

It wasn’t innocent when true white racial supremacists taught it; it wasn’t innocent when Hitler’s Nazi racists taught it; and it’s not innocent when today’s government and official authorities — the only ones permitted to offer an opinion, any longer — say it.

Michael J. Hurd, Daily Dose of Reason