Author and podcaster Coleman Hughes, a rising Black conservative with thousands of followers on social media, has attracted critics for his support of a colorblind society and of Martin Luther King Jr's dream of racial equality.
"Mr. Hughes, now 27, has emerged as something of a rarity in the tense national conversation over how race should factor into public policy," The New York Times wrote in a feature on Hughes Thursday.
"He is a young Black conservative, who argues — in his writings, a podcast and a YouTube channel with about 173,000 subscribers — that schools have taught students of his generation to obsess over their racial identity, while blocking arguments that challenge their worldview," the outlet explained.
Hughes has angered critics who claim that "he ignores the deep racial inequities that plague American society, on everything from schools to income to housing," the Times wrote.
Hughes, who often quotes from Dr. King, has been told by critics that he "willfully misrepresents Dr. King’s speech, which also protested persistent segregation, police brutality and Black poverty."
"Even those who are still well off financially still suffer from racism," psychologist Monnica Williams said in an online debate that Hughes took part in.
Hughes argues in his writings that the purpose of "colorblindness" is to "consciously disregard race as a reason to treat individuals differently and as a category on which to base public policy."
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Hughes calls progressives who categorize America into a binary of white and nonwhite "neoracists."
"Neoracists," Hughes argues, "are the most likely to insist that someone with European ancestry must not open a Mexican food restaurant."
A graduate of Colombia University, Hughes said that he believed the campus was "one of the most progressive, non-racist environments on Earth" despite its teachings on racial division in America.
In his book, Hughes wrote that he was confused as to why the other students "sound[ed] more pessimistic about the state of American race relations than my grandparents (who lived through segregation)?"
Thomas Chatterton Williams, a writer and friend of Hughes, said that the young political and cultural commentator was immune from some elements of cancel culture since he does not work for a particular employer.
"[T]here’s no employer to target if you don’t like Coleman’s position," Williams said. "There’s no university to complain to, no newspaper to tweet angrily at."
