"Almost an Entire Generation of Whites Received the Most Significant Government Handout in American History"

"The New Deal was an unprecedented government investment in social welfare. It created unemployment benefits and Social Security and gave military veterans resources to attend college, find work, and buy homes, to name some of its banner accomplishments. It was also deeply racist—usually in intent, but almost always in practice. To get it through Congress, northern Democrats ceded significant ground to their southern counterparts, the nation's staunchest segregationists. Southern Democrats felt that improving the lives of black people would upend the racial order in their region. We will never know if they were right. They decided not to risk it."

In light of a recent lawsuit, Zak Cheney-Rice at New York discusses "When Affirmative Action Was White."