Sniper trauma has left the ugly residue of racism upon the nation and its capitol. The evil of black has been transposed into the evil of white. White van, white suspect, white militant, probably Christian - thousands of innocent residents of the D.C. area saw evil in every white van and in any white male near public places. Cold blooded, random attacks associated with the color white. But it was two men, not white, in a blue sedan, not a white truck, not Christian; no, Muslim-lite. Mistaken identity.

The once harmless cults of political correctness, were confined to our university's. Now they have achieved their goal. They have reached the masses. Racism in full reverse. Perceptions have now been altered, ultimately twisting the views of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of citizens. After years of loud protests against profiling, the media, the police (not all agencies,) were rushed to judgement. A deadly rush, it turns out. Since the suspects had indeed been in front of law enforcement several times and let go -- even police officers were swept up by the perception-altering suggestions. Released from the dragnet, several more innocents were blown apart by the gutless pair's Bushmaster XM15-E2S A3.

Racism was unintellectual in last century's American Civil War. It was raw, and it was evil. The current civil war is not based on raw prejudice. But it is prejudice, just the same. On the other hand, modern racism, against white males, was born and nurtured within vast and complex ideological constructs. Thus our universities were the perfect breeding ground for the new hatred. Sexism arose from Freud's elaborations on the father, white male father dominating the female, ego on a rampage. The imperialistic, greedy, exploitive white laissez faire male was the intellectual portrait of Karl Marx's a white male. But in the end, the end product of their treatises was an image, a overwhelming portrait which has become a mass perception.

Some might point to the heartless Timothy McVeigh. Proof, they say, that white militants roam the country side, murdering for purpose. But there's new interest in Mr. McVeigh's non-white contacts, the evidence of which was suppressed during his trial. Like the assassination of President Kennedy, the government added to the new anti-white hysteria by insisting on the lone white militant gunman postulate: Only McVeigh with a friend blew up Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. But now, as the government makes the case to attack Saddam Hussein, the connections between McVeigh and foreign (including Iraqi,) non-white operatives is coming to light.

Hollywood reinforces the new white monster. They create Dr. Hannibal Lecter, one of the screen's most frightening characters. The quintessential white, dominating, ruthless character, a calculating, heartless predator, precisely the profile of the sniper.

The Left summoned a villain. That villian had to be white, male, and militant, as in Christian militant. The new division in America is between those who will measure all achievement and all promise based on race, sex and religion, and those not yet infected with this perception-altering focus. We are slowly polarizing. In civil wars, disconnected, discontented groups coalesce. In time it becomes one army versus another. We are heading in that direction again. A nation, that once fought one of the world's most deadly civil wars over race, is dividing again over race, sex and religion. The mistaken identity of the D.C. snipers only shows how far and fast we are moving down that path.

Until race is dismissed as the basis for judging each other, we will continue to relive our deadly civil war. We endured the slaughter of our civil war. We learned the endgame of racism. Must we experience it again to assure ourselves of the useless consequences of its ability to cloud judgement. So long we demonize and colorize individuals as classes, we will keep this nation divided. The new color of evil is not white. Evil is colorblind, as in the end, the D.C. snipers proved.

• Write to Arthur at bruzzone@rightturns.com

Award-winning TV producer, talk show host, and Republican leader Arthur Bruzzone has written over 150 political articles for national and regional media, and has commented on political issues for American and European television and radio networks.  His articles and columns have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, Campaign & Elections Magazine, among other publications.

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