They say money is the mother’s milk of politics, but for the Democrats the true mother’s milk is racism—that is the perception thereof. Without the belief that America is a racist country, specifically against blacks but generally against any other group they can claim to be vulnerable, the party would cease to exist, dissolving into a puddle like the Wicked Witch of the West in the “Wizard of Oz.”

That is why they work so hard to preserve this sense of a country suffused with racism, fanning the flames at every turn to make it so, even when it isn’t. In so doing, they often hypnotize themselves, convincing themselves of their own belief, which in turn perpetuates the myth and continues to manufacture hatred where it doesn’t exist.

Their latest gambit in this repellent cycle is the renewal of the demands for reparations for slavery. Never mind that this country fought its most dreadful war, resulting in the deaths of 400,000 Union soldiers, to end that horror. Never mind that the population of our country—approximately 30 million at the end of the Civil War—is now 325 million, a relatively small percentage coming from families that were here during slavery. Most came in waves of immigration, many escaping from such events as the Armenian and Jewish genocides, the Ukrainian Holodomor, during which Stalin starved millions to death, and similar famines and wars in China, Southern Europe, Ireland, Scotland, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia that caused those waves. And then, obviously, so much of Central and South America, Cuba, etc. in turmoil of their own. (I’m undoubtedly forgetting a few.) Do these people—legal and, yes, illegal—owe reparations for slavery?

I don’t want to get into that crypto-fascist nonsense—intersectionality—that is sweeping our college campuses, creating a virtual victimhood derby, but the point is that human suffering knows no racial, ethnic, or religious barriers. As we all know, it’s everywhere.

But that doesn’t stop the Democrats from ignoring the famous advice of Gandhi (“An eye for an eye and the world will die”) and fanning those reparation flames again. In a nauseating display, one after the other of their 2020 candidates stepped forward to be blessed in his or her fealty to reparations by that racist of racists—who can forget Tawana Brawley—the Reverend Al Sharpton at his National Action Network convention in NYC.

Watching the video of the event, you have the sensation you are watching a form of ritual dumb show. None of the candidates… well, maybe Bernie… actually believe what they are saying. They are just paying a form of penance, saying they believe in reparations when everyone knows it willl never happen, not even Cory Booker, so they can proclaim anything they want. It also gave the event the feeling of a dark comedy out of Moliere or Ben Jonson, and something of a tragedy too—a tragedy for America and for the Civil Rights Movement that has gone so far off the rails.

At the same time, another nauseating racial charade was taking place—the ongoing Jussie Smollett miscarriage of justice. Prosecutor Kim Foxx now claims that everyone is upset with her decision because of “racism.” Could anything be more predictable in America in 2019?

Dr. King, where are you?

Roger L Simon — co-founder and CEO emeritus of PJ Media — is a novelist and screenwriter.