"If you are white or Asian and have kids, you owe it to them to give them some version of the talk. It will save them a lot of time and trouble spent figuring things out for themselves. It may save their lives," Derbyshire concludes. As Ta-Nehisi Coates put it, "Let's not overthink this: John Derbyshire is a racist."





America is a racially diverse society and not everyone has an easy time with that. Whether that difficulty manifests in whatever racial assumptions may or may not have

America is a racially diverse society and not everyone has an easy time with that. Whether that difficulty manifests in whatever racial assumptions may or may not have guided George Zimmerman, the police who declined to arrest him, some of his public defenders , or in the more obvious overtones to Derbyshire's essay, racism exists in America. This is not unusual: if America were free of racism, it would be the first diverse and racially harmonious society in world history. Yet we sometimes act as if, to paraphrase Teju Cole, we agree that there is rampant racism, but actual racists are nowhere to be found.

Maybe, then, it's time for a new version of "the talk," one that parents of any skin color can give their children that warns of the dangers of racism and, yes, of racists. I don't have any children on whom to develop such a "talk," so rather than take the pains to construct it from scratch, I've used Derbyshire's as the basis. Here is his actual 15-point talk, modified (and, let's be clear about this: satirized) as a new 15-pointer for parents who want to tell children about racism in America.

(1) Among your fellow citizens are an unknown number who believe that certain human races are inherently inferior or superior than others. Most likely, these beliefs manifest in ideas that people of certain races are "just different," and that these differences just so happen to provide easy assumptions about the merit or quality of a person of one race or another.

(2) Americans are descended from people from every corner of the globe. The circumstances of their arrival vary widely, part of why their treatment and status once they arrived also varied.

(3) Your ancestry is cause for celebration no matter where your family's origins, but racists will take it to be a determinant of your personality, abilities, and worth as a human being.

(4) The default principle in everyday personal encounters is, that as a fellow citizen, with the same rights and obligations as yourself, any individual of one race is entitled to the same courtesies you would extend to any individual of another race. That is basic good manners and good citizenship. In some unusual circumstances, however -- e.g., racism -- some people will argue that equality must be "overridden" in the cause of, for example, "personal safety."

(5) Sometimes people will point out to you, "There are, for example, no black Fields Medal winners." Sometimes people say things like this because they want to discuss, say, the inherent inequalities in our education system that tilt the playing field against black students. Sometimes they say it because they want you to believe that black people are inherently worse at math. Both conversations are partially about race, but the latter is necessarily racist.