The logic of the liberal left

“In order to get beyond race, you have to go to race. To suggest race neutrality as a remedy for racial discrimination is sophistry of the highest order.” —NAACP Chairman Julian Bond responding to a recent Supreme Court decision

Nothing like a good old case of two wrongs making a right. I've never understood how people argue that discrimination based on race is the best way to end discrimination based on race. It just doesn't make sense.

I get that there are those who argue that because of slavery blacks have been dealt an unequal hand that continues to affect all of that race today (if you couldn't tell, I'm not black). However, if it was wrong to discriminate against a black person, how does it then make it right to discriminate against a white person? Where is the logic in that line of thinking?

“[I]n the post-civil-rights era, two competing ideas about discrimination, particularly racial discrimination, have arisen. The ‘conservative’ view is that discrimination is wrong, period. The ‘liberal’ view is that discriminatory means are acceptable in pursuing a noble end.” —James Taranto

The trouble is, who determines what the noble end should be. Further, who determines whether racism is bringing about that noble end? Whenever we determine that race will be a factor in how we rate a person's state in life, racism abounds.