And let’s be honest that despite so-called “white privilege” – which, one could argue is attributable largely to making individual lifestyle choices that enhance upward mobility – most white Americans don’t think they have all that much to feel guilty about.

“More than slavery and discrimination, the loss of faith and family can be seen as the root of many of the problems in the black community,” argues columnist Cal Thomas, a self-described “typical white person.” Noting 2004 census data that found “just 31.9 percent of black households had both spouses present, compared to 56.1 percent for white households,” he believes that “when intact black families become typical, many of the self-inflicted maladies in the black community will finally become atypical.”

How curious. Racial disparities are the result of “individual lifestyle choices.” So what accounts for the fact that all these individual lifestyle choices correlate with race – a variable that was not individually chosen, but rather is socially imposed?

Perhaps it’s a result of a “loss of faith and family….” Ah. So, what accounts for the idea that loss of faith and family correlates with race – again, a variable that was not individually chosen blah blah blah.

And on and on, into an infinite regress. If I believe in meritocracy – that individual merit should determine life circumstances – then the only way to justify disparities that correlate with race is to conclude that certain races are inherently superior to others (at least with respect to whatever variable you’re studying). Alternatively I need to acknowledge that I don’t live in a perfect meritocracy, that NOBODY is solely responsible for his or her life’s circumstances, and that there is therefore nothing inherently wrong with adopting social policies to alter people’s circumstances.

Social science research suggests that 1) children raised in two-parent households fair better than children born in one-parent households, and 2) a black child born in 2004 had a lower likelihood of being born into a household with two parents than a white child did. That black child did nothing to cause either proposition 1) or proposition 2). What possible justification is there to blame that black child for his or her circumstances?

Ideally we could transcend blame and defensiveness and recognize – without regard to our own racial groupings – that black people tend to experience less attractive social circumstances that other Americans do, and to look for practical remedies. Group blame, whether by blacks or whites, seems entirely understandable, and entirely pointless.