Hancock: Race is the excuse—power is the prize

By Michael A. Hancock | Commentary, Substack

Exposing the Ideological Machine Behind ‘Systemic Racism’

There’s a dirty little secret in American life: Much of what we call “racism” today isn’t really about race at all.

It’s about power.

It’s about control—of narratives, of institutions, of money, of minds. Race is just the excuse. The lever. The emotional booby trap that gets people to surrender their judgment in the name of justice.

We live in a time when invoking racism is more profitable than solving it. More potent than proving it. And more politically useful than letting it die.

But let’s be clear: actual racism—an irrational hatred or fear of someone based solely on skin color—is real, evil, and must be condemned wherever it exists. The problem is that’s not what dominates our discourse anymore. What we now call “racism” is increasingly a strategic tool to demonize dissent, silence opposition, and concentrate influence in the hands of the self-anointed moral police.

Take a hard look at the new priesthood

DEI administrators, tenured ideologues, self-declared anti-racist activists, progressive preachers and psychologists—these are not prophets fighting for equality. They are bureaucrats managing a moral economy where victimhood is currency and guilt is monetized. Their power does not come from uniting us; it comes from dividing us, and demanding perpetual penance for crimes committed by people long dead, against people long freed.

That’s not justice. That’s a racket.

The irony is that those who scream the loudest about dismantling “systems of oppression” have become the architects of a new one. It’s no longer based on skin color—it’s based on ideology. It punishes colorblindness. It polices speech. It separates people by identity and rewards conformity with access, titles, and cash.

And like all power systems dressed up as morality, it needs enemies to survive. Enter “systemic racism”—a vague, ever-expanding accusation that requires no evidence and permits no defense. If racism were ever truly solved, a lot of people would be out of work.

Racism has become the political Swiss Army knife

Can’t explain poor education outcomes? Must be racism. Crime and poverty in cities run by progressive mayors for decades? Systemic racism again. A Supreme Court decision you don’t like? Obviously racist. Even disparities in test scores and mortgage approvals are automatically suspect because when race is the excuse, evidence becomes optional.

Power, not equality or justice, is the real objective.

It exposes how those who take issue with race-based thinking are often the same ones demanding ideological conformity from every person of color. That’s not compassion—it’s control. When a Black person refuses to identify as a victim, they are labeled a traitor to their race. When an immigrant rejects groupthink, they’re “inauthentic.” The goal isn’t liberation—it’s obedience.

The real issue is tribalism, not skin tone

Throughout human history, people have always found reasons to hate and exclude: tribe, language, religion, class. Race is just the modern veneer. It’s visible, it’s visceral, and it’s easy to exploit. But the root is always the same—a hunger for control masked as moral clarity.

The lie is that racism is inescapable. The truth is that it’s being kept alive—on life support—by those who profit from its pulse.

If we really cared about defeating racism, we would stop racializing everything. We would see people as individuals, not avatars of group guilt. We would restore agency, dignity, and moral responsibility. But that would end the grift. It would strip power from the professional class of racial middlemen who sell outrage by the ounce and call it progress.

America doesn’t have a racism problem. It has a meaning problem.

People need purpose, and when they lose it, they latch onto movements that make them feel righteous, no matter how divisive or destructive. Racism has become a pseudo-religion—complete with saints and sinners, elders and interpreters,  rituals and blasphemy laws. The goal isn’t understanding. It’s submission.

And if you resist, you’re not just wrong. You’re a heretic—”skinfolk ain’t kinfolk”. 

We are witnessing a new caste system emerge—one not built on law, but on ideology, where your skin color is either a scarlet letter or a moral hall pass, depending on how you vote. Where race isn’t seen as irrelevant, but as all-defining—so long as it can be used to justify who gets power and who must pay.

In the end, this isn’t a racial reckoning. It’s a hostile takeover—cloaked in virtue, fueled by grievance, and funded by fear.

Because race is the excuse.

Power is the reason.

Hancock also publishes on Substack. You can check out more of his work here.

Michael A. Hancock is a retired high-tech executive, visionary, musician, and composer, exploring diverse interests—from religion and arts to politics and philosophy—offering thoughtful insights on the intersections of culture, innovation, and society.

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.