From the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, the “struggles” of white women have been linked to the plight of black Americans. A little-known fact is that this was formalized by Howard Smith, a segregationist senator who opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Although the alliance has never been ideal, it worked for many years as the United States was an ascendant nation with plenty to spare for both groups. But in recent years, things have changed, and conflicts have emerged.

First, the issue of child support and welfare reform began to expose rifts, as white women scored huge victories by legally subjugating men in general, while black women found themselves cut off from government aid and their menfolk, many of whom ended up on the run or in prison as a result of the tough new laws. Additions to the 1994 crime bill (VAWA) turned men in general into a criminal class, with black men bearing the brunt of it, and the professionalization of the government workforce proved to be a huge boon to white women.

Now that the gains from the Civil Rights movement have ground to a halt, and there’s little more to offer, competition between black men and white women has become a zero-sum game, and neither group can advance without it being at the expense of the other. Given that white American women have always had it better in the United States on just about every measure of well-being than any other demographic, and black men have had it worse, it would be only fair for white women to graciously give up some of the unearned gains they made by hitching themselves to the Civil Rights bandwagon. However, as anyone who has been married to one knows, that ain’t ever gonna happen.

No, white women, especially of the liberal sort, are perfectly happy with their Gone with the Wind version of Civil Rights, where they manage the plantation for the “benefit” of all others.

However, it seems that the benefit is rather dubious on the face of it, and some grumbling has made it all the way from the field to the inside of the house.

Recently, I happened to be listening to NPR, and caught part of the Smiley and West show, in which Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornell West pontificate on matters of interest to black Americans. West was in Seattle, so the show was given a prominent time slot by KUOW, and I heard it while driving around with the kids in the afternoon.

At issue was a recent incident in New Jersey in which a white, female teacher got in hot water for writing that she was teaching “future criminals” on her Facebook page. Most of her students were black and Hispanic, which is probably the only reason it made the news; many men my age and younger of any race can probably remember similar statements from female teachers (and male feminists) concerning male pupils — not all teachers are very good at concealing their opinions. Nevertheless, at least a good number of white and Asian students have fathers who are willing to stand up for them, whereas black kids are – thanks to feminist welfare policy – notably deprived in that regard.

In a rare example of black liberals criticizing their putative allies, both West and Smiley took issue with the fact that while black boys are farther behind than any other group of students, they are overwhelmingly in the charge of white females:

Smiley: … One of the things, very quickly, that we examine in this prime time special, Too Important to Fail, again on Sept 13th, one of the things that we point out and investigate and find solutions for, Doc, is this simple statistic. The majority of kids being left behind, the group, I should say, of kids being left most behind, never mind this law Leave No Child Behind, they’re all being left behind. The group being left the farthest behind are, no surprise here, young black boys. That’s a reality; the numbers bear that out. We’re losing most black boys in the third or fourth grade we find in this investigative report.

But consider this, Doc. The majority of teachers in this country happen to be white women. To be exact, 83 percent of teachers in this country are white women. What we ask in this special, does that mean that the future of black boys in America is in the hands of white women? We dig deep into that question.

West: Interesting.

Smiley: Black boys being left the farthest behind. Eighty-three percent of teachers white women. The future of black boys in the hands of white women. What does that mean? What are the challenges to the system, to black men becoming teachers? The tentacles shoot everywhere off of that one factoid.

[emphasis added]

What does it mean? Well, my take on it is that it means that one of the most powerful political coalitions of American political history is coming undone, and given what a failure it’s been, it’s about time.

I’ll try to stay tuned for “Too Important to Fail” so I can write it up. Should be an interesting show, but I’m afraid Smiley will chicken out and water it down, then go back to the old standbys. We’ll see.