In the 21st century, an ever growing number of academic Progressives have innovated in ideology, jettisoning the economic class struggle of Marxism and replacing it with identity classes: gender, race, sexuality, religion, nationality, and ableness. Now it's (allegedly) whites (including "white adjacent" Asians and "hyperwhite" Jews), males, and Christians who are oppressors-and people of color, women, LGBTQ++, Muslims, and the disabled who are the oppressed victims.

With the "social justice" trinity of "diversity, equity, and inclusion," academic Progressives have returned us to the days of deep Jim Crow, with some races seen as virtuous and others as evil, the only difference being that the colors have changed. Progressive "inclusion" means including preferred races and genders, and excluding the others, as we see in hiring, college admissions, funding, promotions, and awards.

Equity, meaning the statistical equivalence of races and genders, in practice means more of the preferred and fewer of the despised. Objective measures, such as standardized tests, and advanced education programs, are being cancelled by the academy, because they don't produce the desired "equity" results. Now institutionalized DEI racism and discrimination are regarded as desirable by so-called Progressive academia, as long as preferred categories benefit.

Enough of this madness! Now is the time to wake up to this enormous problem before we do even graver damage-not only to ourselves individually but to our country as a whole. It's a bitter irony that those academics and their proponents who want to drive us into this new hysteria often claim to be "woke."

But there is no awakening in woke. It's the sleep of reason that produces monsters, and it poses a profound peril to our republic.