The ignorance-to-hate-to-discrimination folktale lacks historical evidence

Evidence

I was taught the popular folktale of racism: that ignorant and hateful people had produced racist ideas, and that these racist people had instituted racist policies. But when I learned the motives behind the production of many of America’s most influentially racist ideas, it became quite obvious that this folktale, though sensible, was not based on a firm footing of historical evidence. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 25

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘folktale’ framing connects to the reader’s standing interest in folklore vs historical evidence parallel to Milgrom’s debunking of reputation-based trade.