[Banthum]

>the desire to preserve the inferior status of blacks has motivated policies against all members of the low-wage sector.

So your belief is, the dominant economic-political movement in America regards "preserving the inferior status of blacks" as an end goal in and of itself? Or is this an instrumental goal that somehow serves some other purpose?

[ezrast]

The sentence previous to the one you quoted suggests the political reasoning. Those in power see diversity as a threat to the status quo, and demonizing an enemy has long been a textbook way for demagogues to raise political capital.

[coldtea]

For lots of people in the dominant economic-political elite, it's probably not exactly a goal but an enjoyment in itself. Besides if you're WASP, why you'd want to acknowledge the needs of blacks, or even more, have them as business competitors?

At best, you want their sales and votes -- but even that, not if they vote for their interests and/or more progressively.

Besides the blacks, if not predominantly now, for a lot of time, were also among the poor and working class, which is an even bigger enemy if you want to keep your privileges.

[kaycebasques]

It's phrased funny, but the gist that I got from it (and which seems plausible to me) is that the issue has been framed as involving the "other", and therefore those in power don't care.