An Assistant Professor of American Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University named Sylvia Chan-Malik will chair a panel on racial profiling there on October 1st. She sees racism everywhere.

Fredda Sacharow of Rutgers Today recently interviewed Ms. Chan-Malik.

Here’s a key excerpt.

Rutgers Today: Has the nation become more tolerant of intolerance since 2001? What do reports of increased racial profiling and surveillance say about race relations and society as a whole, and do you see this atmosphere changing any time in the near future?

Sylvia Chan-Malik:  We live in a time in which racism, as well as classism, sexism and homophobia, is simultaneously rampant and invisible. On the one hand, racism is everywhere – in the coded language of politicians, law enforcement practices, the violent inequality that determines the uneven distribution of state and social resources (education, housing, transportation, etc.). On the other hand, racism no longer speaks its name; even vitriolic racism espoused by the likes of the Tea Party/birthers is couched in an oftentimes “liberal” language of equality and democracy. The task, then, is to decode and debunk all this disingenuous doublespeak that obscures the persistence of racism and inequality.

The President of the United States is an African American who won with support from a majority of independent voters in 2008, gay people enjoy more tolerance in America than ever before in history but progressives like Ms. Chan-Malik see nothing but bigotry everywhere.

Liberal academics are living in the past.

Their students are likely to leave them there in November.