What they are not interested in is propping up a narrative that feeds the grievances of white men who absolutely resent no longer being first in line for all good things.
You know that's an ad hominem argument, don't you, and racist to boot?
An observation is not an argument. Since you have not demonstrated that observation exhibits antagonism or prejudice against white men, it is not clear how anyone could
know that it is racist.
You appear to be relying on the premise that nobody knows anything until I personally demonstrate it. Any reasonable person who is fluent in English, has basic reading comprehension skills, and is aware that the context was a discussion of Affirmative Action, can tell her statement exhibits prejudice against white men simply by reading it. It isn't rocket science.
Tony is smearing white men who don't want to be second-class citizens as wanting everyone else to be a second-class citizen. She does not have evidence that they do -- it's an illogical inference for the same reason "I don't owe you money." does not imply "You owe me money.". It is prejudiced against white men because wanting everyone else to be a second-class citizen is a negative trait, and
she is pre-judging a subset of white men as having that negative trait, without evidence against them, based only on color, sex, and uppity refusal to accept second-class citizen status.
And that's racist because she would not smear black men who who don't want to be second-class citizens as wanting everyone else to be a second-class citizen. She would not
interpret uppity refusal to accept second-class citizen status as evidence of having that negative trait, in an uppity person who's black, or some other race she favors. She talks as though white men have
no right to be uppity,
no right to be first-class citizens, even though black men do. Assigning rights based on race is racist. She is treating whiteness as if it were a a form of
guilt, an Original Sin that can only be expiated by embracing the One True Faith and voluntarily accepting the second-class citizenship it assigns. That implies white men are
racially inferior. Treating a race as inferior is racist.
This is all nonsensical, since no one is treating white men as second-class citizens. What is happening instead is that many white men
feel as if they are being treated as second-class citizens because of positive goods like DEi. They look at life as a zero-sum game: unless they are always on top, some Other has taken what is their rightful due.
Nobody owns the term "second-class citizen", so you'll define it as you please and debates over who is or isn't treated as one will go nowhere. So let's break this down into two parts.
1. I'll coin a new term. For decades white people have been Approved Racial Discrimination Targets Of Government. (See, for example, Fullilove v. Klutznick, US v. Paradise, Metro Broadcasting v. FCC). Let us call such people "ardtogs". More recently, Asians have also become ardtogs. (Grutter v. Bollinger.) Back in the benighted times before the Civil Rights era, black people and American Indians were ardtogs. By and large, they didn't like it. Most people do not want to be ardtogs.
Tony is smearing white men who don't want to be ardtogs as wanting everyone else to be an ardtog. She does not have evidence that they do -- it's an illogical inference for the same reason "I don't owe you money." does not imply "You owe me money.". It is prejudiced against white men because wanting everyone else to be an ardtog is a negative trait, and
she is pre-judging a subset of white men as having that negative trait, without evidence against them, based only on color, sex, and uppity refusal to accept ardtog status.
And that's racist because she would not smear black men who who don't want to be ardtogs as wanting everyone else to be an ardtog. She would not
interpret uppity refusal to accept ardtog status as evidence of having that negative trait, in an uppity person who's black, or some other race she favors. She talks as though white men have
no right to be uppity,
no right to be non-ardtogs, even though black men do. Assigning rights based on race is racist. She is treating whiteness as if it were a a form of
guilt, an Original Sin that can only be expiated by embracing the One True Faith and voluntarily accepting the artogship it assigns. That implies white men are
racially inferior. Treating a race as inferior is racist.
2. Irrespective of the lack of an objective criterion for "second-class citizen", ardtogs of all races widely
perceive themselves to be "second-class citizens",
due to being ardtogs. This is a
sufficient explanation for an ardtog perceiving himself as a "second-class citizen". An additional explanation, such as "They look at life as a zero-sum game: unless they are always on top, some Other has taken what is their rightful due.", is
an unnecessary hypothesis. And you would not accuse a 1950's-era black ardtog who saw himself as a "second-class citizen" of thinking so only because he looked at life as a zero-sum game and felt it his rightful due to be always on top.