Mac Donald is known for her cold eye and intellectual rigor in her attacks on American institutions, including the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, the Smithsonian Institution and the New York Times. New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani s administration in particular has relied on her harsh assessments of liberal policy. There, recruits are obliged to spend hours talking about oppression. Confronting one instructor, Mac Donald asked if black racism is discussed in class. Of course there is no such thing as black racism, she replies, flabbergasted at my ignorance, Mac Donald later wrote.
Racism is power and prejudice, so blacks by definition can t be racist.
Tell that to Korean and Jewish store owners, Chinese deliverymen and Mexicans working in fast-food restaurants in Harlem. Former Democratic mayor Ed Koch scorns her reasoning. But one of Giuliani s top guns, Deputy Mayor Joe Lhota, believes that Mac Donald is an extraordinary thinker who writes about individual freedom as though she lived in the era of Robespierre. Even though she lives and works in an academic environment, she understands the practical side of government, he says. She has core principles, namely that government should steer you in the right direction, but not row for you.