Democrats never miss a chance to paint America as a racist, hate-filled nation. In their telling, bigots lurk around every corner and minorities live in constant fear. When real racism isn’t available, they invent it—crying “systemic racism” and labeling everyday interactions as “microaggressions” to keep their outrage machine humming. It’s not about justice or equality; it’s about control. The truth is, when you look closer, the racism they decry exists mostly in their own imaginations.
Take Sunny Hostin from The View. Last week, she shared what she clearly believed was a harrowing tale about protecting her black teenage son from the hostile forces of her predominantly white, wealthy neighborhood. She claims she marched into her local police department with a preemptive warning: "Do not harass him. Do not stop him," she told officers, explaining that her son would be training for the Junior Olympics by running through their community. What was the incident that prompted this protective intervention? There wasn't one. Hostin cited no negative encounters, no documented harassment, absolutely nothing. She simply assumed racism would happen because she "just knows" it will.
Let that sink in. Hostin lives in an affluent neighborhood, enjoys tremendous success, and has zero evidence anyone has mistreated her son. But she's so marinated in the victimhood narrative that she preemptively lectures police about a problem that doesn't exist. Allegedly, anyway, as I have my doubts about the story. Nevertheless, she insists her neighbors harbor ill will, claiming they treat her family differently because of race. Again, without a shred of evidence. The racism she describes lives entirely in her head, fueled not by experience but by the narrative she's been sold and now enthusiastically peddles.
This manufactured victimhood isn't unique to Hostin.
Zohran Mamdani, making his final pitch to become mayor of New York City, has centered his campaign on the claim that the city is drowning in Islamophobia. He's shared two personal stories to illustrate this alleged epidemic of hate. The problem? Neither story contains any actual Islamophobia. Not even a little.
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In the first tale, Mamdani described a woman he erroneously called his aunt feeling uncomfortable riding the subway after the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. Did anyone direct hostility toward her? Was she jeered, heckled, or abused? Nope. She simply feared she might face animosity.
Fear of potential backlash isn't evidence of actual backlash. It's just fear.
The second story is even more ridiculous. As a student at a fancy Manhattan prep school when 9/11 happened, Mamdani recalls his teacher pulling him aside to warn him he might face bullying.
Notice what's conspicuously absent? Mamdani never claims he was actually bullied. His progressive prep school teacher simply worried he might be, so she offered a preemptive pep talk. That's not Islamophobia. That's a well-meaning educator being overly cautious at an expensive private school.
Both Hostin's neighborhood paranoia and Mamdani's subway anxiety share a common thread: there are no actual victims of bigotry in their stories. Zero. Instead, these narratives do something far more insidious. They promote the very stereotypes they claim to combat. Hostin pushes the idea that cops are inherently racist thugs waiting to pounce on her son, while Mamdani suggests New Yorkers are reflexively Islamophobic monsters. Never mind that neither premise is supported by their own experiences or, you know, reality.
This is the game Democrats play, and they've gotten awfully good at it. They tell minorities to live in fear of prejudice that may never materialize, all while race hustlers and grievance merchants profit handsomely from pushing a narrative of perpetual victimhood. It's far easier to claim America is fundamentally broken than to acknowledge the tremendous progress we've made or to celebrate the opportunities available to everyone, regardless of background.
The truth is simpler than the left wants to admit, but admitting it would put a lot of professional victims out of business. The racism and bigotry they describe so breathlessly exists largely in their heads, sustained by activists who need Americans divided to maintain their relevance and power. Maybe it's time we stopped letting them define the national conversation with imaginary threats and started focusing on the real challenges facing all Americans.
