Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to make a case for himself as not only the best governor in America but also a strong 2024 presidential contender. He recently took part in a town hall hosted by Laura Ingraham on Fox News that covered a range of topics.

When asked about systemic racism, DeSantis did not mince words.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says that the idea of "systemic racism" is a bunch of "horse manure":

“It’s a very harmful ideology, and I would say really a race-based version of a Marxist-type ideology.” pic.twitter.com/UgHL6Mdzv6

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 30, 2021

This is going to make a lot of people upset, but is he wrong? Some would say yes, but a lot of people on the right have been waiting for this kind of pushback on the woke movement that claims “systemic racism” is behind every corner.

You’ll probably notice that those who scream the loudest about systemic racism never bother to define exactly what is racist about the systems in question. Take the claims of systemic racism in policing. What exactly is systemically racist in policing? If one’s answer is that the cops are racist, either directly or via some kind of implicit bias (a nonsensical concept on its own), you are literally making a case that the individuals, not the system, are the problem. Further, citing statistics about how many black people are charged with crimes is also not evidence of systemic racism because equity is not required to prove a lack of bias. If a higher percentage of one sub-group commits more crimes, they will be charged in more criminal cases. Racism certainly exists, but attempting to put it off on the system is a purposeful attempt to strip people of agency for political gain.

DeSantis’ over-arching point is that such claims of systemic racism are used as a political catch-all, whereby literally everything someone on the left doesn’t like is relegated to some form of systemic racism. That then gives them license to destroy the system instead of just dealing with whatever bad apples may emerge. Thus, the comparison to Marxism is profound and relevant, especially considering that many of those same people self-identify as Marxists.

The real goal of Black Lives Matter and the myriad of other social justice activists out there is not to stop supposed examples of racism (note that even Derek Chauvin was never found to have had racist intentions). Rather, by their own admission, it’s to tear down the system as it exists and rebuild it in a more “equitable” fashion. But forcing equity via the heavy hand of government is, in and of itself, discrimination, because it throws out individual choices and performance in favor of defining people by their immutable characteristics. That’s racism.

Republicans must speak out against this, and it’s good to see DeSantis once again leading the pack — even as so many others in the party shrink in fear.