During the church-led civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s, many strove for a society that was colour blind. Purging prejudice meant looking beyond race to a common humanity.

But for African-American writer TYLER AUSTIN HARPER, today's anti-racism movement erects barriers, demands discomfort, denies the possibility of friendship, even love across racial lines.

In a major essay for The Atlantic, he calls for a "good colour-blindness".

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Throwing yourself at the mercy of a higher power, seeking forgiveness, committing to strict behaviour, even thought. Once upon a time, you'd think of religion.

But today, it's the social justice movement that demands very public repentance.

IAN BURUMA is a leading intellectual in America and Europe. A former editor of The New York Review of Books, he's now a professor at Bard College in New York. His essay for Harper’s magazine is called "Doing the Work".