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In Oakland, a smaller and somewhat shabby town next to San Francisco, poor families can now receive $ 500 a month in support for 18 months.
But only if the applicants are black.
Poor whites, of whom there are many in Oakland, are excluded.
In the British town of Batley, a school principal has been temporarily suspended for showing his class a cartoon of Mohammed.
After angry protests, he has now apologized dutifully.
The way things are in Europe, you have to be grateful that the man is still alive.
Imams also call for calm, restraint and serenity.
The Berlin Greens have meanwhile almost imploded because their top candidate pronounced the word "Indian chief".
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Three very different cases from this week that at first glance have little to do with each other.
They are representative of the various forms of identity politics that are spreading in the West.
Her supporters demand that groups of people - again - be differentiated according to characteristics: sexuality, gender, skin color and ethnicity, origin.
And rules should be found for each group.
The goal is, of course, a fairer society.
It is not about equality, but about preferential treatment.
And so it happens that the agreement that constitutes our society that all people should enjoy the same freedoms, opportunities and rights is undermined.
Few media oppose it.
Many, including, unfortunately, the “New York Times”, govern themselves according to appropriate criteria.
Cases of fired NYT journalists in the recent past show: Freedom of expression, freedom of the press, services rendered are of secondary importance.
And British journalists are extremely cautious about the incident in Batley: "People" are demonstrating in front of the school, and photos show devout Muslims.
What remains is the hope in the law.
Before that, everyone is equal.
That's the principle.
But some want to change that too.
According to a paper by leading Greens, the Basic Law is “partially problematic and inadequate”, and in future “demands of discriminated groups in the struggle for social recognition and participation must be brought together in solidarity and taking into account the intersectional entanglements”.
In the most beautiful Newspeak, Claudia Roth and her co-signatories explain that they wanted to ensure that “democracy is strengthened”.
The opposite will be the case.