The leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s gave their time — and in Martin Luther King Jr.’s case, his life — in sacrifice to bring about the end of racial discrimination and segregation in America.

But now, decades later, the Black Lives Matter movement — in conjunction with the liberals of the Left — no longer seem to be sure about the necessity of ending segregation and encouraging racial intermingling and inclusion. On the contrary, some in the field of higher education are actually encouraging black students to separate themselves from white students — because, of course, it would be entirely unacceptable for white students to segregate themselves from black students.

“Students feel comfortable and are more likely to open up because they’re with other students who are like them,” Crotty said.

Moraine Valley Community College in Illinois sent mixed messages to its students when it recently restricted enrollment in two sections of one of its required freshmen classes to “African-American students” only. The course, which is called “College: Changes, Challenges, Choice,” purports to provide students with “an opportunity to assess your purpose for college, assess your study strategies, set college and career goals, examine your values and decision-making skills, and develop an appreciation for diversity,” according to its catalogue description.

So how exactly is racial segregation supposed to aid in the learning objectives of a class that seeks to help its students to “develop an appreciation for diversity”?

“Sometimes we set aside sections for specific populations, including veterans and older students,” Jessica Crotty, Moraine’s assistant director of communications, told the Chicago Tribune. “The focus can be on specific issues they face … For example, veterans face a specific set of challenges. Students feel comfortable and are more likely to open up because they’re with other students who are like them.”

[lz_jwplayer video=”fSCd7EC1″ ads=”true”]

But not all students and their parents felt as Crotty did about the segregated course sections.

“While helping my son register for college at Moraine Valley Community College, we noticed that the required course College 101 has two sections limited to African-American students,” one parent wrote in an emailed comment to the Chicago Tribune. “He wants to know why there are not two sections limited to Asian-American students? How about Native American students?”

And what about a section for “limited to white students only”? The Left and the Black Lives Matter movement, both of which claim to highly value inclusion and tolerance, obviously would not encourage that form of segregation at the expense of minority students. So why are there double standards here?

“I think it’s ill-advised, arguably subject to legal challenge, and you don’t want to wave the flag in front of the bull,” Michael A. Olivas, the acting president of University of Houston Downtown, told Inside Higher Ed.

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

Although the liberal media and social activists alike have been spinning history and the news for years now in order to squeeze everything nicely together into a calculated narrative, the Left no longer seems to know exactly what it ultimately wants. Segregation or no segregation? Discrimination or no discrimination? Equality or no equality?

[lz_related_box id=”186468″]

Moraine’s course catalogue reflects another example of division between races, which is ironic because the Left always touts itself as so keen on inclusion and tolerance. But everything seems to be about race these days, and the rhetoric piling up from BLM activists and liberal media outlets only serves to further divide and separate the nation, whether it’s about separate — but ostensibly equal — course sections, or safe spaces exclusively for minority students on college campuses, or about the vicious efforts to purge all things remotely tied to slavery from American history.

First they came for the Confederate flag as a racist symbol. Then they came for the iconic Gadsden flag last week, declaring that the yellow flag sporting a coiled rattlesnake and the words “Dont [sic] Tread on Me” could be racist because its Revolutionary-era designer owned slaves. They’ve also come to demand that statues of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution — or buildings and colleges named after them — be torn down and changed if the historical figures owned slaves or supported segregation.

But at the end of the day, Moraine’s segregated course sections brutally administer a shameful slap in the face to iconic civil rights advocates who gave their lives for social progress and equality. This is no step forward in rectifying race relations — it is indicative of a giant step backwards.