Race and conservatism? Yes, that was the title of the panel discussion I’d signed up for, at the Robert A. Taft Club in Arlington, Va. I’d signed up without much thought, being of an insecure and self-deprecating nature (ask anyone), and always flattered to be invited to events at clubs and institutions with impressive-sounding names. Once I did start to think about it, mild panic set in. Race and conservatism? What on earth can one say? In order to say anything, it helps to start with a simplistic view of race, a view that regards Americans as belonging to two...