> It's not so much about race

An axiom of liberal thought these days is that culture is coextensive with race. Hence the dichotomy asserted in the curriculum materials I linked: disparities must be geographic in nature; any other theory is “racist.” (Likewise, most of what’s attributed to “whiteness” is really Western European culture. They don’t seem to distinguish the two concepts at all.) There is no room for the possibility that different societies developed different cultures for various reasons, and certain cultural traits may be better adapted to economic development than others.

Fun fact: Lee Kuan Yew’s (the founder of modern Singapore) birth name was Harry and his first language was English.