Does antiracism Betray/harm Black America?

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Very much so, in my opinion.

It is incredibly patronising to real black people, whether that be people of dark skin complexion or other forever-outsiders. Declaring oneself to be antiracist, or identifying as such, makes you look like you are psychologically projecting onto black people your insecurities about being racist yourself.

If you weren't racist, then why do you have to convince others you aren't?

You probably are racist if you claim to be antiracist, even if you don't wish to be.

Quote from the black guy in the video, referencing woke antiracism: "it's all extremely fake and condescending."

https://johnmcwhorter.substack.com/archive?sort=new

More of McWhorter's work on the topic.

Hm. The Black thought leaders I enjoy listening to ask ask us to be anti-racist, in action, not just words, and have provided examples of what they mean by that.

I am sure that not everyone in the black community sees the concept the same way, or would recommend the same actions. There is not one single, uniform thought among the black community nor all black community thought leaders, even when it comes to the single term, “anti-racist.”

Without a doubt, many people who want to be allies don’t engage appropriately in trying to take action. Many thought leaders will be too extreme. Others too complacent. Many listeners will take on a message that ends up being harmful. Paths to change are never clear and never straight.

I feel like my role in all this is first and foremost to continue to listen and learn, and really try to understand. After that, it is to encourage people to challenge their own thinking and then connect them to resources more knowledgeable than I. To encourage people who want to help to listen, first and foremost. To encourage people who don’t think racism is still a problem, to see. But it isn’t for me to speak FOR anyone else.

ps - I didn't have a chance to watch the video before posting earlier (mea culpa); it's a good discussion. I do think everyone needs to remember what we're undergoing in the USA is a discussion, and within that remember that not everything has a clear, single answer.

Yes, politics in general is an ongoing dialogue of shifting goalposts - not a fixed ideology.

His issue is not with anti-racism so much as it is with a very specific brand of woke anti-racism which is built around virtue signaling. Basically: puritanical anti-racists who are more interested in moral policing others than examining their own behavior. Also: corporate capitalists who latch onto a specific brand of entry-level anti-racism which boils down to virtue signaling without examining ones own behavior. In the video, he points out that this is a vocal minority that does not represent the wider anti-racist movement.

Citing this group to discredit anti-racism as a whole is absolutely not what he is advocating. Acting like this minority represents the whole of anti-racism is completely missing the point of what he is saying. He makes this argument as a leftist who strongly believes in the need for widespread awareness of racism as black Americans have described for decades--something conservatives have consistently ignored or dismissed.

He is advocating a self-aware, self-critical anti-racism that is based around a collective understanding that almost all of us are at least a little racist in some ways, and that recognizing that is critical to fighting racism as a whole.

Actually black people have wanted everyone to call out racism when they see it. Even I have noticed I have said racist things myself like the time I told a Native American co worker that her son shouldn't have special treatment (they wanted him to cut his hair for the football team) and I said it was a safety thing and nothing to do with discrimination because everyone needs short hair. I realize now that was racist of me and it should be wear your hair up or perhaps make them sign a contract saying they won't hold the school responsible for any hair related injuries.

I have noticed contradictory statements as well like that man pointed out. I am sure there are people virtue signaling because they think they have to do it or they are racist as POC activists have said and are not really grasping it. They are just parroting what they are hearing than actually understanding it.

So many people treat "racist" as the boogeyman so they feel bullied into calling it out or they are racist but instead they are doing the opposite what was intended for anti racism. Or people are afraid to touch the topic because they are afraid of being called a racist. I think you can at least educate yourself, do research about it, just read. I think that is doing your share of anti racism than being loud about it and pretending you understand.

Bret Weinstein's DarkHorse Podcast - Black Intellectual Roundtable


This is really informative, for anyone interested on an intellectual level.

That's partially true, but his greater issue is that so much of what flies under the banner of anti racism is actually racist, as in treating black people as weak and helpless relative to other races, like they need special treatment in order to succeed.

I see you have started a separate thread complaining about the number of black people in prison. I'm just curious what makes threads like that different to "woke antiracism". Was the prison thread an example of "centrist antiracism" or "conservative antiracism" perhaps, or something different from "antiracism" altogether?

This is more another issue of anti-racists not doing enough to listen to black voices when forming their ideas of what fighting racism should look like.

It boils down to the same issue I described of the (overwhelmingly white) minority among anti-racists who virtue signal to convince others--but especially themselves--that they are not racist.

I'm always suspicious of this talking point, because it borders on gaslighting.

I have met very few anti-racist whites who treat black people as helpless victims of an unfair system who have no control over their fates.

I have met far, FAR more conservatives who treat black people as perfectly capable of helping themselves, and that the system is fair, and that therefore their failures are purely a result of collective laziness or other moral inferiority.

Acknowledging that black people's ability to succeed is hindered by an unfair system
≠
Saying that it is impossible for them to succeed in that system because they are somehow helpless puppets of fate.

Oh, I highly doubt that, though you may not have realized it at the time. Why do standardized tests need to be eliminated to help black Americans when they don't seem to be a problem for immigrants who face all of the same racial barriers and some extra cultural ones? Why do we hand wave away the disproportionate numbers of violent black criminals as if they just can't help themselves given our racist system (which again doesn't seem to affect black immigrants in the same ways)? Why do we treat black Americans as so fragile that merely hearing words that sound kinda like racial slurs must instantly cause irreparable harm to their psyches? There are a million examples like this, it's endemic to the progressive left these days, they really do think of minorities as helpless, which is in fact racist.



Exactly, and notice that they treat poor whites the same, that's kind of the whole point of individualism and personal responsibility as they apply to politics.

Again, the wrong people making judgements about a topic that's literally none of their business.

The only people who can state whether "anti-racism" harms them are black people or PoC.

Honestly I don't know why black Americans don't retaliate back at all these self-entitled MAGAs and their ilk who think they have some god given right to make judgements about what constitutes too much anti-racism. Those idiots are the ones who created this mess.

But I have seen black people also say racism isn't real as "liberals" and the "left" claim. But those come from the ones that became successful and stuff. Even Morgan freeman said "want to end racism, stop talking about it" but years later he totally backtracked it meaning he admitted he was wrong to say that and it was social media that made him realize racism is still real as it was back in the 1960's and before. He just had celebrity privilege and he was just lucky he didn't face any oppression despite his skin color.

I have even seen Candace Owens deny the racism we still have today. She has also said the same racist s**t like black people are more victims of crimes from other black people. This is the same s**t racist use to justify racism to "prove" black people are more dangerous.

You will notice the people you picked (Owens, Freeman) are entitled and privileged. Of course they feel they don't need to rely on the black community anymore so can afford to make those statements (I think Denzel Washington has also said similar things). But here's the thing,. They are entitled to make those statements because they are black. So it's their business.

What Corona said. "Anti racism" is a specific "thing" - a current woke trend. And McWhorter is probably pretty much right in condemning it.