Toxic Victimhood

Race explains everything, says bestselling "How to Be an Antiracist" author Ibram X. Kendi. "Every policy is either racist or anti-racist."

Kendi's and DiAngelo's books are now recommended reading at schools, corporations and in the military. Both authors command high speaking fees.

But John McWhorter, author of "Woke Racism," says, "The way we're being encouraged to think, hurts Black people."

In my new video, he gives this example: "There is a disproportionate number of suspensions of Black boys in schools for violence. (Kendi says) that must be racist ... a stereotype of Black men as violent. But ... the data makes it very clear that Black boys do commit more violent acts in schools. If you don't suspend those boys, the violence is being perpetrated (mostly) against other Black kids."

In the past, says McWhorter, civil rights leaders asked, "How can we make it so that Black kids are better at the test?" Now they want to "eliminate the tests" because they "make Black people unhappy."

This just makes the problem worse, he says, because it encourages people to think of themselves as victims. If you believe you are a helpless victim of racism, why study?

The idea that it is "unreasonable to expect Black kids to use analytical thinking in a rigorous way. ... This is a new way of thinking. It's a religious way of thinking."

Blaming racism for low test scores ignores "aspects of Black culture that don't stress getting good at those tests – the way that South Asian immigrant culture clearly does."

Nigerian and Caribbean culture, too. People from those places are often just as dark or darker than Black Americans. They "come here and deal with the same racism that everybody else does. Yet they make the best of the worst. That means: so could Black Americans."

The media label Kendi and DiAngelo "leading scholars," but their arguments are rarely tested in the marketplace of ideas. Both refuse to debate opponents. McWhorter calls their work far from scholarly – "more like a toxic religion, a cult."

I argue that, even if Kendi is "dim," he's winning hearts and minds. Companies now donate millions to his Center for Antiracist Research. His book sales and success with students show that his arguments convince people.

McWhorter disagrees. "As we come out of the pandemic and we're less bored, less anxious, I suspect that a lot of the extremes that we saw are going to start retreating because there's going to be pushback."

The idea of anti-racism is "charismatic," he adds. "It makes it seem like you've got one answer to a bunch of things that look disparate and difficult. But all disparities between white people and Black people are not due to something unfair that was driven by whites."

I'm puzzled that DiAngelo's and Kendi's message is so popular today, when life for racial minorities seems to be better than ever before. With some exceptions, there's less racism, more intermarriage, more opportunities for minorities, etc.

There's an advantage to being identified as a victim, says McWhorter. "An emotional balm to be treated as this victimized person. The problem is that it's anti-Black."

Are you a racist?

I think I need a better definition of "racist" to give a good answer. CRT tries to explain racism BUT

CRT is really an explanation of why minorities as a group, principally blacks, do not excel economically in the society of American opportunity. Economic failure results in a host of other societal ills, such as criminal activity. CRT believes that all racial groups are equally capable on an even playing field and should perform equally to whites. They equate an uneven playing field to “white privilege”.

Upon examining the premise of equality of capability and the societal construct of the playing field, there are two possible conclusions, either the premise of equality of capability is false, or indeed the economic playing field is biased in favor of whites.

The elephant in the room says that much has been studied regarding the lesser innate intelligence of American blacks. The “Bell Curve” and other studies around the world have come to this conclusion. It does not mean the black Americans are less human or less valuable in the eyes of God. So I pose that the premise of equality of capability is false. Why should this not be possible? White men can’t jump.

The minority standing on the sideline only see the outcome of the creativity, dedication and hard work of those that choose to compete. He assumes that all those people have succeeded with capabilities similar to his. This is an error. But his conclusion is that the playing field must be tipped in favor of the whites. What to do?

The best revenge for minorities against White Privilege is to compete and succeed. If you believe that the "playing field" is not level then you have two choices, compete anyway and work even harder to succeed, or go find another playing field.

The other playing field would be to succeed within your own minority community. Black owned businesses in Black neighborhoods, buying from Black distributors and producers.

Minorities will never find a solution in expecting whites to tip the playing field in their direction. The two groups have a completely different view of the field of competition. I think that whites go about their lives competing on the field of life and don't even see the blacks on the sidelines. Blacks stand on the sidelines and have no idea how to get on the field. For some reason they think they need to ask permission of the whites to play?

Just step on the field and compete! Or don't. It’s up to you. But don't blame it on whites if you can't.

Imagine if we had the courage to acknowledge that humans generally have differing ethnic characteristics among them. That those differences, when present, can sometimes translate to being an advantage or disadvantage. The people we choose to be, the content of our character, is what matters most.

To acknowledge an ethnic group tends to have a characteristic (height, weight, athletic ability, proficiency at various skills, whatever..) should not be an accusation of racism. To combine this with statistical information that suggests common social traits is also not a racist exercise. It is what it is.

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