When John McWhorter, professor of Linguistics and American Studies at Columbia, described āantiracismā as Americaās ānew flawed religionā in 2015, few could have imagined just how prescient that description would prove to be. Just last week, the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi thanked George Floyd for āsacrificing his life for justiceā while CEOs, celebrities, and other politicians all made versions of the same promise: the work was not done.
McWhorter, author of the upcoming book āNine Nasty Wordsā does not count himself as a follower of this new religion. In fact, the professor has become one of its fiercest critics, tirelessly deconstructing the latest example of āwoke crazinessā to illustrate its incoherence. We therefore thought that it was essential to get Johnās opinion on the Derek Chauvin verdict and his thoughts on race relations in America more generally. We really enjoyed speaking to John and thank him for his time.
On the Derek Chauvin conviction:
There is a sense in America that what this verdict was about was black people being killed by the cops. I see it as a victory about people being killed by the cops. And if it has to be a black case that galvanises change under that misconception, well, life isnāt perfect. But I am very happy about what happened to that man. And Iām very sad about what happened to George Floyd. But Iām equally sad about what happened to Tony Timpa, which was very similar, and Tony Timpa was very white, and it was only four years ago, and no one heard about it.
- John McWhorter, UnHerd
Did he get a fair trial?
If fairness requires a certain fear of the streets erupting ā thatās not the way I would choreograph it ā but maybe sometimes you have to break some eggs to make an omelette. The cop problem is real partly for a human, not race, reasonā¦.I think itās a misperception that the cops are uniquely against black people, and that is the main obstacle to getting past race in the United States.
- John McWhorter, UnHerd
Is antiracism a religion?
Itās a religion ā any martial anthropologist would recognise it as such. One of the oddest things is to see mathematicians and philosophers whoāve made their way through Plato, Kant and Kierkegaard, and then all of a sudden when theyāre reasoning about Black Lives Matter, they exhibit the reasoning power of roughly an orangutan. Suddenly thatās considered sophisticated.
- John McWhorter, UnHerd
Giving up on the true believers:
You canāt engage people like thatā¦ There is nothing you can do to talk somebody out of a religion. Thereās no conversation to be had, itās worthless. Some of them will say they want to have a conversation with you. But what they want is for you to learn from them. If thereās anything that they have to learn from you, itās that they want to learn what your mental barriers are to understanding their truth.
- John McWhorter, UnHerd
His advice to white people:
A lot of people need to have a little bit more of a backbone, and understand that this person whoās sitting there looking over their copy of āHow To Be An Anti-Racistā and telling you that youāre a racist, let them. And then walk on because the world will keep spinning and you will keep existing. I think some white people need to have the courage of their convictions even about this thing called the race thing. And just say, āNo, Iām not a racist. Maybe you are. And letās now talk about footballā. That we need more of.Ā
- John McWhorter, UnHerd
On the elitism of antiracism:
If youāre somebody who is more familiar with struggle or you have a kid in a bad school or you know what itās like to live in a bad neighbourhood. In a way, this sort of thinking [antiracism] is going to be less congenial. And many people would say, āWell, itās because youāre a racistā. No, itās itās not that. Itās that there is a certain luxury in thinking of black people in these abstractions.
- John McWhorter, UnHerd
On Ta-Nehisi Coates:
There is a certain kind of person who builds their sense of significance in society on a victim role. A person can do that of any colour. Itās a personality type. With black Americans, one way that you do that is to focus on your victimhood or your peopleās victimhood, at the hands of whites. Itās not that there isnāt racism. But the idea that what makes you special is your victimhood status in comparison to whites, that can become who you are. Coates is a good writer, but Coates is that kind of person.
- John McWhorter, UnHerd
On the n-word:
I feel that it casts black people as hothouse flowers to a degree that I find condescending. And thatās not to say that people are supposed to run around using the word. But I think America had it about right as recently as about 1995. And since then, weāve started to treat it in a way that Iām not sure was very productive. But thatās just me.
- John McWhorter, UnHerd
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