{"id":530517,"date":"2026-01-02T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/?p=530517"},"modified":"2026-01-16T23:45:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T22:45:06","slug":"anti-racism-john-mcwhorter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leregardlibre.com\/en\/company\/anti-racism-john-mcwhorter\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-racism that \u00abinfantilizes blacks\u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"

African-American linguist John McWhorter sees contemporary anti-racism as a betrayal of Martin Luther King's universalist ideal, and as an ideology that designates whites as oppressors and reduces blacks to incapable beings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Martin Luther King's \u00abI have a dream\u00bb speech seems a long way off: \u00bbI dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood (...). I dream that one day my four children will live in a country where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the value of their character.\" It is against this universalist ideal that John McWhorter analyzes contemporary anti-racism. In his view, the latter has disavowed King's legacy and replaced it with a new racial ideology, betraying the emancipatory spirit that once animated the struggle for equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against this backdrop, McWhorter publishes in 2021 Woke Racism<\/em>, a brilliant, well-documented and resolutely incriminating essay. In his preamble, the African-American linguist declares: \u00abI wrote this book from the gut, driven by the fact that white people who believe themselves to be our saviors are making black people the stupidest, weakest and most self-indulgent human beings in the history of our species, and teaching black people to revel in that status.\u00bb His critique is aimed particularly at American sociologist Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility<\/em> (2018), which he sees as the epitome of the excesses of contemporary anti-racism. McWhorter spares neither the content nor the form of his book, calling it \u00aban intellectual disaster, fit only for the shelf\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to McWhorter, this ideology, by focusing on largely phantasmal oppressions, ends up producing very real ones. Here are six theses that sum up his critique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Third-wave anti-racism since 2010[1]<\/sup><\/a> in the United States.<\/strong> Lacking empirical foundation and nuance, it promotes the idea of systemic racism.[2]<\/sup><\/a>, supposed to be invisible and rooted everywhere. This Manichean vision, which borrows from conspiracy theory, divides the world into two opposing camps: the oppressors, who are necessarily white, and the oppressed, who are essentially black. This Manichean vision, which borrows from conspiracy theory, divides the world into two opposing camps: the oppressors, necessarily white, and the oppressed, essentially black \u2013 while other minorities, such as Jews or Asians, are often relegated to the rank of accomplices of white power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. This radical anti-racism functions as a new puritanical and exclusive religion.<\/strong> It reproduces the codes: untouchable figures such as Robin DiAngelo, Ibram X. Kendi and Ta-Nehisi Coates are set up as prophets. Kendi and Ta-Nehisi Coates. Their writings serve as sacred texts, and any criticism of them is blasphemy. Within this framework, any doubt becomes suspect, and asking certain questions, however legitimate, leads to excommunication. Thus, to question the exclusive focus on police violence against Blacks \u2013 while intra-community violence, though more frequent and devastating, remains taboo \u2013 is to sign one's social death warrant. Similarly, to assert that Black people are not fragile or dependent on outside help becomes suspect, even in the mouth of a Black person. Many people prefer to keep quiet or double-talk, for fear of being socially lynched. This climate poisons all public debate, making respectful and rigorous exchange impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. This Puritan ideology reintroduces the notion of original sin, now inscribed in biology: being white becomes a hereditary flaw, an indelible guilt that no one can redeem:<\/strong> \u00abAnti-racists brandish the notion of original sin as an attribute of the white man, from which he must eternally repent, with no hope of redemption,\u00bb writes McWhorter. For his part, DiAngelo goes so far as to assert that \u00abwhite people must remember 24\/7 that they are oppressors (...) Only white people are racist\u00bb. Martin Luther King's dream seems definitively buried: the individual is no longer judged by his actions, but condemned in advance for what he is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. This ideology contains a series of contradictions.<\/strong> For example, quotas are imposed to encourage blacks to attend university, while anyone who suggests that they have benefited is deemed racist. Similarly, whites are told to keep quiet, then blamed for their silence: \u00abdamned if you do, damned if you don't\u00bb. The aim is not to find concrete solutions for African-American communities, but to enforce a punitive moral order, in the manner of an inquisitorial tribunal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. This form of sect obeys an apocalyptic vision of the world:<\/strong> we are close to the end of time. No progress in civil rights is recognized, no improvement in socio-economic conditions welcomed. The only horizon that remains is that of a utopia that is constantly being postponed. Seen from this angle, contemporary racism is all the more pernicious for being invisible, acting unbeknownst to those who perpetuate \u2013 or suffer \u2013 it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. This antiracist fa\u00e7ade is more virtuous than effective.<\/strong> The subtitle of his book is eloquent: according to him, this anti-racism \u00abbetrays black Americans\u00bb. McWhorter sees in it the resurgence of an ancient racism: \u00abThis sectarian ideology is a form of racism that infantilizes black people, encouraging its adherents to view black people as less capable and to demand special treatment from institutions.\u00bb In schools, requirements are lowered for black pupils, in the name of their supposed fragility. Negative assessments are banned, grades are forced upwards - because any discrepancy in results is attributed to discrimination - and greater tolerance is shown towards their indiscipline. This paternalism, which McWhorter describes as \u00abcondescension disguised as respect\u00bb, anchors the idea that blacks would forever be incapable of succeeding on their own, and should therefore be spared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n