Watch: Tucker Shows Race Hustler Falling Flat on His Face on Nat'l TV Because of 1 Question: How Do You Define Racism?
Imagine you claim to be an expert on a particular subject.
You’ve studied it, you’ve taught classes on it. You’ve even written a book about it. The book, entitled “How to Be an Antiracist,” is so popular, in fact, that it’s become recommended reading for every new sailor in the U.S. Navy. You’ve even been named to Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2020.
Then, you are invited to discuss this topic at the prestigious (if you’re a liberal) Aspen Ideas Festival, an annual celebration of progressive ideas organized by the left-wing Aspen Institute. The group describes itself as a “global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society.”
The keyword is equitable.
Let’s return to our expert. His name is Ibram X. Kendi, whose specialty is racism. During his speaking engagement at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Kendi was asked by an attendee to define racism — which should be a lay up for an “expert,” should it not?
“You talked about the importance of defining racism, but I — unless I missed it, which is possible — I didn’t hear your personal definition. Is there one that you would offer us, like how do you define racism?” one audience member asked.
Kendi replied, “Sure. So racism — I would define it, um, as a collection of racist policies that lead to racial inequity, that are substantiated by racist ideas.”
The man’s presumed follow-up question is inaudible in the video footage below, but apparently, he asked for clarification.
The audience and the moderator, left-wing journalist Jemele Hill, laughed. Kendi chuckled.
“Sure,” Kendi said. “A collection of racist policies, that lead to racial inequity, that are substantiated by racist ideas.”
I did not make a transcription error. Kendi repeated the same absurd non-answer he had uttered a moment earlier.
The footage prompted Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, during the Thursday night airing of his segment “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” to ask the obvious question: “But how are we defining racism? Ibram X. Kendi couldn’t say.”
“Now, in a serious society, everybody listening — everyone in the room would have walked out … The so-called intellectual on the stage turned out to be an idiot,” Carlson said.
“If they pointed out that the former Henry Rogers is, in fact, a fraud, they would be denounced as well. This is how mediocre people control entire societies, with implied threats. ‘Go along or we’ll punish you.’ So they don’t say anything.”
Following the success of his book last year, The Wall Street Journal published a feature on Kendi, describing him as a thought leader, a scholar and a public intellectual. The article noted that his name at birth was Ibram Henry Rogers.
“He and his wife adopted the surname of Kendi, meaning ‘loved one’ in Meru, when they were married in 2013. At the same time, he changed his middle name from Henry to Xolani, meaning ‘peace’ in Zulu,” the outlet reported.
Ibram X. Kendi was born as Henry Rogers to a father who was a tax accountant and hospital chaplain and a mother who was a business analyst. Both parents are now Methodist ministers. He attended private schools for six years and two universities where he got 3 degrees.
— Thaddeus Russell (@ThaddeusRussell) September 27, 2020
I’ll say it. The black academics who are leading the “anti-racism” movement are middle and upper class kids, many of whom have a white parent, who received massive privileges in academia, publishing, and news outlets and are LARPing as poor black people.
— Thaddeus Russell (@ThaddeusRussell) September 27, 2020
Kendi is a fraud. His “groundbreaking” material is based on critical race theory and seeks equity of outcome, but he goes a bit further by adding an action component.
Here is the clincher: If one is not actively taking steps to eliminate racism, they are a racist. One can’t simply claim they’re not racist.
Kendi informs us in his book that “[t]here is no neutrality in the racism struggle. The opposite of ‘racist’ isn’t ‘not racist.’ It is ‘anti-racist.’”
“What’s the difference? … One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an anti-racist,” the book states.
“There is no in-between safe space of ‘not racist.’”
This is the book that Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday has put on the recommended reading list for sailors.
Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, a Republican, lambasted Gilday over this foolish decision during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday. Banks asked Gilday, “Do you expect that, after sailors read this book that says that the United States Navy is racist, that we will increase or decrease morale, cohesion and recruiting rates into the United States Navy?”
Gilday could not provide a satisfactory answer to this question — apparently, taking notes from Kendi himself.
“How to Be an Antiracist” is divisive and destructive. It shames and blames. And I can think of nowhere this philosophy could be more dangerous than in the military.
Thanks all the same Mr. Rogers, but none of us need advice on racism from an “expert” who can’t even define it.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
