Since women still earn less than men for doing the exact same job, and since "traditionally female jobs" are still paid less than "traditionally male jobs" even when they require the same or more education, does that meet the definition of racism you give? (Obviously we can't call it racism, but I think sexism or whatever you want to call it meets your same definition of racism). Do you have any advice for us women? Before commenting on anything else you said, I wanted to learn more about how you define "cohesive group economics and serious quid pro quo," and also "horizontal bullshit." So I clicked on your Substack, but there's nothing there. If you want to convince folks, start writing and explaining! :)
"In September of 2020, just weeks after Ibram X. Kendi launched the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, the school approved a $600,000 mortgage to an unnamed professor. The university won’t say which professor that loan went to, but it was doled out to a trust controlled by Ibram X. Kendi’s brother-in-law, Macharia Edmonds.
The mortgage helped to cover the down payment for a $4.56 million luxury penthouse triplex that boasts the "best of sophisticated Boston living." Public real estate records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show the trust is controlled by Edmonds, a former Obama campaign official and attorney who now serves as a Global Content Policy Lead for YouTube in San Francisco."
Glenn, I'd like to hear you expand on why you consider Kendi to be an "empty suit." From what I read in an article John wrote in a Kendi book review, John doesn't disagree with 100% of what Kendi wrote, but he said that Kendi relies mostly on personal history and anecdotes, and his thinking tends to be simplified rather than complex, resulting in some clearly illogical conclusions. Is that your criticism? I first listened to Kendi being interviewed in a podcast by Dr. Brene' Brown in June 2020. My impression at that time was that he was intelligent, charismatic, and he brought up some good points. IMO, he IS a good story teller and speaker. (Maybe he should have been a preacher like mom and dad?) Perhaps his story telling ability is also why Brown appreciated him, as she is a qualitative researcher who starts a study by gathering hundreds of stories from people on a given topic. However, she doesn't stop there, as she then analyzes the stories for patterns to form a hypothesis, which she then tests quantitatively. Qualitative research methods, especially stories about experience, have their value for generating hypotheses, and seem especially applicable to issues such as internalized racism, social experiences with racism, etc. But once stories have been gathered and analyzed for patterns and hypotheses derived from the patterns, then scientific rigor demands that those hypotheses be tested via quantitative methods. Is that what you meant that Kendi is a lightweight? He doesn't do quantitative research? Maybe he's one of those kids you mentioned who graduated but can't count! If African studies programs don't require their students to take courses in experimental design and statistics, they are dooming them to failure when they get into positions requiring rigorous research. Yes, I know Kendi would say that's a white way of doing research that doesn't/shouldn't apply to black students and professors. That's the type of argument I used to hear from kids of all races who couldn't read when I worked as a psychologist in schools - reading is stupid! It's better to believe reading is stupid than to believe YOU are stupid. It's an ego defense mechanism that many (most?) humans employ in situations where they feel stupid. BTW, many smart people have a hard time with math and statistics. The solution is to collaborate when doing research projects with others who are good at that. But if the complaints about Kendi are true, he might not be skilled at collaboration. Soft skills are as important as academic skills in most positions.
I agree with subscriber Robert Redd. I subscribed to this conservative snake pit to increase my understanding of the white supremacist mindset and the black meritorious manumission negro enablers. Not only that, I followed white supremacist social media like Stephan Molyneaux and other white alt-right figures way before Trump was elected president.
Furthermore, I am not a fan of Kendi, but he's not responsible for the divisions. That's very laughable. The most divisive and dangerous person is an old decrepit racist white man, Donald Trump, whether he becomes president. I know for a fact that racist attacks on blacks and other minorities increased significantly while he was running for and being president with a bunch of crazed sycophants underneath him.
Black people have increasingly armed themselves and stocked up on ammunition, including me, to defend themselves from being soft targets for crazy white men. I was in law enforcement for 34 years and wouldn't be surprised if some of those racist white boys I worked alongside became radicalized and became members of the white militia, Oath Keepers. Their behavior on social media raised my concern about the frenzy of cult behavior.
The orange mango has certainly exerted his white privilege---inciting an insurrection at the Capital to facilitate a coup, planning with white neo-fascist nuts to create a manufactured situation of chaos to justify Marshal Law, theft of highly sensitive secret government documents, pressuring political leaders to help overthrow an election, allegations of discussing U.S. military secrets with visitors at Mar-a-Lago, and increasing his political violence (i.e., sending dog whistles to law enforcement agencies to shoot immigrants and shoplifters; and threatening to execute a U.S. Military General). Had Obama acted like this, he would have been immediately locked up. Shoplifters is code for niggers.
Amazingly, you have a few white ultra-right-wing radical nuts having hijacked the GOP, mostly white trash. The white conservative intellectuals like William F. Buckley have been purged.
Wasting time on a manufactured boogeyman, like Kendi, is just a white supremacist distraction. Dear conservative white folks, race identity politics isn't going anywhere, anytime soon. Racism is a competitive relationship for ownership and control of resources for wealth and power---a team sport! Europeans got the head start and are unwilling to share the wealth and power with non-whites.
The United States is a no longer binary racial nation, black and white. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who wrote a report about black poverty and the black family in 1965, also enthusiastically expressed that Filipinos and Mexicans would increasingly replace the negro which would be a distraction from addressing the white benign neglect of the negro.
In 1966, the U.S. Secretary of Defense McNamara announced the start of Project 100,000 which reduced standards in the military that disproportionately sent African American men to Vietnam---a way to cleanse the black ghettos. Studies show African American casualties in the early part of the Vietnam War were disproportionate to other racial groups.
Now, white liberals and white conservatives are using the buffer class (Asians, Hispanics, etc.) to insulate themselves from addressing the benign neglect of African Americans. They did not codify these aforementioned groups in the Constitution as three-fifths of a person and property. They're technically protected in the first 12 Amendments in the first Constitution.
The Democratic Party is increasingly losing black support because blacks like myself have become disillusioned with them. They just shuffle the chairs on a sinking ship, so blacks feel happy without real tangibles to significantly increase black group wealth... just worthless symbolic gestures like the Juneteenth Holiday that mostly benefits other racial groups. Other horizontal issues like open borders, early work permits for undocumented Hispanic migrants, billions of dollars to assist undocumented migrants, and improved LGBTQ rights. White conservatives just sink the ship. The fucking southern border needs to be closed.
Albert Einstein related that doing the same thing repeatedly resulting in the same negative results is insanity. African Americans sorely need to think vertically as opposed to intersecting with horizontal issues or competition.
African Africans need to put themselves first and vote as a solid bloc on a serious quid pro quo basis. Or increasingly become a permanent underclass of beggars and criminals.
Excellent post. My only point of disagreement would be that in this current point in time having a white supremacist in the presidency would be a major set back. They supremacists are ready to openly attack Black people. A loss in the Presidential, Hise, and Senate races would give more time for the different groups of white supremacists to fight each other and weaken themselves. White supremacists like Ted Cruz, Matt Gaetz, and Marjorie Taylor Greene are hated by other white supremacists like McCarthy, etc. Let them fight among themselves and give us some breathing room to coalesce a political group that targets our issues.
Cannot agree with John's, more, 'all the things that people are pretending to believe.'
When real decisions are made by real people notice what really happens and who really gets hired and who really completes a task.
We have a lot of people in this country who are very good at running their mouths, thankfully we have far more or actually good at running real things.
I feel any of the people who think of themselves as elite in this country are ripe for the slaughter, a la Peter Turchin's end time hypothesis of too many self-professed Elites fighting over two small of ground and benefits.
My BS alarm kept going off during John's failing attempts to justify the grift of the execrable Kendi. Kendi is nothing more than Sharpton with a questionable PhD. Of course shame on BU shoveling all that money on this outright fraud. A serious scholar like Glenn was right to be upset at the entire Kendi charade. There never was one serious study or set of facts backing up Kendi's "work product."
I think it was a good look for John to not be using his NYT post to pile on in a way that is surely also well said by many others--amongst even a cacophony of those anti-Kendi, if only in our niche Heterodox world. II havent read the article but if he made his point as well as he did in this podcast, a critical but sympathetic opinion is more likely to get through to NYT readers,and by doing so actually make them think abouy this in a way they wouldnt have if they could just dismiss it as another "right wing" argument.
You gotta lead with a bit of sugar, then make your real point, then sprinkle some more sugar.
Conservatives have been using the "sugar" approach for years now and the meager results are apparent. You're not going to influence the likes of Pelosi, Jeffries, Schiff et al with sugar. To deal with today's Dems you need to add the salt.
I’m laughing. There is an internal Conservative war going on. Conservatives want an authoritarian country. This is front and center, but the argument here is about Ibrim X. Kendi. Ridiculous.
Edit to add:
My reason for subscribing was to try to better understand the Conservative point of view. What I have seen are attempts to silence the Libs. For many of us outside the Conservative bubble, we do not see Conservatives arguing the Conservative point of view. All we see is explanations for why the Libs are bad.
After seeing the economic disaster that resulted from Conservative economics in Kansas, we have questions about Conservative economic theory. We see Chicago being demonized, but realize Anchorage, Alaska is the most dangerous city in the country. We see Conservatives ready to shut down the government but we don’t see a rationale for what they are proposing for health care, military tactics, etc. We see Conservatives fighting Conservatives and we are concerned.
Those of us not in academia, do not give a flying fig about Ibrim X Kendi. We are worried about a group of people who call themselves Conservative who seem to be attempting to overthrow our government but are fighting amongst themselves.
Is RR a progressive bot? If not I suggest "they" to visit the following progressive paradises of: Chicago, Minneapolis,SF. LA, NYC, Seattle Portland et al. These cities are on a downward spiral due to the actions of their progressive governments. Wake up to the progressive revolution that's wrecking our once great republic. Trump didn't wreck this country. Obama and Biden are responsible and we are all suffering the consequences of the final stages of the "liberal experiment in governance" by the self styled elite.
You nonsense only works in Conservative bubble websites. Anchorage, Alaska led by a Republican mayor is the most-crime ridden city in the country. Chicago is not in the top 10.
Murder rates are a Red State problem. Even in California, Pelosi’s San Francisco has half the murder rate of McCarthy’s Bakersfield.
Old tired-out B.S. White supremacist propaganda and psychological warfare!
African Americans are still challenged with policies deeply rooted in racism and white supremacy --- like the smearing of black victims unjustly enslaved, subjugated to brutal apartheid, and psychological warfare (manipulation) in attempts to promote self-hate.
I used to rescue wannabe proud boys from Aryan Brotherhood prison rape during my long career in the prison industrial complex. I had to keep several boxes of Kotex in my office to stop their bleeding pending care in the prison infirmary.
Conservatives repeat learned phrases and don’t bother to consider facts that challenge their perceptions. This is why they will quote on snippet of one sentence of Martin Luther King Jr, then call him a communist when you present a more complete picture of his ideology. They love their bubble.
From my understanding, Mounk argues that we need to build institutions that serve diverse communities. We need to address injustices. Modern Conservatives want to destroy institutions. Look at the destructive situation Conservatives created in the House. Democrats helped McCarthy fund the government. They were rewarded by McCarthy attacking them. There was no surprise that Democrats failed to support McCarthy when his own party turned against him.
Conservatives are the ones fighting themselves. Conservatives wanted to oust Gaetz because of his bizarre behavior. Jeffries got the diverse group of Democrats to stick together.
You should read “How Democracies Die”. The Tyranny of the Minority”, and “How Civil Wars Start”. The Conservative Republican Party is the party that no longer believes in democracy and are the source of the problem. Conservatives put more faith in Trump than in Jesus.
I took a look at the “Thomas Sowell Reader”. He begins with a story about two ants and a grasshopper. The ants worked hard over the summer to store food while the grasshopper hopped around and had fun. When winter came, the grasshopper was hungry and asked for help. The Conservative ant refused to help. The college educated Liberal ant felt obligated to help, receiving ridicule from the Conservative. The story reminded me of European invaders who arrived in the “colonies” with little skills to farm. The tribes had to help the Europeans survive. Conservatives live in a bubble.
Liberals and Leftists will unite enough to defeat Conservatives in the general election. Conservatives are losing on gerrymandering and when issues like abortion are put to a vote. Conservatives are the ones trying to cheat because the public at large think Conservative policies, when they actually have them, are trash.
I hope you're right, but I'm worried that "the public at large," as you said, have been duped by the likes of Donald Trump and his acolytes in Congress that liberals are actually socialists/communists and must be destroyed. It never ceases to amaze me that so many people fail to see Donald Trump and his acolytes for what they are: narcissists who care only about themselves. Read Mitt Romney's new book.
Blacks have survived worse times. Conservatives have always stood in the way of progress. One of the possible replacements for McCarty is Steve Scalise. Scalise called himself, “David Duke without the baggage”. During the Nixon years, Erlichman acknowledged that the War on Drugs was a direct attack on the Black community. Conservatives are who they have always been.
You might get an argument from Glenn, but you won't get any argument from me! :) I forgot to mention before, as for Conservatives losing on gerrymandering, have you heard the latest from my home state of Wisconsin? The GOP is fighting tooth and nail, and I wouldn't be the least surprised if they prevail, given their supermajority in the state legislature. So don't count your chickens just yet.... 😡
My honest thought in watching this is that I doubt John would be this accommodating of Kendi if John were not employed at the NYT. It pains me to say that, but when I think back to his beautifully scorching (and desperately needed) takedown of White Fragility in The Atlantic in summer 2020 (which was well before he was employed by the NYT) and I compare it to this, well, I don’t know what else to think... It’s also possible for two seemingly opposite things to be true at once; Kendi doesn’t need to be an outright grifter to also be someone who knew deep down that his ideas were divisive and even deadly but repressed it within himself as the money and power poured in. The fact he made millions on dividing the nation and making some neighborhoods less safe by helping elites to green light defund the police is atrocious however aware of it he was. And it’s hard for me to believe at some level he didn’t know his ideas were having negative effects or, at minimum, were not that positively effective. Especially because we are talking about an educated man over a span of years not days.
I think he believes it all, and I actually think he wanted to solve the problem of racism. Maybe I'm too pollyannish but I don't see him as greedy, but perhaps his ego is now connected to it all - human nature.
Racism is a power relationship between groups for ownership and control of resources for wealth and power. Racism and conflict between competitive groups will be here until the end of the days. The most effective way for black people to empower themselves against racism is through cohesive group economics and serious quid pro quo. Black people easily give their votes for horizontal bullshit.
Since women still earn less than men for doing the exact same job, and since "traditionally female jobs" are still paid less than "traditionally male jobs" even when they require the same or more education, does that meet the definition of racism you give? (Obviously we can't call it racism, but I think sexism or whatever you want to call it meets your same definition of racism). Do you have any advice for us women? Before commenting on anything else you said, I wanted to learn more about how you define "cohesive group economics and serious quid pro quo," and also "horizontal bullshit." So I clicked on your Substack, but there's nothing there. If you want to convince folks, start writing and explaining! :)
P.S. I originally posted this accidentally as a new comment, which is why it's on here twice.
White racism and sexism are two different things. White females have been the greatest benefactors of affirmative action, especially in the public sectors, which has significantly added to the increase in white middle class wealth. I worked in the public sector for 34 years, and women earned the same wages and salaries as men.
The private sector is a different animal. People make choices whether to work for the private sector or public sector, living with the outcomes. The public was the most rational choice for me for many reasons. I am retired and free. Insofar as black women are concerned, they're outperforming black men in college admissions/graduations and careers.
Black folks need to focus more on themselves rather than on white pro-feminism, LGBTQ, and undocumented Hispanic immigration issues with unearned benefits. Time is running out for black people. Permanent underclass as beggars and criminals isn't a viable option.
Intersecting vertical issues with horizontal issues impedes true black progress towards black group economics/aggregation. Racism is a power relationship. For example, why should black people enable or allow Koreans to dominate the ownership and control of the one billion dollar black hair care products industry? Koreans will not tolerate black-owned businesses in their communities. That's insane!
Monty, I hear your frustration, and understand your desire to focus more on your own group rather than other groups (human nature). I assume you would not support discrimination against or abuse of the other groups, even if you don't care to proactively support their efforts. But I do want to point out a few things that I disagree with you about. "I worked in the public sector for 34 years, and women earned the same wages and salaries as men." Worldwide, women who work in the public sector earn 86% of what men in the public sector earn (link #1), and in the US, it's 93% (link #2). Perhaps you didn't consider that women are less likely to be promoted, more likely to work in the lower paying "traditionally female" occupations, nor the parental penalty that mothers disproportionately pay (link #3). "People make choices whether to work for the private sector or public sector, living with the outcomes." IMO, a woman who prefers an occupation that is only available in the private sector shouldn't have to pay a price for making that choice when a man does not. You keep emphasizing that racism is a power relationship, and apparently you think disadvantages faced by women have nothing to do with a power differential. Sorry, but only a man could say that. The biggest price women around the globe pay for their lack of power, both physical and political, is to be victims of sexual abuse, assault, and harassment. Globally across their lifetime, 1 in 3 women are subjected to physical or sexual violence (link #4). Yes, some men are as well, but it's far less common, especially among adult men vs male children. This doesn't even include the incidence of sexual harassment. I suspect this might be an underestimate, as women are often too fearful and/or embarrassed to report such incidents. Don't even get me started on my own personal experiences. I once worked for a male psychologist who was shocked to hear such statistics, and from that point forward, he asked all female clients if they had ever been sexually abused or assaulted, and after asking hundreds of clients, he said about 25% said yes, although he suspected some were too embarrassed to even tell their (male) therapist. The large majority of such incidents had been committed by family or friends of the family (as children), or intimate partners (as adults.) If you are going to hold up the public sector as a paragon of virtue in this area, please don't tell that to women in the military (link #5). I'm not asking you to advocate for us because I know you just want to focus on black people, but please don't delude yourself into thinking women have it all hunky dory and there's no power differential.
In some ways, I feel like comparing Kendi to Stokely is just as out-of-place as Kendi thinking he is in position to question Douglass or DuBois. He's a lightweight fraud, enjoying weak-minded white folk. He's not the leader of a movement, blazing a trail. He's a grifter, pedalling stuff he knows, and we know, is crap. Admittedly, I may need to adjust my rose-colored view of Stokely. I eagerly await reeducation! 😉
I predict that Ibram Kendi's failures at his Center for Antiracist Research will have no impact at all on his standing within his vast network of believers. They didn't require any proof of his claims or any test of his theories from the beginning of his movement. Why would they care about whether he failed to deliver any at his Center. His followers view scientific methodology as white man's efforts to erase the "truth of lived experience" of victim groups. Furthermore, they haven't learned what scientific methodology is or how to interpret research results, so again, why would they care whether Kendi delivered any?
Kendi's ideas are accepted as sacred writ by most of the people I interact with, especially those under 35 or so. They no longer are focused on the authorship of these ideas, anymore than most Bible readers are focused on who really wrote certain chapters during which time periods. The text is now viewed as revealed Truth, while the names of many of the authors have been forgotten.
Anyone who doesn't believe what I am saying can take a look at what has happened to the BLM since the news came out about the unethical and possibly criminal behavior of its original leaders. In my city BLM flags and banners are still featured on the art museum, my neighborhood post office, every church I pass, and the front windows of many privately owned businesses, to name just a few locations. It is still taboo in local social and employment settings to state that one does not support the BLM platform(s) or the violence perpetrated by this organization. Most BLM supporters I know are uninformed about the exposures of its leaders as grifters, would probably not believe the news if they read it, and even if they did, would not see the leaders' improprieties as detracting from the value of the organization, its beliefs or its tactics.
I agree with Dr. Loury that a man who takes a job while knowing he isn't qualified has behaved irresponsibly and stupidly, if not unethically. The organizations that hire such individuals are, however, responsible for vetting their new hires. I partially agree with Dr. McWhorter that cults leaders are kept in those positions by their followers, but I do not use this fact to excuse the leaders for their unethical and destructive behavior. I do not, for example, spend any of my time weeping over how "poor Hitler" was set up to fail by the German people.
The disagreement between Dr. Loury and Dr. McWhorter obviously has a lot of importance to both of them, but I don't think that Kendi's failure at the Center for Antiracist Research will be as important to many other Americans, if it even registers with them at all. Meanwhile, Kendi's destructive impact on our country will continue to unfold unabated.
It might not affect his Believers but it certainly will affect his benefactors. And from everything we're seeing isn't that all that really matters to most of these people?
I suspect that you are correct---the authors are counting the incoming dollars as well as the compliments. When I talk to young Believers, however, and I hear them devalue our Constitution and our freedoms, I fear that the totalitarians and racists have won the battle for the future of our country.
While I fear you may be right, the very fact that today there appeared on the opinion pages of the NYT a column by a regular columnist with the title “Antiracism was never the answer” (by Pamela Paul) is one of many occurrences since the initial accounts of trouble at Kendi’s institute were first reported that suggest the times really are a’ changin’ and that it isn’t 2020 (or 2021) anymore . I do think people are now finding it possible to criticize him and his ideas in light of these recent troubles. In other words, I do think it will usher in a slight vibe shift, so to say, whereby people can now critique him and his ideas much more openly. America is sobering up on race, I think, after its nightmare bender drunk on Kendi…
I emailed this to the comment address for the NYT piece, but I'll put it here too:
John,
I also listened to you and Glenn Loury talking about this. Yes, I would take the money, too. As you said to Glenn, the Center would be a hot smoking mess after six months of my direction. The difference is that you and I know that, and we would hire someone with some experience in running such a center, and we would listen to them.
I don’t remember if you or Glenn said something earlier about denying people agency, but it seems you’re denying Kendi agency. Even if he’s a complete idiot, which he may well be, he made many bad decisions that affected people who funded and worked for him. That is certainly worthy of criticism, even if his funders are suckers.
You’re so right. John wrote one of the best pieces of 2020 when he made clear how DiAngelo’s condescension towards Black people in her “White Fragility” also dehumanized the very people she ostensibly sought to help.
Ironically, he is now paying Kendi a DiAngelo-esque sort of disservice by condescendingly imagining Kendi as naively ignorant; as a kind of child.
I’ve said elsewhere 2 opposite things can be true at once. Kendi doesn’t need to be an outright grifter (ie. someone who wrote his books with intent to gain status and money while saying to hell with the consequences for the nation at large) to also be aware at some level that his ideas were having a pernicious affect on society. A man of some integrity in Ibram’s position could at least have had the decency to say “wait, I was partially right — but also partially wrong.” To suggest no person of prominence is capable of rising to basic honesty is rather nihilistic. Kendi could have “gone beyond” his initial position and wrote another best seller in the process while also doing the US a major favor along the way.
It would be convenient to believe Ibram didn’t know at all that he was helping the country to unravel, but how it is that an educated man could be so ignorant over a period of years requires a level of condescension that doesn’t see Kendi as an adult.
Kendi is clearly not stupid, even if he's an intellectual lightweight as John and Glenn purport, but he may honestly not see any harm in what he has said, or he may believe that any harm is outweighed by the benefits. There is no correlation between IQ and capacity for self-deception, and the majority of humans are excellent at self deception, especially when it comes to admitting they might have been wrong about something, especially when they have received a great deal of positive public attention for what they said. This article wasn't written by a psychologist, but as a psychologist myself, I would say it is "spot on."
it just seems so condescending to blacks and hated filled to whites. added insult , asians hispanics east europeans and a myriad of others have been influencing american culture for decades. isn't his thinking also outdated ?
glenn and john, have either of you ever spoken with Kendi in person? or invited him on the show?
The issue seems to be forgiveness.
I am a great fan of forgiveness.
But not in cases such as Mr. Kendi's, where he isn't asking for a second chance, he's asking for a twenty-second without admitting guilt or remorse.
IMHO, he is a race war profiteer.
Since women still earn less than men for doing the exact same job, and since "traditionally female jobs" are still paid less than "traditionally male jobs" even when they require the same or more education, does that meet the definition of racism you give? (Obviously we can't call it racism, but I think sexism or whatever you want to call it meets your same definition of racism). Do you have any advice for us women? Before commenting on anything else you said, I wanted to learn more about how you define "cohesive group economics and serious quid pro quo," and also "horizontal bullshit." So I clicked on your Substack, but there's nothing there. If you want to convince folks, start writing and explaining! :)
I wrote this in the wrong box as a new comment. It was meant to be a reply to Monty below.
John and Glenn,
Here's another thing that Kendi did that (at least I hope) you wouldn't do:
https://freebeacon.com/issues/boston-university-loaned-600k-to-a-mysterious-trust-run-by-ibram-kendis-brother-in-law/
"In September of 2020, just weeks after Ibram X. Kendi launched the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University, the school approved a $600,000 mortgage to an unnamed professor. The university won’t say which professor that loan went to, but it was doled out to a trust controlled by Ibram X. Kendi’s brother-in-law, Macharia Edmonds.
The mortgage helped to cover the down payment for a $4.56 million luxury penthouse triplex that boasts the "best of sophisticated Boston living." Public real estate records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show the trust is controlled by Edmonds, a former Obama campaign official and attorney who now serves as a Global Content Policy Lead for YouTube in San Francisco."
Glenn, I'd like to hear you expand on why you consider Kendi to be an "empty suit." From what I read in an article John wrote in a Kendi book review, John doesn't disagree with 100% of what Kendi wrote, but he said that Kendi relies mostly on personal history and anecdotes, and his thinking tends to be simplified rather than complex, resulting in some clearly illogical conclusions. Is that your criticism? I first listened to Kendi being interviewed in a podcast by Dr. Brene' Brown in June 2020. My impression at that time was that he was intelligent, charismatic, and he brought up some good points. IMO, he IS a good story teller and speaker. (Maybe he should have been a preacher like mom and dad?) Perhaps his story telling ability is also why Brown appreciated him, as she is a qualitative researcher who starts a study by gathering hundreds of stories from people on a given topic. However, she doesn't stop there, as she then analyzes the stories for patterns to form a hypothesis, which she then tests quantitatively. Qualitative research methods, especially stories about experience, have their value for generating hypotheses, and seem especially applicable to issues such as internalized racism, social experiences with racism, etc. But once stories have been gathered and analyzed for patterns and hypotheses derived from the patterns, then scientific rigor demands that those hypotheses be tested via quantitative methods. Is that what you meant that Kendi is a lightweight? He doesn't do quantitative research? Maybe he's one of those kids you mentioned who graduated but can't count! If African studies programs don't require their students to take courses in experimental design and statistics, they are dooming them to failure when they get into positions requiring rigorous research. Yes, I know Kendi would say that's a white way of doing research that doesn't/shouldn't apply to black students and professors. That's the type of argument I used to hear from kids of all races who couldn't read when I worked as a psychologist in schools - reading is stupid! It's better to believe reading is stupid than to believe YOU are stupid. It's an ego defense mechanism that many (most?) humans employ in situations where they feel stupid. BTW, many smart people have a hard time with math and statistics. The solution is to collaborate when doing research projects with others who are good at that. But if the complaints about Kendi are true, he might not be skilled at collaboration. Soft skills are as important as academic skills in most positions.
Never mind; found the "edit" button!
I agree with subscriber Robert Redd. I subscribed to this conservative snake pit to increase my understanding of the white supremacist mindset and the black meritorious manumission negro enablers. Not only that, I followed white supremacist social media like Stephan Molyneaux and other white alt-right figures way before Trump was elected president.
Furthermore, I am not a fan of Kendi, but he's not responsible for the divisions. That's very laughable. The most divisive and dangerous person is an old decrepit racist white man, Donald Trump, whether he becomes president. I know for a fact that racist attacks on blacks and other minorities increased significantly while he was running for and being president with a bunch of crazed sycophants underneath him.
Black people have increasingly armed themselves and stocked up on ammunition, including me, to defend themselves from being soft targets for crazy white men. I was in law enforcement for 34 years and wouldn't be surprised if some of those racist white boys I worked alongside became radicalized and became members of the white militia, Oath Keepers. Their behavior on social media raised my concern about the frenzy of cult behavior.
The orange mango has certainly exerted his white privilege---inciting an insurrection at the Capital to facilitate a coup, planning with white neo-fascist nuts to create a manufactured situation of chaos to justify Marshal Law, theft of highly sensitive secret government documents, pressuring political leaders to help overthrow an election, allegations of discussing U.S. military secrets with visitors at Mar-a-Lago, and increasing his political violence (i.e., sending dog whistles to law enforcement agencies to shoot immigrants and shoplifters; and threatening to execute a U.S. Military General). Had Obama acted like this, he would have been immediately locked up. Shoplifters is code for niggers.
Amazingly, you have a few white ultra-right-wing radical nuts having hijacked the GOP, mostly white trash. The white conservative intellectuals like William F. Buckley have been purged.
Wasting time on a manufactured boogeyman, like Kendi, is just a white supremacist distraction. Dear conservative white folks, race identity politics isn't going anywhere, anytime soon. Racism is a competitive relationship for ownership and control of resources for wealth and power---a team sport! Europeans got the head start and are unwilling to share the wealth and power with non-whites.
The United States is a no longer binary racial nation, black and white. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who wrote a report about black poverty and the black family in 1965, also enthusiastically expressed that Filipinos and Mexicans would increasingly replace the negro which would be a distraction from addressing the white benign neglect of the negro.
In 1966, the U.S. Secretary of Defense McNamara announced the start of Project 100,000 which reduced standards in the military that disproportionately sent African American men to Vietnam---a way to cleanse the black ghettos. Studies show African American casualties in the early part of the Vietnam War were disproportionate to other racial groups.
Now, white liberals and white conservatives are using the buffer class (Asians, Hispanics, etc.) to insulate themselves from addressing the benign neglect of African Americans. They did not codify these aforementioned groups in the Constitution as three-fifths of a person and property. They're technically protected in the first 12 Amendments in the first Constitution.
The Democratic Party is increasingly losing black support because blacks like myself have become disillusioned with them. They just shuffle the chairs on a sinking ship, so blacks feel happy without real tangibles to significantly increase black group wealth... just worthless symbolic gestures like the Juneteenth Holiday that mostly benefits other racial groups. Other horizontal issues like open borders, early work permits for undocumented Hispanic migrants, billions of dollars to assist undocumented migrants, and improved LGBTQ rights. White conservatives just sink the ship. The fucking southern border needs to be closed.
Albert Einstein related that doing the same thing repeatedly resulting in the same negative results is insanity. African Americans sorely need to think vertically as opposed to intersecting with horizontal issues or competition.
African Africans need to put themselves first and vote as a solid bloc on a serious quid pro quo basis. Or increasingly become a permanent underclass of beggars and criminals.
Excellent post. My only point of disagreement would be that in this current point in time having a white supremacist in the presidency would be a major set back. They supremacists are ready to openly attack Black people. A loss in the Presidential, Hise, and Senate races would give more time for the different groups of white supremacists to fight each other and weaken themselves. White supremacists like Ted Cruz, Matt Gaetz, and Marjorie Taylor Greene are hated by other white supremacists like McCarthy, etc. Let them fight among themselves and give us some breathing room to coalesce a political group that targets our issues.
Cannot agree with John's, more, 'all the things that people are pretending to believe.'
When real decisions are made by real people notice what really happens and who really gets hired and who really completes a task.
We have a lot of people in this country who are very good at running their mouths, thankfully we have far more or actually good at running real things.
I feel any of the people who think of themselves as elite in this country are ripe for the slaughter, a la Peter Turchin's end time hypothesis of too many self-professed Elites fighting over two small of ground and benefits.
My BS alarm kept going off during John's failing attempts to justify the grift of the execrable Kendi. Kendi is nothing more than Sharpton with a questionable PhD. Of course shame on BU shoveling all that money on this outright fraud. A serious scholar like Glenn was right to be upset at the entire Kendi charade. There never was one serious study or set of facts backing up Kendi's "work product."
I think it was a good look for John to not be using his NYT post to pile on in a way that is surely also well said by many others--amongst even a cacophony of those anti-Kendi, if only in our niche Heterodox world. II havent read the article but if he made his point as well as he did in this podcast, a critical but sympathetic opinion is more likely to get through to NYT readers,and by doing so actually make them think abouy this in a way they wouldnt have if they could just dismiss it as another "right wing" argument.
You gotta lead with a bit of sugar, then make your real point, then sprinkle some more sugar.
Conservatives have been using the "sugar" approach for years now and the meager results are apparent. You're not going to influence the likes of Pelosi, Jeffries, Schiff et al with sugar. To deal with today's Dems you need to add the salt.
I’m laughing. There is an internal Conservative war going on. Conservatives want an authoritarian country. This is front and center, but the argument here is about Ibrim X. Kendi. Ridiculous.
Edit to add:
My reason for subscribing was to try to better understand the Conservative point of view. What I have seen are attempts to silence the Libs. For many of us outside the Conservative bubble, we do not see Conservatives arguing the Conservative point of view. All we see is explanations for why the Libs are bad.
After seeing the economic disaster that resulted from Conservative economics in Kansas, we have questions about Conservative economic theory. We see Chicago being demonized, but realize Anchorage, Alaska is the most dangerous city in the country. We see Conservatives ready to shut down the government but we don’t see a rationale for what they are proposing for health care, military tactics, etc. We see Conservatives fighting Conservatives and we are concerned.
Those of us not in academia, do not give a flying fig about Ibrim X Kendi. We are worried about a group of people who call themselves Conservative who seem to be attempting to overthrow our government but are fighting amongst themselves.
You should read Yascha Mounk's latest book then.
There is perhaps an even bigger civil war between liberalism and leftism/progressivism.
Is RR a progressive bot? If not I suggest "they" to visit the following progressive paradises of: Chicago, Minneapolis,SF. LA, NYC, Seattle Portland et al. These cities are on a downward spiral due to the actions of their progressive governments. Wake up to the progressive revolution that's wrecking our once great republic. Trump didn't wreck this country. Obama and Biden are responsible and we are all suffering the consequences of the final stages of the "liberal experiment in governance" by the self styled elite.
You nonsense only works in Conservative bubble websites. Anchorage, Alaska led by a Republican mayor is the most-crime ridden city in the country. Chicago is not in the top 10.
Murder rates are a Red State problem. Even in California, Pelosi’s San Francisco has half the murder rate of McCarthy’s Bakersfield.
https://www.thirdway.org/report/the-red-state-murder-problem
Conservatives live in a bubble.
Old tired-out B.S. White supremacist propaganda and psychological warfare!
African Americans are still challenged with policies deeply rooted in racism and white supremacy --- like the smearing of black victims unjustly enslaved, subjugated to brutal apartheid, and psychological warfare (manipulation) in attempts to promote self-hate.
I used to rescue wannabe proud boys from Aryan Brotherhood prison rape during my long career in the prison industrial complex. I had to keep several boxes of Kotex in my office to stop their bleeding pending care in the prison infirmary.
Conservatives repeat learned phrases and don’t bother to consider facts that challenge their perceptions. This is why they will quote on snippet of one sentence of Martin Luther King Jr, then call him a communist when you present a more complete picture of his ideology. They love their bubble.
From my understanding, Mounk argues that we need to build institutions that serve diverse communities. We need to address injustices. Modern Conservatives want to destroy institutions. Look at the destructive situation Conservatives created in the House. Democrats helped McCarthy fund the government. They were rewarded by McCarthy attacking them. There was no surprise that Democrats failed to support McCarthy when his own party turned against him.
Conservatives are the ones fighting themselves. Conservatives wanted to oust Gaetz because of his bizarre behavior. Jeffries got the diverse group of Democrats to stick together.
You should read “How Democracies Die”. The Tyranny of the Minority”, and “How Civil Wars Start”. The Conservative Republican Party is the party that no longer believes in democracy and are the source of the problem. Conservatives put more faith in Trump than in Jesus.
I took a look at the “Thomas Sowell Reader”. He begins with a story about two ants and a grasshopper. The ants worked hard over the summer to store food while the grasshopper hopped around and had fun. When winter came, the grasshopper was hungry and asked for help. The Conservative ant refused to help. The college educated Liberal ant felt obligated to help, receiving ridicule from the Conservative. The story reminded me of European invaders who arrived in the “colonies” with little skills to farm. The tribes had to help the Europeans survive. Conservatives live in a bubble.
Liberals and Leftists will unite enough to defeat Conservatives in the general election. Conservatives are losing on gerrymandering and when issues like abortion are put to a vote. Conservatives are the ones trying to cheat because the public at large think Conservative policies, when they actually have them, are trash.
I hope you're right, but I'm worried that "the public at large," as you said, have been duped by the likes of Donald Trump and his acolytes in Congress that liberals are actually socialists/communists and must be destroyed. It never ceases to amaze me that so many people fail to see Donald Trump and his acolytes for what they are: narcissists who care only about themselves. Read Mitt Romney's new book.
Blacks have survived worse times. Conservatives have always stood in the way of progress. One of the possible replacements for McCarty is Steve Scalise. Scalise called himself, “David Duke without the baggage”. During the Nixon years, Erlichman acknowledged that the War on Drugs was a direct attack on the Black community. Conservatives are who they have always been.
You might get an argument from Glenn, but you won't get any argument from me! :) I forgot to mention before, as for Conservatives losing on gerrymandering, have you heard the latest from my home state of Wisconsin? The GOP is fighting tooth and nail, and I wouldn't be the least surprised if they prevail, given their supermajority in the state legislature. So don't count your chickens just yet.... 😡
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/06/us/politics/wisconsin-maps-janet-protasiewicz.html
https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2023/09/14/embracing-election-denial-wisconsin-senate-republicans-vote-to-fire-chief-election-official/
My honest thought in watching this is that I doubt John would be this accommodating of Kendi if John were not employed at the NYT. It pains me to say that, but when I think back to his beautifully scorching (and desperately needed) takedown of White Fragility in The Atlantic in summer 2020 (which was well before he was employed by the NYT) and I compare it to this, well, I don’t know what else to think... It’s also possible for two seemingly opposite things to be true at once; Kendi doesn’t need to be an outright grifter to also be someone who knew deep down that his ideas were divisive and even deadly but repressed it within himself as the money and power poured in. The fact he made millions on dividing the nation and making some neighborhoods less safe by helping elites to green light defund the police is atrocious however aware of it he was. And it’s hard for me to believe at some level he didn’t know his ideas were having negative effects or, at minimum, were not that positively effective. Especially because we are talking about an educated man over a span of years not days.
I think he believes it all, and I actually think he wanted to solve the problem of racism. Maybe I'm too pollyannish but I don't see him as greedy, but perhaps his ego is now connected to it all - human nature.
Racism is a power relationship between groups for ownership and control of resources for wealth and power. Racism and conflict between competitive groups will be here until the end of the days. The most effective way for black people to empower themselves against racism is through cohesive group economics and serious quid pro quo. Black people easily give their votes for horizontal bullshit.
Sobshrink
2 hrs ago
Since women still earn less than men for doing the exact same job, and since "traditionally female jobs" are still paid less than "traditionally male jobs" even when they require the same or more education, does that meet the definition of racism you give? (Obviously we can't call it racism, but I think sexism or whatever you want to call it meets your same definition of racism). Do you have any advice for us women? Before commenting on anything else you said, I wanted to learn more about how you define "cohesive group economics and serious quid pro quo," and also "horizontal bullshit." So I clicked on your Substack, but there's nothing there. If you want to convince folks, start writing and explaining! :)
P.S. I originally posted this accidentally as a new comment, which is why it's on here twice.
White racism and sexism are two different things. White females have been the greatest benefactors of affirmative action, especially in the public sectors, which has significantly added to the increase in white middle class wealth. I worked in the public sector for 34 years, and women earned the same wages and salaries as men.
The private sector is a different animal. People make choices whether to work for the private sector or public sector, living with the outcomes. The public was the most rational choice for me for many reasons. I am retired and free. Insofar as black women are concerned, they're outperforming black men in college admissions/graduations and careers.
Black folks need to focus more on themselves rather than on white pro-feminism, LGBTQ, and undocumented Hispanic immigration issues with unearned benefits. Time is running out for black people. Permanent underclass as beggars and criminals isn't a viable option.
Intersecting vertical issues with horizontal issues impedes true black progress towards black group economics/aggregation. Racism is a power relationship. For example, why should black people enable or allow Koreans to dominate the ownership and control of the one billion dollar black hair care products industry? Koreans will not tolerate black-owned businesses in their communities. That's insane!
Monty, I hear your frustration, and understand your desire to focus more on your own group rather than other groups (human nature). I assume you would not support discrimination against or abuse of the other groups, even if you don't care to proactively support their efforts. But I do want to point out a few things that I disagree with you about. "I worked in the public sector for 34 years, and women earned the same wages and salaries as men." Worldwide, women who work in the public sector earn 86% of what men in the public sector earn (link #1), and in the US, it's 93% (link #2). Perhaps you didn't consider that women are less likely to be promoted, more likely to work in the lower paying "traditionally female" occupations, nor the parental penalty that mothers disproportionately pay (link #3). "People make choices whether to work for the private sector or public sector, living with the outcomes." IMO, a woman who prefers an occupation that is only available in the private sector shouldn't have to pay a price for making that choice when a man does not. You keep emphasizing that racism is a power relationship, and apparently you think disadvantages faced by women have nothing to do with a power differential. Sorry, but only a man could say that. The biggest price women around the globe pay for their lack of power, both physical and political, is to be victims of sexual abuse, assault, and harassment. Globally across their lifetime, 1 in 3 women are subjected to physical or sexual violence (link #4). Yes, some men are as well, but it's far less common, especially among adult men vs male children. This doesn't even include the incidence of sexual harassment. I suspect this might be an underestimate, as women are often too fearful and/or embarrassed to report such incidents. Don't even get me started on my own personal experiences. I once worked for a male psychologist who was shocked to hear such statistics, and from that point forward, he asked all female clients if they had ever been sexually abused or assaulted, and after asking hundreds of clients, he said about 25% said yes, although he suspected some were too embarrassed to even tell their (male) therapist. The large majority of such incidents had been committed by family or friends of the family (as children), or intimate partners (as adults.) If you are going to hold up the public sector as a paragon of virtue in this area, please don't tell that to women in the military (link #5). I'm not asking you to advocate for us because I know you just want to focus on black people, but please don't delude yourself into thinking women have it all hunky dory and there's no power differential.
https://blogs.worldbank.org/governance/five-facts-gender-equity-public-sector
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-67
https://www.aauw.org/issues/equity/motherhood/
https://www.who.int/news/item/09-03-2021-devastatingly-pervasive-1-in-3-women-globally-experience-violence
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2022/09/01/the-militarys-sexual-assault-problem-is-only-getting-worse/
Ideology vs Reality at its finest! He just wanted to believe his BS maybe he still does🤷♀️
In some ways, I feel like comparing Kendi to Stokely is just as out-of-place as Kendi thinking he is in position to question Douglass or DuBois. He's a lightweight fraud, enjoying weak-minded white folk. He's not the leader of a movement, blazing a trail. He's a grifter, pedalling stuff he knows, and we know, is crap. Admittedly, I may need to adjust my rose-colored view of Stokely. I eagerly await reeducation! 😉
I predict that Ibram Kendi's failures at his Center for Antiracist Research will have no impact at all on his standing within his vast network of believers. They didn't require any proof of his claims or any test of his theories from the beginning of his movement. Why would they care about whether he failed to deliver any at his Center. His followers view scientific methodology as white man's efforts to erase the "truth of lived experience" of victim groups. Furthermore, they haven't learned what scientific methodology is or how to interpret research results, so again, why would they care whether Kendi delivered any?
Kendi's ideas are accepted as sacred writ by most of the people I interact with, especially those under 35 or so. They no longer are focused on the authorship of these ideas, anymore than most Bible readers are focused on who really wrote certain chapters during which time periods. The text is now viewed as revealed Truth, while the names of many of the authors have been forgotten.
Anyone who doesn't believe what I am saying can take a look at what has happened to the BLM since the news came out about the unethical and possibly criminal behavior of its original leaders. In my city BLM flags and banners are still featured on the art museum, my neighborhood post office, every church I pass, and the front windows of many privately owned businesses, to name just a few locations. It is still taboo in local social and employment settings to state that one does not support the BLM platform(s) or the violence perpetrated by this organization. Most BLM supporters I know are uninformed about the exposures of its leaders as grifters, would probably not believe the news if they read it, and even if they did, would not see the leaders' improprieties as detracting from the value of the organization, its beliefs or its tactics.
I agree with Dr. Loury that a man who takes a job while knowing he isn't qualified has behaved irresponsibly and stupidly, if not unethically. The organizations that hire such individuals are, however, responsible for vetting their new hires. I partially agree with Dr. McWhorter that cults leaders are kept in those positions by their followers, but I do not use this fact to excuse the leaders for their unethical and destructive behavior. I do not, for example, spend any of my time weeping over how "poor Hitler" was set up to fail by the German people.
The disagreement between Dr. Loury and Dr. McWhorter obviously has a lot of importance to both of them, but I don't think that Kendi's failure at the Center for Antiracist Research will be as important to many other Americans, if it even registers with them at all. Meanwhile, Kendi's destructive impact on our country will continue to unfold unabated.
It might not affect his Believers but it certainly will affect his benefactors. And from everything we're seeing isn't that all that really matters to most of these people?
I suspect that you are correct---the authors are counting the incoming dollars as well as the compliments. When I talk to young Believers, however, and I hear them devalue our Constitution and our freedoms, I fear that the totalitarians and racists have won the battle for the future of our country.
While I fear you may be right, the very fact that today there appeared on the opinion pages of the NYT a column by a regular columnist with the title “Antiracism was never the answer” (by Pamela Paul) is one of many occurrences since the initial accounts of trouble at Kendi’s institute were first reported that suggest the times really are a’ changin’ and that it isn’t 2020 (or 2021) anymore . I do think people are now finding it possible to criticize him and his ideas in light of these recent troubles. In other words, I do think it will usher in a slight vibe shift, so to say, whereby people can now critique him and his ideas much more openly. America is sobering up on race, I think, after its nightmare bender drunk on Kendi…
I hope that I am proven wrong. I live in Portland, however, and I interact regularly with young people. The view from here is not encouraging.
I had to turn my phone off for a minute during this podcast because it was starting to get so hot
I emailed this to the comment address for the NYT piece, but I'll put it here too:
John,
I also listened to you and Glenn Loury talking about this. Yes, I would take the money, too. As you said to Glenn, the Center would be a hot smoking mess after six months of my direction. The difference is that you and I know that, and we would hire someone with some experience in running such a center, and we would listen to them.
I don’t remember if you or Glenn said something earlier about denying people agency, but it seems you’re denying Kendi agency. Even if he’s a complete idiot, which he may well be, he made many bad decisions that affected people who funded and worked for him. That is certainly worthy of criticism, even if his funders are suckers.
You’re so right. John wrote one of the best pieces of 2020 when he made clear how DiAngelo’s condescension towards Black people in her “White Fragility” also dehumanized the very people she ostensibly sought to help.
Ironically, he is now paying Kendi a DiAngelo-esque sort of disservice by condescendingly imagining Kendi as naively ignorant; as a kind of child.
I’ve said elsewhere 2 opposite things can be true at once. Kendi doesn’t need to be an outright grifter (ie. someone who wrote his books with intent to gain status and money while saying to hell with the consequences for the nation at large) to also be aware at some level that his ideas were having a pernicious affect on society. A man of some integrity in Ibram’s position could at least have had the decency to say “wait, I was partially right — but also partially wrong.” To suggest no person of prominence is capable of rising to basic honesty is rather nihilistic. Kendi could have “gone beyond” his initial position and wrote another best seller in the process while also doing the US a major favor along the way.
It would be convenient to believe Ibram didn’t know at all that he was helping the country to unravel, but how it is that an educated man could be so ignorant over a period of years requires a level of condescension that doesn’t see Kendi as an adult.
Kendi is clearly not stupid, even if he's an intellectual lightweight as John and Glenn purport, but he may honestly not see any harm in what he has said, or he may believe that any harm is outweighed by the benefits. There is no correlation between IQ and capacity for self-deception, and the majority of humans are excellent at self deception, especially when it comes to admitting they might have been wrong about something, especially when they have received a great deal of positive public attention for what they said. This article wasn't written by a psychologist, but as a psychologist myself, I would say it is "spot on."
https://casnocha.com/2008/12/easier-to-deny-or-rationalize-behavior-than-evolve-your-own-identity.html
it just seems so condescending to blacks and hated filled to whites. added insult , asians hispanics east europeans and a myriad of others have been influencing american culture for decades. isn't his thinking also outdated ?
Glenn for President!