This week on The Glenn Show, John McWhorter and I are joined by Dan Subotnik, professor of law at Touro Law Center, author of the prescient book Toxic Diversity: Gender, Race, and Law Talk in America, and longtime friend of John’s. He’s hard at work on a piece that will set out exactly why critical race theory’s influence has been so pernicious, and what we can do to stop it. And after he departs the conversation, John and I tackle the topic most of you have probably predicted we would: The recent scandal at Ibram X. Kendi’s Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University. For those who haven’t yet heard, Kendi laid off around half of his staff at CAR, accusations about Kendi’s mismanagement and abusive behavior are flying, and BU is now opening an inquiry.
With some prodding from Dan, John begins by talking about his frosty reception from other black scholars at Columbia. I’ve met with similar sideways looks at Brown since I began criticizing the post-Trayvon Martin shift in American racial politics. One of Dan’s issues with CRT’s influence is the privileges it arrogates purely on the basis of race. Why, after all, should one’s skin color determine her authority in areas where knowledge and expertise matter? After Dan leaves us, John and I get into it over Kendi. I’m a little surprised by how little responsibility John accords to Kendi himself—he places most of the blame on the institutions that, in a bid to demonstrate their antiracist bona fides, put more on his plate than he can handle. While I agree that institutions like BU bear some responsibility, Kendi himself is just as culpable for perpetuating the antiracist fraud as they are.
This is a hot one. I know you’ve all got a lot to say about Kendi, so I’ll be watching the comments with interest.
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0:00 What’s wrong with critical race theory, anyway?
3:31 Why “black Columbia” pretends that John doesn’t exist
12:08 CRT’s racial power-grab
18:06 Does the Jewish American example apply to African Americans?
23:10 Disguising failure as victimology
32:15 Why Dan thinks the CRT tide is ebbing
39:58 The schadenfreude of the Ibram X. Kendi scandal
51:00 John: “I’m embarrassed for Boston University”
56:40 Glenn: Kendi is just a cog in the fraudulent antiracist machine
1:04:31 The shame of the Kendi scandal
Recorded September 30, 2023
Links and Readings
Dan’s book, Toxic Diversity: Gender, Race, and Law Talk in America
Frantz Fanon’s book, The Wretched of the Earth
Adam Schatz’s forthcoming biography, The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon
John’s NYT piece, “Profiting From Your Ideas Doesn’t Make You a Grifter”
Glenn’s conversation with Norman Finkelstein
Glenn and John’s conversation with Don Baton
Glenn and John’s conversation with James Beaman
John McWhorter & Dan Subotnik – The Ibram X. Kendi Scandal