When political fault lines slip, and the texture and rhythm of life seems to change daily, one must cling to whatever truths one can: the sun rises in the East, water is wet, John McWhorter is working on a new book. Every time he announces he’s writing a new one, I’m surprised, even though I shouldn’t be. How can a person maintain that level of production? We kick off the latest installment of our ongoing conversation with a discussion of John’s current book-in-progress—which is about dialects of English in America—and how he manages to get so much done in a given day.
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From there we go on to a casting controversy that’s being drummed up over social media. Lupita Nyong’o will portray Helen of Troy in Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey, to be released next month. Some, including Elon Musk, have a big problem with it. Nyong’o is a dark-skinned woman, while the Greeks at the time of The Odyssey’s composition and initial oral circulation were not black. In the mind of Musk and others, Nyong’o’s casting constitutes an offense against the West and a cynical Oscar play, rather than a routine casting decision. As John sees things, we’re currently at a stage where, for understandable reasons, it is more acceptable for a black actor to portray a character written for a white actor than the other way around. But he believes that, ideally, we would develop into a society in which anyone can play any role, and race would be a relatively inconsequential factor in casting decisions, like eye color.
April’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais will likely dramatically change how states with significant black populations redistrict. This will effectively nullify a key provision in the Voting Rights Act, and opponents of the decision argue that it will disenfranchise black voters. John and I are probably going to take some heat for arguing that it is time for that provision to go. It was designed to prevent black disenfranchisement at the very end of Jim Crow. At the time of its passage, it was certainly necessary. But we’ve been debating its ongoing necessity for decades now—I recall to John watching Lani Guinier and Abigail Thernstrom engage in such a debate in the late 80’s or early 90s. I don’t know if Abigail was right then, but she’s right now. Hakeem Jeffries has urged black athletes playing for Southern schools to refuse to play until something is done, but I seriously doubt any of these young people will put their burgeoning careers in jeopardy over this issue. And even if they did, I doubt it would accomplish what Jeffries hopes it would.
And we wrap up the first hour of the stream with a discussion of “teen takeovers” in Chicago. Dozens of teenagers—most of them black—were arrested over Memorial Day weekend after gatherings got out of control. Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson has, in the past, refused to give police the authority to impose emergency curfews. To him, this is about the constitutional right to assembly and the pernicious effects of systemic racism. He needs to wake up. We’re talking about a tiny minority of a minority causing problems that have outsized effects. If parents cannot or will not keep their kids in line, someone has to. Given how rowdy and dangerous some of those gatherings have become, that someone is going to be the police. We’re not talking about a constitutional crisis, here. We’re talking about basic public order and safety. Brandon Johnson needs to chill out.
We go on to talk about many more topics during the Q&A in the second half of the stream. I’ll make that available later this week. Of course, only full subscribers will be able to watch it! So if you’re not one already, please consider becoming a full subscriber. Your support is more important now than ever, and I want you to have access to every minute of The Glenn Show. You can also watch it through YouTube’s membership program—so if you want to do it that way, make sure you’re subscribed to my channel. Please consider signing up to ensure you keep getting the best we have to offer.
