We’re going to get to the New York Times in a minute, but on Monday, “How to Be an Antiracist” author Ibram X. Kendi responded to some tweets about his idea that there’s no such thing as “not racist.” As we’ve said before, there’s a big difference between “black lives matter” and Black Lives Matter, just as there’s a big difference between “not racist” and “anti-racist” — that’s one of the reasons President Trump has moved to eliminate training sessions based on critical race theory from taxpayer-funded government agencies, and why a professor kicked off the semester by having each student admit to their racism.
Here’s Kendi from Monday:
Actually what I’m saying is we should eliminate the term “not racist” from the human vocabulary. We are either being racist or antiracist. Is that clear for you? There’s no such thing as “not racist.”
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) September 20, 2020
So what does “not racist” mean? The term has no meaning other than denying when one is being racist. We should not have words in the dictionary that don’t have definitions.
— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) September 21, 2020
And that’s it in a nutshell, folks.
This dude wants to ban words. https://t.co/srx6QwqxEY
— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) September 21, 2020
Twitter just gave him $10M to help him on his journey too
— Rich (@Paesano_21) September 21, 2020
Fact-check: True.
And now let’s move to the New York Times, which reports that protests “against police brutality” are becoming more confrontational and moving into white neighborhoods.
“It went from a peaceful march, calling out the names, to all of a sudden, bang, ‘How dare you fly the American flag?’ They said take it down. They wouldn’t leave. They said they’re going to come back and burn the house down.” https://t.co/1DKqVDgnmP
— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) September 21, 2020
First, the lead photo looks 100% "white". Second, always read @NellieBowles:
"demonstrators with bullhorns shout for people to come “out of your house and into the street” and demonstrate their support." https://t.co/uZ1pt8eruJ
— Thomas Chatterton Williams ? ? (@thomaschattwill) September 21, 2020
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And, you can't make this up: relevant to Kendi's tweets from yesterday about "not racist" needing to be "eliminated" from the "human vocabulary." Look at the degree to which his thinking has shaped the way these activists justify their increasingly confrontational tactics: pic.twitter.com/tnmdxrFsvT
— Thomas Chatterton Williams ? ? (@thomaschattwill) September 21, 2020
“We don’t need allies anymore, we need accomplices.”
They can justify forcing out of your house, or swarming on you at dinner or on your front lawn just because you have an US flag on it, because the world being created is one in which you can't simply be "not racist." You must be actively antiracist *exactly as they define it.*
— Thomas Chatterton Williams ? ? (@thomaschattwill) September 21, 2020
Sure this is fringe for now, but it's getting major play in the mainstream, and it's pretty nuts, full stop.
— Thomas Chatterton Williams ? ? (@thomaschattwill) September 21, 2020
If it's getting major play in the mainstream, it is by definition not fringe.
— Rob Rosenbaum (@robnormal) September 21, 2020
It's not fringe, man. This has been building up steam, subverting minds, and seizing institutions for decades. This is the new mainstream.
— d00msect (@d00msect) September 21, 2020
“Protesters” are now moving into residential neighborhoods and demanding people leave their homes and participate? Where’s that CNN guy with his breakfast burrito to tell us that he doesn’t see any rioting happening from his vantage point in Portland?
I prefer to think of them as "conFUNtational" protests. What could be more fun than a society where mobs of under-educated goons with daddy issues, appropriate a minority's cause to compel you to give them a semblance of purpose?
— Steve Faktor (@ideafaktory) September 21, 2020
And these morons think this is going to work why?
— The Enlightenment Rocked (@the_rocked) September 21, 2020
Useful idiots.
— BloomStreetBlues (@grenwuld) September 21, 2020
This is a familiar battle cry used for ages, not something new or scary but encouraging. Why wouldn't we want an anti-racist society?
— Kryss Shane (@itsKryss) September 21, 2020
I guess you missed the video of the guy in his car not doing a convincing enough fist salute, which got his car vandalized.
— Andre Williamson (@andrewilliamson) September 21, 2020
So now you know: You can’t be not racist; you’re either anti-racist or you’re a racist.
It's not a word, it's a phrase. In English we have a thing where you can put the word "not" before any adjective, resulting in a phrase that means "not [adjective]" i.e. "Not in the set of things that are [adjective]." I don't understand how this troubles you so much.
— sunken cathedral (@apalurians) September 21, 2020
Like many people in his field, he’s perfectly willing to talk himself into corners like this and stand there obstinately when all of common sense is standing across the room.
— Scott G (@scttfrnks) September 21, 2020
"Not" – adverb 1. used with an auxiliary verb or “be” to form the negative. 2. used as a short substitute for a negative clause.
"Racist" – adjective – …discrimination or prejudice against people of other races, or believing that a particular race is superior to another.
— Andy Evans (@ajevans429) September 21, 2020
"not racist" is actually two words. They both have definitions in the dictionary too. Maybe you should look into how words come together to express concepts that single words either can't or don't convey. Language is a wonderful thing.
— KeyClavis (@KarenYo76238422) September 21, 2020
We hope all the suburban moms with Black Lives Matter lawn signs enjoy it when the mob comes to their neighborhood in the middle of the night with spotlights and bullhorns.
Related:
Recipient of Jack’s $10 million wants to establish a Department of Anti-Racism to ‘monitor public officials for expressions of racist ideas’ https://t.co/NzV4VbRUYB
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 20, 2020
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