The White supremacists who attacked the Capitol on 1/6 claimed they were defending America from the coming destruction of an antiracist politics. This fearmongering piece argues antiracist demands at schools “would destroy the institutions themselves.”

White supremacist violence is tacitly being fomented by pieces like this one. McWhorter urged people to “resist destructive demands” and press “for the very survival of the institution,” and praised a professor who said the demands would lead to a “’civil war on campus.’” 2/9

And, as usual when writing on antiracism, McWhorter is arguing against himself. He misrepresented the position of campus activists and argued against his own misrepresentations. 3/9

He misrepresented these activists as believing their institutions are entirely racist, have never made antiracist changes, and need “to be blown up.” Then he points to the reforms these schools have made. 4/9

In fact, these activists would almost certainly acknowledge the existence of past reforms. But the issue is these institutions still have widespread and pervasive inequities and injustices which of course McWhorter fails to mention. 5/9