“Am I Racist?” Exposes the Cult of Anti-Racism

Several weeks ago at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, social media buzzed with warnings about a satchel-carrying, tight-jeans-wearing, man-bun sporting attendee meandering around the convention floor. “Don’t talk to this man!” read one social media post. At another point, the white, middle-aged, hipster-looking man appeared right behind a live news broadcast, striking anger and annoyance into the hearts of every Democrat present who knew who the covert attendant was.

Whether an effort to further promote his film, Am I Racist?, or simply a golden opportunity to troll the DNC attendees, Matt Walsh has entered deeper into the conservative establishment’s version of “ambush journalism.” His first film, What is a Woman? successfully brought attention to the immeasurably barbaric world of “gender transition,” but did so in an entertaining, engaging way. While the film starts fairly humorous and lighthearted, it ends by investigating the deeply disturbing truths of mutilation and mental illness integral to the world of transgenderism.

Am I Racist? exposes some disturbing truths, but is a much more deliberate comedy. Because of Matt’s increased notoriety following What is a Woman?, he had to make efforts to disguise himself to secure several interviews, most prominently with Robin D’Angelo, the author of White Fragility. His disguise is laughably minimal, but that perfectly compliments Matt’s dry, deliberate style.

What Doesn’t Work, What Does

The film starts a bit slow. Some of the initial interviews/workshops are a bit inconsistent in how much is included in the film (some very short, some overly long), and this hampers the film’s flow a bit. Matt’s straight, expressionless way is very much him, but his monotone narration struggles to excite the viewer just a tad. It fails the most when he goes out on the street (now as a “certified DEI expert”) and asks people on Nashville’s Broadway and at a biker bar somewhere in Middle Tennesee “what they’re doing to decenter their whiteness.” The results of this exercise are so overly predictable that it feels fairly unnecessary. However, an interview with an immigrant from British Guiana is very poignant. The elderly gentleman has nothing for praise for the US and doesn’t believe it’s remotely racist. When asked if he wants some anti-racist reading material, he says the only book he wants to read is the “Bible on my passenger seat.”

What works very well in the film is the explicit exposure of the absolute absurdity of the anti-racist industry. Matt gets himself into places and positions that the ordinary American never would – that is unless they’ve been sent for “sensitivity training.” From workshops to interviews to an “anti-racist dinner,” Matt shows us the inner world of white, progressive guilt-culture.

The most effective aspect of the film is the fact that Matt doesn’t ever break character, but rather pushes anti-racist rhetoric to its logical conclusion. This comes across most hilariously when, in an interview with Robin D’Angelo, he takes money out of his wallet and gives it to his black cameraman as “immediate reparations,” and gets her to do the same. Following this interview, he sets up his own anti-racist seminar that uproariously includes “direct confrontation with a racist” (his “uncle Jerry”), smiling-at-blacks practice, and finally self-flagellation with whips. The fact that not all of his participants leave even up to self-flagellation is a testament to the religious devotion to anti-racism.

The Cult of Anti-Racism

The major takeaway of Am I Racist? is the exposure of anti-racism as a deeply cultish exercise. The architects and facilitators of anti-racism (Robin D’Angelo, Ibram X.Kendi, etc.) are roughly equivalent to health/wealth prosperity preachers in their level of “huckstering,” charging obscene amounts (for example, $30,000 for one seminar) to guilt-ridden progressives ashamed of their skin color. However, a major difference between a “name-it-claim-it” preacher and an anti-racist activist is the absolute hatred and disdain that the black activists exhibit toward their own white students. Am I Racist? showcases the deeply unsettling relationship between the “oppressors” and those being generously compensated to give them rhetorical whips with which to symbolically flog themselves.

What’s Missing

It may be a bit of an unfair critique, but one of the areas that Am I Racist? does seem to somewhat flounder is in stressing the connection between ridiculous anti-racist, sacramental services, and the fact that DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) has become the default law of the land in the US. The film rightfully paints the anti-racist grift as fringe profiteering but does less to bring attention to the fact that the “DEI experts” have an inordinate amount of power in today’s political landscape.

If there is a direct application from the film, it’s probably that “color blindness is best,” tapping into MLK’s “judge a person not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” maxim. This is an admirable takeaway, but doesn’t quite fit the reality of our current situation. Rather, “whiteness,” “white privilege,” and “white people” in general have become economically, legally, and socially an “unprotected class” (to borrow from Jeremy Carl’s recent, excellent work on the subject). It’s not just that minority status has been championed, but that “whiteness” has been tangibly demonized.

But to be fair, “color blindness” would be a decent start.

The Evangelical Connection 

For evangelical Christians, Am I Racist? should serve as a reminder that our institutions have been directly targeted and impacted by anti-racist dogma. Hundreds of pieces could be written (and have been) on the infiltration and proliferation of exactly what Matt Walsh is lampooning in his film. Many of our own leaders and figures have jumped headfirst into anti-racism, promoting our own, specially curated anti-racist representatives, perhaps most well-capsulated by Jemar Tisby. A graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary, Tisby has worked with the likes of Ibram X.Kendi (among others) to aggressively promote the “social justice gospel” in the form of anti-racism. Conservative evangelicals need to maintain their guard against the aberrant theology that results from the syncretistic mix of anti-racism and Christianity.

In Short

Am I Racist? is a fairly lighthearted, good-natured movie. It may not dive deep into the very real threats that anti-racism poses (especially through DEI), but it does demonstrate the cultic, nonsensical commitment of white progressives to its tenants, as well as the deep-seated hatred of its facilitators. In following anti-racism to its logical conclusion, Matt Walsh demonstrates that there is no actual solution to the problems that anti-racists decry, at least none that they’re willing to be serious about.