In his return to Useful Idiots, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, editor of Nonsite (https://nonsite.org/) & Adolph Reed explains why Robin DiAngelo and "White Fragility" are so "problematic." In addition to reacting to particular passages from DiAngelo's new book, "Nice Racism," Reed shares stories from The Civil Rights Movement, labor history and, while he's at it, defines "racism." Reed attacks a certain brand of mcWokery which doesn't ignore class or undermines class consciousness but sabotages the kinds of universal programs which disproportionately benefit Black people: “Both the discursive and institutional have emerged around a systemic disposition to find ways to evade talking about class and economic inequality [so that] it just grows in that dark environment with other fungi and so forth and so on.” It’s an important episode which also turns out to be surprisingly funny, for a discussion about anti-bias corporate training literature. Here’s what else you’ll get: –Katie Halper’s NBA Finals Predictions –Poor Saudi Arabia tries to defend itself against Yemeni children –Biden and Republicans finally find a chastity belt for their mouths –And of course, it sucks to Zuck It’s all this, and more, on this week’s episode of Useful Idiots. Check it out and stand by for our Substack only section in which Reed talks about what so-called anti-racists have in common with white supremacists.
