Our guest this week, John McWhorter, is a man of many talents: a Columbia University professor, prolific author, music historian, New York Times columnist and one of America’s leading authorities on linguistics.

Beyond his academic career, McWhorter has also found a following as a prominent critic of the language-policing, statue-toppling, academic-cancelling brand of anti-racism that has taken hold in the United States and beyond. 

In his new book Woke Racism, McWhorter argues that this is not just a noxious ideology, but a religion, complete with the original sin of ‘white privilege’, a completely illogical catechism and a set of priests to spread the bad news – that all of the obstacles facing black Americans are due to structural or systemic racism. This creed, he argues, is not just wrong but actively harmful to the very people it purports to help. It has more to do with self-congratulation among the faithful, whom McWhorter labels ‘The Elect’, than any real attempt at social justice.

As well as skewering the sloppy thinking and bullying behaviour of The Elect, McWhorter also offers a road map for how to deal with their style of thinking, and some concrete suggestions for how to improve the lot of Black Americans.

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