The Gray Area with Sean Illing takes a philosophy-minded look at culture, technology, politics, and the world of ideas. Each week, we invite a guest to explore a question or topic that matters. From the the state of democracy, to the struggle with depression and anxiety, to the nature of identity in the digital age, each episode looks for nuance and honesty in the most important conversations of our time. New episodes drop every Monday.
https://www.vox.com/vox-conversations-podcast
John McWhorter, the anti-antiracist
Sean Illing talks with John McWhorter, linguist, New York Times columnist, and author of Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America. They talk about the effects of modern antiracism, why McWhorter compares it to a religion, and the societal implications of the way we talk — and don't talk — about racism.
Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), Interviews Writer, Vox
Guest: John McWhorter (@JohnHMcWhorter), author
References:
- Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America by John McWhorter (Portfolio; 2021)
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (One World; 2019)
- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (Beacon; 2020)
- “What Hope?” by John McWhorter (New Republic; Aug. 10, 2010), a review of Race, Wrongs, and Remedies by Amy Wax (Rowman & Littlefield; 2009)
- “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates (The Atlantic; June 2014)
- The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks by Randall Robinson (Plume; 2001)
- “Alison Roman and Chrissy Teigen’s feud is about more than selling out” by Alex Abad-Santos (Vox; May 11, 2020)
- “Professor Not Teaching After Blackface ‘Othello’ Showing" by Colleen Flaherty (Inside Higher Ed; Oct. 11)
- “The Middle-Aged Sadness Behind the Cancel Culture Panic” by Michelle Goldberg (New York Times; Sept. 20)
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This episode was made by:
- Producer: Erikk Geannikis
- Editor: Amy Drozdowska
- Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey
- Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall
- Vox Audio Fellow: Victoria Dominguez
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