A review by jennystout21
Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America by John McWhorter

challenging fast-paced

2.25

Damn, this is a hard book to grade. McWhorter, a Black linguist who considers himself a "centrist Democrat" basically writes this as a take down of the modern anti-racism movement, arguing that the politics of the movement act more as a religion, where the "Elect" (his word) get to call others racist while positioning themselves as the ones who truly understand racism. While McWhorter makes some good points (for example, he points out how condescending it is for white leftists to basically make anti-racism all about them), he also magnifies the potential danger of these woke militants (he writes, "these people are coming for your kids" at one point) while basically waving a dismissive hand at, well, actual racism. I think his is a perspective worth reading, but his arguments didn't convince me that anti-racism is more dangerous than racism.