Anti-Racism Is Anti-Art | Video Interview with Reid Newton
Art is better at anti-racism than anti-racism is.
Anti-racism only sounds like a solution to racism. People who’ve seen it put into practice and honestly assessed the outcome ultimately have the same realization: anti-racism is a recipe for division.
The proof that anti-racism undoes the progress of the civil rights movement and sows division instead of harmony is its impact on the arts. Our natural differences can be overcome through art…except when anti-racism comes into play. While the focus in art is expressing universal truths and facilitating connection across our differences, the focus in anti-racism is highlighting and reinforcing our separateness.
Our popular essay—Anti-Racism Dismantles Communities, Not Oppression—shows how the spread of anti-racism after the George Floyd killing led to alienation and kicked off separatist behaviors like claiming white people shouldn’t dance to music by black artists.
The point of this essay and our new interview with its author Reid Newton isn’t to keep reminding you that anti-racism is just sneakier racism.
We’re fueling a new culture of resisting all racism by encouraging individuality and open discussion—the best tools for combating all bad ideas.
If you haven’t read the essay, it’s recapped in the interview and you’ll appreciate hearing reasonable, sane perspectives on resisting destructive ideas like anti-racism and pursuing what art provides us: unity, beauty, and connection.
We discussed:
how anti-racism is the opposite of art
why cultural appropriation isn’t a legitimate accusation
what it takes to stand by your informed but unpopular beliefs
why the pressure to have an opinion on everything is destructive
how guilt is exploited by activists
Jump to the following time code to go straight to your area of interest:
0:00 Intro & Reid's Terrible Mistake
2:27 Reid's Story of Antiracist Division After George Floyd
5:44 Art's Power To Bring People Together
10:35 Complaints of Cultural Appropriation in the Arts
14:50 Where In Society Is This Division Happening?
16:48 Are Things Getting Better Or Worse?
21:14 Taking An Unpopular Individual Stance
28:42 Why Political Polarization Happens
36:58 Know Who Your Real Allies Are
38:15 The Virtues of Selective Ignorance
44:26 How Democracy Has Broken Our Society
47:46 Should White People Say the N-Word When Singing?
48:30 Wrap Up
This conversation needs to reach people far and wide—especially people who aren’t aware of the reality that anti-racism is far darker than it seems. We aren’t trying to build an echo chamber of people who all agree on the problem, we’re trying to help others realize there’s a problem at all.
That’s where you come in, readers of The Black Sheep.
Please watch this video, share it, and leave a comment with your favorite point to help us reverse today’s collective dysfunction. The more we boost the truth and offer an alternative path, the more people we can redirect away from bad ideas.
Thank you for your help.