Rejecting Racial Determinism

Here, John and I begin with an assessment of a sharp, thoughtful Quillette piece by black intellectual Aaron Hanna which is critical of black conservatives. (Both John and I have written responses which Quillette will publish.) This lead us into philosophical terrain, where we engage questions about free will, ethnic/racial differences in culture and so on. We go on to discuss critically a recent New York Times piece by Jenée Desmond-Harris, “Which Black People Should You Listen To?” Her answer, which we dispute: not people like us! We critically assess Thomas Sowell's "black rednecks" argument, that black culture reflects the legacy of Scotch-Irish norms common to Southern/Appalachian enclaves. And we agree to disagree about the merits of Charles Murray's new book, Facing Reality, where I find more merit than does John.

As always, I’m curious to know what you think.

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0:00 A peek inside Glenn’s writing process

3:31 Aaron Hana’s critique of Thomas Sowell and Shelby Steele

13:50 Extending the presumption of free will to black communities

19:31 Who gets to opine on race matters?

32:09 Black rednecks

44:31 Is the “acting white” phenomenon real?

53:58 A critique of Charles Murray’s new book …

1:12:12 … and a defense of same

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