“Raise a glass if you’re racist.”
When confronted by this statement, most people would squirm in their seats and look for the nearest exit. The eight white women at the Race2Dinner event, along with the two hosts, all happily raised their wine glasses.
“Wait, I’m not racist,” said host Regina Jackson, a black woman at the head of the table who had just compared white people to Nazis, as she lowered her glass.
“Am I Racist?” the Daily Wire’s new mockumentary, stars Matt Walsh, the conservative commentator behind the 2022 documentary “What Is a Woman?” The film uses Walsh’s dry humor and a series of interviews and experiences to expose the biggest perpetuators of racism in America: the so-called antiracists.
Walsh had infiltrated the Race2Dinner event as a waiter and initiated the toast. For him, it was another step of his antiracist journey. For the viewer, it was another laughable-yet-cringey example of white people doing anything to prove how antiracist they are — by talking about how racist they are.
Although Walsh presents his beliefs about racism at the end of the movie, he presents his experiences without comment. After donning his man-bun wig and skinny jeans and securing his diversity, equity, and inclusion certificate, he travels America talking to antiracist experts. He takes a DEI seminar, interviews the founder of Black Lives Matter Phoenix, and speaks with “White Fragility” author Robin DiAngelo.
The conversations should be absurd, but the antiracists approach them with complete seriousness. One expert tells Walsh it’s a good thing his daughter likes Moana more than white Disney princesses, but she shouldn’t be Moana for Halloween because of cultural appropriation. DiAngelo coaches Walsh on how to walk past black coworkers without smiling too much (racist) or not enough (also racist).
Interspersed with the activists are conversations with average Americans. A teenager on the street in Nashville tells the DEI card-toting Walsh, “You’re the most racist person I’ve talked to.” White patrons of a biker bar tell Walsh they don’t think about race when interacting with people, and a black man in the rural South says he doesn’t think America has a racism problem.
The movie culminates with the enlightened Walsh hosting his own DEI seminar, where he sees how far he can push the participants to atone for their inherent racism. (Spoiler alert: self-flagellation is far more acceptable to them than it should be.)
“Am I Racist?” doesn’t have the same emotional impact as “What Is a Woman?” The cringey situations leave the viewer laughing instead of sick to his stomach. Where “What Is a Woman?” exposes the horrifying practices of the transgender ideology, Walsh’s latest movie reveals the absurdism of the antiracist ideology and the titular question.
But even though the BLM craze of 2020 is over, the movie still exposes the DEI industry as thriving on the guilt of white people. The happiest people in the film are those who don’t obsess over race, who leave when asked to point to the most racist person in the room. Walsh doesn’t need to present aristotelian counterarguments to defeat the antiracists. After one conversation, their ideas fall apart.
In today’s political climate, politicians love throwing the word “racist” at their opponents. But it’s not racist to smile at black people or support meritocracy over handouts. With a little humor and some pointed questions, Walsh assures everyday Americans that they are not racist.