Am I a racist? – Plugged In review

Film review

What does it mean to be racist in the year 21^stAmerica of the Century?

In recent decades—and especially in the last decade—the answer to this question has arguably changed. In the past, being racist meant actively harboring prejudice against people of a different color; today, we talk much more about institutional racism. Being white, some argue, means implicit participation in a system of privilege and power that is inescapably woven into the fabric of American society and culture. So much so that many, perhaps most, white people do not even realize that they are the beneficiaries of centuries of systematic racial inequality—or so it is believed by those who hold this all-encompassing worldview.

That’s the argument in Daily Wire+’s new comedic mockumentary Am I a racist?with the star author and podcast star of this conservative media company, Matt Walsh.

The film makes generous use of Borate playbook, where Walsh goes “undercover” as a serious white guy posing as someone who wants to support the anti-racism movement, and even becomes a fake spokesperson for that movement. Not only does Walsh’s fictional persona get his “official” DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) certification from a website (complete with an official-looking DEI license), he also pays generously for professional diversity training from some of the movement’s leading voices. In addition, he talks to quite a few people outside of that movement – often using a “man on the street” approach as he interviews random strangers to get their perspective on racism today.

While pretending to repent for his white identity, Walsh gives leaders of the DEI movement a chance to articulate their beliefs on racial issues—often skewering them with the contradictions his sophisticated “undercover” efforts reveal.

For example, activist Kate Slate, founder of the Anti-racist Road Map, admonishes Walsh that he has to “do the work” – a phrase that runs through the entire documentary.

“What is ‘the work’?” asks Walsh.

“For white people, the work is to redistribute our resources and privileges to balance systemic inequalities.”

Walsh repeatedly interacts with representatives of this DEI worldview, often subtly provoking them with questions that reveal their enthusiastic intolerance of seemingly everything related to white culture.

In one humorous segment, he talks to a white anti-racism expert whose daughter nonetheless only identifies with white Disney princesses. Walsh proudly says that his daughter’s favorite Disney princess is Moana, which draws much agreement from the woman he is interviewing. But then he takes it a step further and asks if it would be OK if his daughter dressed up as Moana for Halloween, to which the woman reluctantly backs away, saying that would be cultural appropriation.

Walsh calls it the “Moana problem” and argues that if a white girl just wants to be like a white princess, she’s a racist. But if she wants to appropriate the culture of non-white Disney characters, she’s also a racist.

Seems to be a lose-lose situationsays Walsh with a serious expression.

And if there is a thesis for this satirical mockumentary’s scathing critique of the DEI movement, it is this: Almost everyone loses – except perhaps those who are taken aback by the radically critical assessment of this worldview (at least as it is portrayed in this film) of 21^stRace relations in America in the 20th century.