However, you do have a theory about what is behind this.
“White supremacy is the reason why Trump ignored the warnings left by the Obama administration. And white supremacy is the reason why Covid-19 is so devastating. It impacts black people worse just because we are in situations where we can’t distance ourselves socially, “he says.
“But it doesn’t just affect us. White people are also dying. White supremacy has always mattered more than white lives.”
The show’s season premiere is about white supremacy, a familiar theme for Young, who has become one of the country’s most sought-after commentators on race. He has appeared on National Public Radio and Time magazine and has written columns for GQ.
CNN asked Young five questions about being a black man at this unique moment in history. Our interview was lightly edited for clarity.
Is this current disposition of white America to recognize anti-black racism only a passing phase, or do you think it represents a change that will endure?
It is fashionable now, today, for whites to be anti-racists. It is a status symbol, like owning a Peloton or having a black friend who has black friends. But what happens when we overcome the gesture and the incentive to do the rigorous work that it requires is a little more cloudy, a little more messy and the social gratification is less immediate?
Basically, does this current provision have integrity? I hope so, but “hope” is a few thousand miles from “believing.”
What is the difference between this country that has a true racial calculation versus a superficial racial calculation?
A true racial calculation includes, interrogates, and eventually extinguishes all systems of oppression. That includes capitalism. That includes patriarchy. It is not carpet cleaning. It’s a carpet bombardment.
If Trump is defeated in November, do you think the Republican Party will drop White’s complaint, or do you think there will be a Trump 2.0 in the future that will be more sophisticated and less obvious?
When you think of him as less unique and more like an element in a continuum of sensible white grievance, rather than Donald Trump 1.0, he is Woodrow Wilson 9.0, the answer is obvious: of course the next version is coming. Maybe they are already here.
What is the most difficult part of constantly explaining racism to whites?
I do not write with the intention of explaining race and racism to whites. I write to better articulate and understand the circus inside and outside of my head. I write for catharsis. I write to challenge myself. I write to entertain myself.
Even when I’m literally writing an explainer related to race, like the difference between a “Karen” and a “Becky” (a Becky “arms” her white privilege while convincing herself that their whiteness doesn’t matter; a Karen “doesn’t even bother pretending”), I’m writing to create something I’d like to read.
If whites leave my job with a better understanding of race and racism, that’s great.
But his education is incidental: the problem, not the steak. And maybe that’s the lesson. That my world revolves around me, not them.
We have seen many videos on social media of white people who become belligerent and even threatening when asked to wear a mask in public. Why do you think some are scared when asked to wear masks?
I think whites have never had to be invited. I am one of those people who hate the house “without shoes”. I go to someone’s party or dinner and they ask me to leave my shoes at the door. It bothers me because my shoes are part of my outfit. But her house; her rules
One of the things that is happening in America now is that whites have never been asked to be invited. All of this connects with white supremacy and Manifest Destiny, where people feel they have a right to everything they see. “You can’t tell me what to do, I’m an American white.” And having some rejection against it is causing some hysteria.
You watch these videos and it’s like, just put on your mask. During the five minutes you have been at Trader Joe’s you will receive your gluten-free lettuce wraps, just put on the mask.
.
