Americans of good will on both the left and the right are secretly asking themselves the same question: how has the conversation on race in America gone so crazy? We’re told to read books and listen to music by people of color but that wearing certain clothes is »appropriation.« We hear that being white automatically gives you privilege and that being black makes you a victim. We want to speak up but fear we’ll be seen as unwoke, or worse, labeled a racist. According to John McWhorter, the problem is that a well-meaning but pernicious form of antiracism has become, not a progressive ideology, but a religion—and one that’s illogical, unreachable, and unintentionally neoracist. Fortunately for Black America, and for all of us, it’s not too late to push back against woke racism. John McWhorter shares scripts and encouragement with those trying to deprogram friends and family. John McWhorter will present a roadmap to justice that actually will help, not hurt, Black America.

John H McWhorter is an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. He is an author of more than a dozen books including Woke Racism. How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America (2021). He also regularly contributes to newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, The Atlantic and The New Republic.