Ibram X. Kendi on White Supremacists, and the Art of the Stretch

Kendi’s recent article for The Atlantic is titled “The Danger More Republicans Should Be Talking About: White-supremacist ideology is harmful to all, especially the naïve and defenseless minds of youth.”

The article’s thesis is that white supremacists are actively recruiting American youth and that the scope and danger of this extremist problem is much larger than people understand.

Kendi is a famous, successful, and influential “American author, professor, anti-racist activist, and historian of race and discriminatory policy in America.” [quote from Wikipedia]. He’s particularly well known for his best-selling book “How to be an Anti-Racist.”

There’s an old trick used by lawyers in examining a witness. The lawyer asks a series of fairly obvious questions that he knows the witness will agree with. As he’s asking the questions, the lawyer is nodding his head in encouragement at the witness who, usually also nodding, repeatedly replies “yes.’

At some point along the way, usually near or at the end of his examination, the lawyer, still nodding, throws in the question he really cares about, the one that might materially help his case, the one that stretches beyond the witness’s belief or knowledge. It can often work. The witness is hooked and says yes, because the rhythm and cadence of his prior assents and the physical nodding can overpower judgment.

When I initially read Kendi’s article, I did so quickly, and found myself nodding along with every point Kendi made. But something bothered me, so I read his article again, slowly and carefully. And that’s when I discovered that Kendi was like the gifted lawyer and I was like the witness made to agree beyond his belief and knowledge.

Kendi is an expert on the subject of racism and white supremacy, and I am not. And his fears of rampant recruitment of American youth by white supremacists may be absolutely warranted. That said, I wish he had assembled more compelling proof and had not resorted to a written version of the legal trick I described above, a trick I’ve named the “Art of the Stretch.”

A Taste of Kendi’s Build-Up to his Stretch

1)    The Republican Party has capitalized on opposing teaching “Critical Race Theory” in the classroom as a successful “dog-whistle” issue, appealing to the base instincts of white voters. Yep, that’s bad.

2)    Republican Legislatures have passed laws restricting free speech about race (and gender) in classrooms that will have the effect of greatly reducing a balanced teaching of American history. Yep, that’s bad.

3)    There are two anecdotes feathered throughout the article about teenage boys being indoctrinated with White Supremacist ideology. Kendi describes the kids and their parents’ pain. Yep, I feel bad for those families.

Although America’s a big country and one can find a couple of anecdotes to prove just about anything.

4)    A “far-right extremism researcher” is quoted: “You see 30-somethings talking [presumably on-line] to 14 year-olds and kind of grooming them for the far-right ideology.” Yep, that’s abhorrent behavior. Although not too enlightening a quote about the actual extent of the problem, given the researcher’s specialized domain expertise.  

5)    The National Education Association is quoted that “an increasing number of U.S. teens are getting radicalized by White Supremacist or other extremist groups.” Yep, increasing is bad, decreasing would be good. But “an increasing number” fails to give an idea of the actual scale of the issue. Ten people to twelve people is an increase just as one million to ten million is an increase.

6)    What does today’s white supremacy look like? Quote from an article in the New York Times: “it’s just not a person in a K.K.K. hood but also the smooth talking YouTuber in the suit…” Yep, of course white supremacist recruiters aren’t wearing the infamous white hood when recruiting.

7)    Among the Republican Senators making odious fools of themselves when questioning Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Ted Cruz stood out as particularly odious and clownish. When Cruz turned to the subject of Critical Race Theory, he used Kendi’s children’s book “Anti-Racist Baby” to ask Jackson whether she thought babies were racist. Wonderful withering look from Jackson that spoke eloquent volumes, and yep, Cruz will stoop to the lowest depths to try to remain relevant.  

In my opinion, none of these seven points or any of Kendi’s other points in the article lay sufficient ground work for Kendi’s “Stretch,” which comes near the end of the article and is posed in the guise of a question:

“In this perilous time, caregivers need to start asking different questions. Instead of asking, Should kids learn about race? they should be asking, Whom do I want teaching kids about race?

Trained educators in schools? Loving parents in homes? Or white supremacists in virtual “classrooms”?”

To ask the question in this way Kendi is asserting some equivalency of scope among the three choices, an implication that each of the three choices has an equal claim on the “market-share” of young minds.

That slipped by me the first time I read the article.

My Take-Away

It is remarkably easy to be taken in by the Art of the Stretch when you already generally agree with an author’s opinion. When words are written, they become more powerful; when the words appear in a publication like The Atlantic, they become more powerful still; when they are wielded by a writer as talented and passionate as Kendi, they can overwhelm.

You’ll get no equivocation from me that extremist White supremacists are awful and a danger, especially in recruiting young adherents. But I am yet to be convinced that the scope of this danger is as large as Kendi implies.