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In his piece for the Root, McWhorter argues that food access is not really a problem, and that it is not related with obesity levels. He gets many things very, very wrong.

If you haven’t heard, Bill Cosby has assembled an outfit called the Cosnarati (no, seriously) to spit “positive” rhymes about working hard and being responsible. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but it’s probably a bad idea coming from a dude on record as not being a fan of the genre, and who would Read More

Jamelle put me on to last night’s debate over affirmative action being webcast by UVA’s Miller Center for Public Affairs. The resolution put forth to the debaters was that AA should focus on class/wealth, instead of race and ethnicity. On the pro side: everyone’s favorite relatively mainstream black conservative John McWhorter*, and NYU sociologist Dalton Read More

The linguist/conservative pundit John McWhorter and playwright/actress/mimic Sarah Jones did a great segment last year on Studio 360 called ‘Sounding Black’ that dealt with Barack Obama’s strategically deployed ‘blaccent’ — and what it suggested about our perceptions of race and class. JONES: Just like Barack Obama, I am a person of mixed-race heritage.  But, I Read More

John McWhorter has carved out a niche among the commentariat, blasting hip-hop for contributing to the waywardness of black youth. Granted, it’s not exactly the loneliest ideological space, as Cee-Lo Green Stanley Crouch does the whole get-off-my-lawn-you-crazy-hippy-hop-kids act with unparalleled aplomb, and there are plenty of others. McWhorter, though, is pretty much alone in putting Read More