No Matt Walsh, You Are Not Racist

A review of the Daily Wire film

Let’s start with a racist joke. During the first Obama term, the Southern Poverty Law Center expressed alarm at the rapid rise in the number of hate groups in America. As the editor of a completely different publication at the time, one that identified strongly with liberal-left politics, I followed this research closely until 2017.

As the Trump presidency began, I discerned that the number of actual, real, not-imaginary racists in the United States had declined. What the SPLC and “hate group” monitors were seeing was simply the internet bringing people of similar mind together, so that they formed groups, and then often split up again, forming new groups. When I had found the same person leading three different groups in three years, I realized the joke was on me.

Racism certainly exists. Racists exist. I have personally encountered a man picketing a Tennessee highway with a sign endorsing white supremacy. I have heard racist jokes from co-workers and friends and random strangers. Du…