The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: Joy Reid and the Rise of Open Racism From the Left

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

This type of rhetoric, embraced by DEI ideology, is nothing short of racial essentialism—and dangerously divisive.   Victor Davis Hanson explains why such rhetoric threatens America’s identity as a successful multiracial democracy—and why ethnic and racial chauvinism must be rejected—on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”   “Joy Reid is basically saying that black people are cognitively superior to other people. I wish this was an isolated incident. But remember, we've had this controversy before, about the president of Sacramento State, Luke Wood, who, in his past, was an African American intellectual activist, as he self-describes himself. And he said he wanted to ”eliminate”—that's a bad word to use, given the history of it in the 20th century—“eliminate whiteness.” Again, no repercussions.   “We have zero tolerance when racists, who are white, say such things about other groups. But in a truly multiracial, tolerant society, people who not only attack a group, collectively, and stereotype it, but they do so from positions of influence and power—like The New Yorker magazine or a former MSNBC anchor—they can do a great deal of damage, unless they're called out for it.” 👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1    👉If you can’t get enough of Victor Davis Hanson from The Daily Signal, subscribe to his official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@victordavishanson7273    👉He’s also the host of “The Victor Davis Hanson Show,” available wherever you prefer to watch or listen. Links to the show and exclusive content are available on his website: https://victorhanson.com    (0:00) Zero Tolerance for Racism(0:18) Joy Reid's Controversial Statements(0:30) The Dangers of the DEI Movement(2:20) Historical Context and Misconceptions(2:28) Modern Examples of Racial Essentialism(5:02) The Importance of Multiracial Tolerance(6:02) Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk. Business. We have zero tolerance when racists who are white say such things about other groups. People who not only attack a group collectively and stereotype it, they do so from positions of influence and power, like the New Yorker magazine or a former MSNBC anchor. Joy Reid has a podcast and she blasted collectively white people. She said that they can't invent anything and then she went into a diatribe about American music, that it was solely the domain of black people. We're getting very dangerous in this DEI movement

as it starts to emit its death throes, as its challenge for being racist, which it is, it's a racial essentialism. People who defend it double down, and they double down in a way that's very injurious for the rest of the country. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for the Daily Signal. We've talked about the challenges

to big multiracial democracies like the United States, India, Brazil. The other two, the latter two, don't do very well because they accentuate a caste or a racial or an ethnic spoil system. The United States is the only one in history that has been somewhat successful, very successful, but it depends on everybody looking at their own identity as incidental to being American rather than essential. So why am I talking about this? Joy Reed, who was an anchorwoman at MSNBC and let go, I think not for any other reasons because of poor ratings, but she has a podcast and she blasted collectively white people.

And she said that they can't invent anything. And then she went into a diatribe about American music, that it was solely the domain of black people. But what I'm getting at is we're getting very dangerous in this DEI. movement as it starts to emit its death throes, as its challenge for being racist, which it is, it's racial essentialism, people who defend it double down, and they double down in a way that's very injurious for the rest of the country. So Joey Reed is basically saying that black people are cognitively superior to other people. I wish this was an isolated incident, but remember we've had this controversy before about the president of Sacramento State,

Luke Wood, who in his past was an African-American intellectual activist, as he self-describes himself, and he said he wanted to eliminate, that's a bad word to use, given the history of it in the 20th century, eliminate whiteness. Again, no repercussions. Lately, a major writer for the New Yorker magazine, that's a marquee magazine among bicostal elite intellectuals, She said some things that prompted people to look at her social media account. And a few years ago, she posted quite regularly about white people. What was very disturbing was she said she'd hated them. She didn't like them collectively.

And then she started to get into some bizarre, pseudoscientific stereotypes about white people. She said they were basically dirty and they're responsible for plagues. history. And she said, it seemed like everywhere they were they brought disease. We know that has a bad history in the 20th century, claiming that one particular group brings disease. We know who did that in the Third Reich. But of course, if she's talking about big cities of the medieval period in Europe, Constantinople, for example, or Paris, that had never been done before bringing up to a million people in a crowded area. It hadn't happened in the new world. It hadn't happened in Africa. There might have been a place or two in Asia, but it was possible because of the classical

tradition of aqueducts, sewage systems, and the importations of massive amounts of food to support an urban populace of a million. So she just seems to be as well historically ignorant. She seems to think that white people have all these advantages in this world, 65 years after the onset of the civil rights movement. But as I said before, if you look at income, so-called white people are about aid. Ethnic groups other than whites are doing better. If you look at hourly wages, it is true that on average white males make more than black males, but Asian males make far more than white males. So what am I getting at? We have zero tolerance when racists who are white say such things about other groups.

But in a truly multiracial tolerant society, people who not only attack a group collectively and stereotype it, but they do so from positions of influence and power, like the New Yorker magazine or a former MSNBC anchor. they can do a great deal of damage unless they're called out for it. And if we're going to make it as a society, everybody has to drop this idea of ethnic and racial chauvinism. And just because a person declares themselves a historical victim of past oppression does not give them a free hand in indulging in the utter and most vile forms of racism, which is collectively demonizing a whole group of people on the basis of their superficial appearance. This is Victor Davis-Hansson for The Daily Signal.

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