If you have having difficulty keeping up with all of the things purported to be racist in recent times, "Radical Intersectionalist Poet" Titania McGrath offers this scorecard (click the charcoal rectangle on the right).
John McWhorter's Lexicon Valley has been one of my favorite podcasts for several years. His general topic is linguistics and McWhorter makes it all educational, humorous and even musical. This is McWhorter's side gig. For his day job, he is a professor of English at Columbia University.
In this particular episode, McWhorter takes a look the origin and meaning of some of the words and phrases we use to discuss today's racial reckoning, words and phrases such as "Black," "white," [capitalizations are intentional] "defund," "Black Lives Matter" and "Karen." If you haven't yet experienced Lexicon Valley, this episode is a timely one: "Defund Karen: On the insults, acronyms, and sloganeering of America’s racial reckoning."
According to this 2016 Pew Research, racial discrimination is far more nuanced that one would assume based on the rhetoric from recent protests. This study contains nuanced stats on gender too. Many charts to consider in this article, including this one:
We are now beginning to hear the other side of a much-needed debate advocating for the need for robust and open debate. Too many careers have already been threatened or ended by a misstep or two on an invisible ever-changing minefield containing far too many untethered and unsustainable ideas. And whatever happened to do unto others? Here is the final paragraph of the Harper's Letter signed by numerous artists, thinkers and writers who fear for the future. The document is titled: "A Letter on Justice and Open Debate":
This stifling atmosphere will ultimately harm the most vital causes of our time. The restriction of debate, whether by a repressive government or an intolerant society, invariably hurts those who lack power and makes everyone less capable of democratic participation. The way to defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish them away. We refuse any false choice between justice and freedom, which cannot exist without each other. As writers we need a culture that leaves us room for experimentation, risk taking, and even mistakes. We need to preserve the possibility of good-faith disagreement without dire professional consequences. If we won’t defend the very thing on which our work depends, we shouldn’t expect the public or the state to defend it for us.
Cognitive linguist Steven Pinker has had an illustrious career as a teacher and prolific author. His politics have often leaned to the left. None of this immunizes him from baseless attacks by hundreds of people who apparently don't see any value in Pinker's willingness to contribute his expertise to national conversations on critically relevant issues. They are unwilling to give fair readings to Pinker's statements. They also appear to be threatened by Pinker's use of germane statistics in order to shed light on complex claims involving police behavior and racism.
Here is the opening paragraph of a recent letter signed by almost 500 people, many of them grad students and undergrads, then sent to the Linguistic Society of America:
In reaction to this letter, Jerry Coyne, eminent Professor of Professor of Ecology & Evolution, concludes as follows at his website: "I’m really steamed when a group of misguided zealots tries to damage someone’s career, and does so dishonestly."
Linguist John McWhorter has also indicated his enthusiastic support of Steven Pinker:
Here is Jerry Coyne's full blog post, setting forth the numerous false accusations against Pinker coupled with the evidence clearly demonstrating that these accusations are false. Coyne's post is titled "The Purity Posse pursues Pinker."
I invite you to read both sides of this dispute. I suspect you will be outraged at the way Pinker is being treated. You might also wonder how it is that hundreds of people who claim to be highly knowledgeable in linguistics are such inept readers. The phrase "social conflagration" might come to mind as you review the evidence. The name Robespierre might periodically pop into your thought process.