Directed by: Justin Folk
Starring: Matt Walsh (as himself)
Conservative podcaster Matt Walsh goes undercover Borat-style in Am I Racist?, posing as a liberal who wants to learn about DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), but in reality wants to prove his belief that DEI is in fact an industry propped up by the need for mostly perceived or false racism. Walsh doesn't exactly become a master of disguise. He wears a wig with a man bun and wears different glasses, but otherwise he's Matt Walsh. This disguise didn't fool a group therapy session in which the members call the police when they find out he's not a regular guy looking to rid himself of racist tendencies.
Walsh has ranted on this podcast that no major media outlet or newspaper has reviewed the film, and to date he is correct. Why is this the case? Do these outlets fear actually enjoying or liking the movie and thus might be considered racist for doing so? I didn't find Am I Racist? to be racist at all. Walsh uses comedy to expose how the "mainstream media" overblows racism to perpetuate it and DEI authors and speakers charge exorbitant fees to try and "fix" the inherent racism found in "all white people". Don't take just my word for it. The movie itself shows us support groups, dinners, lectures, and other exercises in which whites pay and submit themselves to criticism by DEI experts. Like Borat, Walsh gives his subjects enough space to make fools of themselves. They expose their own hypocrisies all by themselves.
Walsh himself takes an online course and earns a DEI expert card, which he proudly displays to all of his interview subjects. He is not serious about becoming a DEI expert or a serious lecturer. He later creates a class on Craig's List and charges several hundred dollars for whites to attend his session, which consists of the some of the most ludicrous exercises you can imagine. This involves class members yelling at his wheelchair-bound "Uncle Frank" who allegedly told a racist joke twenty years ago, and providing whips so they can self-flagellate. What is more amazing is that these "students" were willing to do this, those who stuck around anyway. The point of Am I Racist? is that there is now a culture in which people are so full of guilt that they would even consider doing such a thing.
Walsh, and numerous conservative outlets, are at war with the mainstream media over their alleged slant in reporting the news. Many would simply ignore this as unsubstantiated, but when reputable outlets refused to review Am I Racist?, you can't help but wonder if what conservatives are saying about the media aren't at least somewhat true. I find my own political leanings to be liberal, but I also acknowledge that arguments from conservatives aren't all automatically racist, hate-mongering, and cruel. Just because an argument comes from "the other side" doesn't mean it's wrong or that someone like Walsh is not correct.
I found Am I Racist? funny and illuminating. Like Borat, you do wonder if any of it is staged, but for the most part, it requires an open mind. When Walsh tries to recreate Jussie Smollett's ultimately false accounting of being assaulted by two MAGA-hat wearers in the middle of the night in Chicago, I laughed because there isn't any way it could've gone down the way Smollett alleged. It would have involved actions which defied the laws of physics and sanity. Does watching Am I Racist? and agreeing with some of Walsh's assertions make you a racist? I say no, because disagreement with the DEI experts in this film isn't grounds for being labeled a racist. It isn't hate, it's disagreeing and the last time I looked, that was something we all have a right to do. I do wish the mainstream media Walsh criticizes understood this and had the courage to review the film.
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