Am I Racist? (2024) * * *

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 an industry propped up by the need for perceived or false racism.  Walsh doesn't exactly become a master of disguise.  He wears a wig with a man bun and different glasses, but otherwise he's Matt Walsh.  The disguise didn't fool a group therapy session in which members call the police when they discover he's not a regular guy looking to rid himself of racist tendencies.  

Walsh takes an online course an earns a "DEI expert card", which he faux proudly displays to all of his interview subjects.  He later creates a class on Craig's List and charges several hundred dollars for whites to attend his session, which consists of some of the most ludicrous exercises you can imagine.  This involves class members yelling at Matt's wheelchair-bound "Uncle Frank" for allegedly telling a racist joke twenty years ago, and providing whips so they can self-flagellate.  What is more is 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 "white guilt" that they would 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 Walsh is correct in pointing out that no major media outlets have reviewed this film.   This is sadly correct, and you can't help but wonder if what Walsh and others say about the media are true.  I acknowledge that while I lean liberal, I also can't dismiss conservative views out of hand as hateful, cruel, and racist.   Just because an argument comes from the other side doesn't mean it is incorrect or inaccurate.  

I found Am I Racist? funny and illuminating.  Like Borat, you question how much is staged.  Walsh insists that none of it is, and Am I Racist? requires one to emerge from their own bubble and watch with an open mind.  When Walsh attempts to physically recreate Jussie Smollett's ultimately false accounting of an assault by two MAGA-hat wearing men in the middle of a winter night in Chicago, I laughed.  Smollett's explanation simply doesn't hold water, and it turns out it didn't.  It would've involved actions that defied the laws of physics and sanity.  

Does watching Am I Racist? and agreeing with his argument make you a racist?  Absolutely not.  Disagreement with the the methods DEI implements isn't racism.  It's disagreement, which last I looked is something everyone has a right to do.   Why hasn't a major media outlet published a review of the film?  Why have they avoided it like the plague?  Do the outlets fear actually enjoying or liking the movie will cause them to be labeled racist?  Walsh uses comedy to expose how mainstream media perpetuates racism and DEI authors and speakers charge exorbitant fees to "fix the inherent racism found in all white people,"  We see evidence of this in support groups, dinners, and exercises where white pay to submit themselves to criticism by DEI experts.  It's like a form of BDSM.  Like Borat, Walsh gives his subjects enough space to make fools of themselves and expose their own hypocrisies.  It's a shame the mainstream outlets did not have enough courage to review the film.   Inclusion should also mean the ability to include opinions that may differ from yours.