The Glenn Show: Race, Reparations, and Jordan Neely

I’m back again with my good friend John McWhorter for another edition of our ongoing biweekly conversation. In this edition, we discuss three heavy subjects: our respective fields’ changing attitudes toward us, the killing of Jordan Neely, and reparations. Despite the political and existential weightiness, we manage to retain our good humor.

I begin by telling John that, in preparation for my upcoming retirement from academia, I’m packing up my books and vacating my beautiful office at Brown. This leads us to reflect on the ways that our public stances on race have led certain sectors of our fields—linguistics and economics—to ignore and even disown us. We then move on to the sad case of Jordan Neely, an apparently mentally ill black man killed by ex-Marine Daniel Penny on the NYC subway. As John says, Neely didn’t deserve to die, but he likely did pose a threat to those around him. How should we deal with aggressive homeless and mentally ill people who, to put it frankly, scare the hell out of ordinary people who are just trying to go about their business? And finally, it looks like some cities are closer than ever to disbursing reparations payments—in cash and other benefits—to black Americans. You won’t be surprised to know that I think this would be disastrous for all involved. But John has a slightly different take.

As always, I’m looking forward to reading your comments.

Follow Glenn Loury at The Glenn's Show on Spotify

Subscribe for more at glennloury.substack.com