But what makes it weird? Walsh presses her. It’s a form of reparations, and if the US isn’t offering comprehensive reparations to the black population, white people must all do their part now. She can’t argue with his logic because doing so would expose the failures in her own thinking, which patronises and victimises black people while pretending to elevate them. For instance, in White Fragility DiAngelo — with no sense of irony — criticises Black History Month for taking “whites out of the equation,” arguing that it should focus more on racism.

She then walks to her purse for $30, saying: “I’m definitely going to process that.”

DiAngelo is no stranger to cognitive dissonance. As author and academic John McWhorter points out, her “depiction of white psychology shape-shifts according to what her dogma requires”, meaning she argues both that “white people do not see themselves in racial terms” and also that, as she writes, “white solidarity requires both silence about anything that exposes the advantages of the white population and tacit agreement to remain racially united in the protection of white supremacy.”

Am I Racist? arrives at a perfect time. As the dust settles from the racially charged summer of 2020, when DiAngelo’s book skyrocketed in popularity, it finally seems socially acceptable to question whether she and other supposed experts on race relations are credible messengers. Last year, the Boston Globe reported that after How to Be an Antiracist author Ibram X. Kendi drew tens of millions of donor dollars for an antiracist research centre, it had massively downsized with little to show for its three years of existence.

Even the New York Times recently ventured to report on the allegations that DiAngelo plagiarised in her doctoral thesis, as well as publishing an essay critical of the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” trend on college campuses.

But even if this pushback is growing, the influence of the antiracist movement still dominates the national political scene. The recent “White Women for Kamala” fundraiser, for example, sounded more like a struggle session for white liberals to prove their antiracist bona fides.

“As white women, we need to use our privilege to make positive changes,” TikToker Arielle Fodor said on the call. “If you find yourself talking over or speaking for BIPOC individuals or, God forbid, correcting them, just take a beat and instead we can put our listening ears on.”

It’s hard to rationalise the many messages white people are being fed about race. Is refusing to correct non-white people infantilising, or an example of rejecting white dominance? Is paying a random black man a few dollars insulting, or a small step in the right direction?

Am I Racist? exposes the current antiracism movement for what it is: a highly profitable grift. As scandals continue to plague DiAngelo and others, this film is a sign that, thankfully, the antiracist movement may finally be drawing to a close.

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Madeline Fry Schultz is Contributors Editor at the Washington Examiner.

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