From the man who brought us “What Is A Woman?” a new documentary-style film, “Am I Racist?” from Matt Walsh, and “The Daily Wire” hit theaters on Friday.
In this new docu-style film, Walsh continues to ask controversial questions aimed at the foundations of society. The movie opens with Walsh disguised as a white millennial male appearing as a guest on a typical morning talk show in Utah. He demonstrates to the hosts an exercise that he engages in every morning, where he is “stretching out of his whiteness.”
The movie then cuts to Walsh sitting in a diner, explaining what is happening, how he got there, and whether it is real. Walsh finds himself sitting in a restaurant, enduring an inner dialogue about whether it is offensive to ask for his coffee “black” when being served by an African American waitress.
This is the impetus for Walsh’s tongue-in-cheek journey to learn more about race, racism, and white supremacy in America. Throughout the film, Walsh interviews several authors and experts about their views on racism in our country.
One of the first activists Walsh sits down with is Kate Slater, author of “The Anti-Racist Roadmap.” She says that America is fundamentally racist. “America is racist to its’ bones,” Slater says, before advising Matt that if he wanted to understand racism in America, to educate himself by reading books on the subject.
So, Walsh found himself in a local bookstore in Boulder, Colorado, talking with a bookstore employee about which books he should start with. The employee recommended several books, including “White Women” by Regina Jackson and Saira Rao, and “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo, a New York Times Bestseller.
Later in the film Walsh attempts to infiltrate a support group for those seeking to overcome their white privilege. After being made once, he disguised himself with a wig to better investigate racism in America without the burden of who he was holding him back.
He even completed an online Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) course, certifying him as a DEI expert.
The film continues to follow Walsh as he discusses racism with everyday Americans and leading experts in the field. At one point in the film, he decides to go into a small biker bar to talk with the patrons about white privilege. Throughout the film, there is a common thread among people that are in favor of acknowledging race without overemphasizing it, because they believe too much attention is paid to the subject. Hyper-fixing on race can also be offensive to some; many average Americans believe that we should be less concerned with how we treat people of color and more concerned with treating everyone as a human.
Walsh ends his journey where he began, sitting in that same restaurant, being served black coffee by the same waitress, ruminating on the question, “Am I Racist?” The answer? You’ll have to watch yourself to find out.