• Ijeoma Oluo in The Stranger:

“It is white supremacy that told an unhappy and outcast white woman that black identity was hers for the taking. [...] It is white supremacy that decided that it was worth a book deal, national news coverage, and yes — even this interview.”

Ijeoma Oluo didn’t want to write about Rachel Dolezal, the former head of a N.A.A.C.P. chapter who “passed” as a black woman for nearly a decade until she was “outed” as white. But we’re glad she did. In this profile, Ms. Oluo confronts a woman she believes profoundly misunderstands the nature of white privilege. In the process, Ms. Oluo lets go of her anger toward Ms. Dolezal and comes to a deeper understanding of the nature of white supremacy. Read more »

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• Luke Savage in Current Affairs:

“‘The West Wing’ is an elaborate fantasia founded upon the shibboleths that sustain Beltway liberalism and the milieu that produced them.”

If you love Aaron Sorkin’s cult political drama, “The West Wing,” you might want to read Luke Savage’s critical perspective on the show. You’ll definitely want to read it if you hate the show. Mr. Savage explains how the show’s valorization of pragmatism and process, rather than any specific policy or ideological gains, is the idealized state of establishment liberal politics. It reflects the smug view that “politics is less a terrain of clashing values and interests than a perpetual pitting of the clever against the ignorant and obtuse.” Read more »