US conservative magazine National Review says it has parted ways with columnist over 'nasty and indefensible' article

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

A leading US conservative magazine, the National Review, has fired a prominent contributor over an online column advising his children to protect themselves by avoiding African Americans, to closely scrutinise black politicians and to accept that white people are more intelligent.

John Derbyshire wrote the offending article, The Talk: Nonblack Version, as a response to widespread debate over "the talk" that many African American parents give their teenage sons about racism in America following the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida.

Derbyshire's column appeared in another publication, Taki's Magazine, run by the rightwing Greek socialite Taki Theodoracopulos, who has himself faced accusations of racism.

Although the National Review had no editorial responsibility for Derbyshire's article, it said he was so closely associated with the magazine that his "outlandish, nasty and indefensible" writing was in effect a letter of resignation.

Derbyshire, who has previously described himself as a racist and homophobe, wrote the column in the form of "advice" to his teenage children on how to stay safe when around African Americans.

Among other things he says they should "stay out of heavily black neighborhoods" and "not attend events likely to draw a lot of blacks".

"If planning a trip to a beach or amusement park at some date, find out whether it is likely to be swamped with blacks," Derbyshire wrote. "If you are at some public event at which the number of blacks suddenly swells, leave as quickly as possible."

He also says not to live in an area run by African American politicians and to scrutinise black politicians more closely than white ones.

Derbyshire goes on to write that "the mean intelligence of blacks is much lower than for whites". He says that many black people only have "cognitively demanding jobs" because of affirmative action.

Many of Derbyshire's points are linked to newspaper stories about crimes involving African American perpetrators.

The article prompted a barrage of accusations of racism and would arguably have opened him to prosecution for hate speech in Britain.

Elspeth Reeve, writing for the Atlantic, called Derbyshire's article "race-baiting".

"You're probably familiar with the phrase 'No offense, but …', which always precedes something offensive wrapped in an 'I'm just telling it like it is' attitude. In certain parts of the country, there's a similar use of the phrase, 'I'm not racist, but …', which always signifies that the speaker is about to say something racist. Derbyshire's specialty is the fancy-pants version of 'I'm not racist, but …,'" Reeve wrote. However, Reeve also writes for Taki's Magazine, where Derbyshire's article remains online despite the uproar.

The National Review – founded by the conservative author William Buckley in 1955 and which describes itself as America's most influential conservative magazine – finally bowed to the rising tide of criticism as even its own writers turned on Derbyshire.

The magazine's online editor, Jonah Goldberg, tweeted that the article was "fundamentally indefensible and offensive".

"I wish he hadn't written it," he said.

The National Review's editor, Rich Lowry, initially distanced the magazine from Derbyshire by calling his article "appalling". But as the criticism continued to build, he went further on Saturday.

Lowry praised "Derb", as he called him, as "a deeply literate, funny, and incisive writer". But he said that the article in Taki's Magazine went too far.

"His latest provocation, in a webzine, lurches from the politically incorrect to the nasty and indefensible. We never would have published it, but the main reason that people noticed it is that it is by a National Review writer. Derb is effectively using our name to get more oxygen for views with which we'd never associate ourselves otherwise. So there has to be a parting of the ways," he said.

Derbyshire has a reputation for expressing views apparently intended to provoke. Three years ago he wrote a chapter in a book arguing against women having the right to vote. His other targets have included immigrants, gay people and liberals.

The focus will now be on how Taki's Magazine handles the controversy.

Theodoracopulos, who also founded the American Conservative magazine, is no stranger to controversy over race and is perhaps less likely to bow to the demands to sack Derbyshire.