Critics dismissed Angela Davis’s cultural antiracism as ideology

Evidence

Not many Americans had expressed antiracist ideas in the five major analytic categories: gender, race, class, sexuality, and culture. So the critiques came from all five sides, especially the side of culture. The New York Times reviewer rebuked Davis’s cultural antiracism as “ingrained cultural nationalism,” while the Washington Post ridiculed her “turgid academic jargon and rigid ideology.” Apparently, scholars like Angela Davis who uncovered, studied, and articulated cultural differences in more than just name were ideologues and cultural nationalists. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1166

Categorization

• XREF: Exemplifies Kendi’s inversion: dominant institutions produce labels like ‘nationalism’ to discredit those who genuinely challenge cultural standards, not because of ignorance.