Nothing hurts the cause of fighting racism more than false accusations of it. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of people who claim to have found racism where none exists; higher education is loaded with them.
The latest example is cable news commentator Joy Reid. Her MSNBC show was thrown off the air earlier this year, but she is still hanging around.
“Jingle Bells,” Reid says, is racist. How so? It mocks blacks. But it says not a word about blacks. That doesn’t matter: she says the song is tied to minstrel shows. Is that it? No, the refrain “laughing all the way” is racist. How so? She says it might be linked to “Laughing Darky,” which is an allegedly racist song. So is there a link? No, she simply invented one.
We don’t have to invent racism when discussing Reid. On January 17, 2024, I wrote a letter to Rashida Jones, who at that time was the president of MSNBC. My complaint was about a rash of anti-Christian attacks by MSNBC hosts and guests. I cited a remark made by Reid.
Two days earlier, Reid said there are too many “white Christians” in Iowa, arguing they are overrepresented “in the caucuses.” She attributed to them the conviction that “everyone who is not a white conservative Christian is a fraudulent American, is a less-real American.”
She couldn’t quote a single white conservative Christian who made this comment—she literally invented it, and then attributed it to them. Now she is inventing racism in a Christmas song where there isn’t any.
The pattern is clear. Joy Reid hates whitey. Moreover, she has a particular animus against them if they are Christian and conservative.
Carolers Beware: Don’t show up at her house singing, “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas.” She’ll slam the door in your face.
