American Mind: A Way Forward

My review of Jeremy Carl's The Unprotected Class

“They fell asleep thinking of themselves as the people who had built this country and woke up to find themselves occupying the bottom rung of an official hierarchy of races.”

—Caldwell, Christopher, The Age of Entitlement

The Unprotected Class

My friend Jeremy Carl recently published The Unprotected Class, a brave and timely book that examines anti-white discrimination and offers pragmatic steps we can take to defeat it.

My review of the book just appeared in The American Mind, and so I thought I would share it with you.

One thing that makes Carl’s book so timely is its unequivocal use of the term anti-white to describe “anti-racism” and its objectives. Despite its accuracy, such language makes most Americans uncomfortable. For starters, it conflicts with elite theories of power, which have come to dominate our politics and culture. The term also implies that the much-vaunted Civil Rights Movement has fallen short or failed in some way. But more importantly, there are serious consequences for speaking precisely about such a taboo topic. Most Americans prefer to remain quiet and, only if absolutely necessary, use euphemisms to describe this colossal elephant in the room.

But if we cannot tell the truth and advocate for our most essential interests as citizens, even while facing brazen racial discrimination, we might as well abandon politics altogether and renounce our heritage as Americans, for along with being anti-white, anti-racism is fundamentally anti-American.

As I mention in my review, Carl should be commended, not only for his candor and courage, but for his dogged defense of basic American principles—the fundamental truths that used to undergird our political freedoms.

The Unprotected Class is the best critique of the Civil Rights regime since Christopher Caldwell’s Age of Entitlement, and provides practical steps every American can take to right the ship and restore some sanity to our politics and culture. Carl tells us that this is a fight we can win, and as rocky as the road is sure to be, I want to believe him. While reading, I couldn’t help but think of the work of Chris Rufo—another tireless champion of basic American principles.

I highly recommend this book to all my readers, and I encourage you to take Carl’s program to heart; likely, it’s the first step forward.

An excerpt from my review:

“If Age of Entitlement falls short anywhere—and it is difficult to argue that it does—it would be that Caldwell never uses the term ­anti-white to describe our present politics. Granted, the term would have been unthinkable in a mainstream publication before 2020. Previously, writers who addressed anti-white racial animus could expect severe professional and reputational consequences. Caldwell probably said as much as he dared at the time. But the political landscape has changed in significant ways since 2020. The George Floyd riots, a self-inflicted border crisis, and the Biden Administration’s openly discriminatory policies, along with Elon Musk’s purchase of X, have widened the aperture for political discourse and left little room for doubt that the hand of power in this country is decidedly anti-white.

To help us navigate this treacherous ground, Jeremy Carl has written The Unprotected Class: How Anti-White Racism Is Tearing America Apart, a timely book that builds on Caldwell’s thesis to argue that anti-white racism is the most predominant and politically powerful form of racism in America today, and that it is being used to systematically dispossess America’s white majority.

To admit this is no small thing, even in a hotly charged political environment where race features so prominently. Speaking on behalf of white Americans today is to invite ostracism, harassment, and threats of violence. And because reputation and prestige are vital to the careers of public intellectuals like Carl, weighing in on such a contentious subject is to risk sacrificing important friendships and opportunities. That he would step forward to challenge America’s greatest taboo and say the unspeakable is not only admirable but displays a rare kind of patriotism that we desperately need today.

Carl shows courage and integrity throughout The Unprotected Class. Most notably, his adherence to an older notion of equality that rejects racial preferences of any kind and simply insists on equal rights for all Americans. Despite the countless outrages and injustices detailed in the book, Carl makes it clear that his purpose is not to stoke racial resentment or demoralize but to accurately describe a serious problem and offer pragmatic steps to correct it. In this way Carl, like Caldwell before him, departs from the intellectual herd to follow in the footsteps of that first generation of Americans who boldly traced the contours of power, despite a variety of rhetorical tricks and disguises used to shield Americans from seeing how politics actually functioned… all to champion the cause of liberty.”

Thanks for reading, and please share your thoughts below.

Always,

Lee