How am I just finding this now? Great article. I enjoy his work too, but find it a little problematic in much the same way you do. I think classism over time (and in America) leads to systemic racism - and that’s a separate problem from interpersonal racism more generally. I think his work sometimes misses the mark on that count.

I also enjoyed you holding your own - the natural inclination when accused of being a racist is to either fight or ideologically run away, you’ve done neither - you just put boundaries in. This is what I said. This is what I mean. Not everyone writing about race has to toe either a progressive or conservative line - there are independent thinkers out there and you are one of them. I suspect you will be pissing people off, but doing that by stating reasonable positions and never being aggressive shows there’s an issue with the discourse and not with you. Keep up the good work! :o)