Prominent “anti-racism” advocate Chloé Valdary criticized Trevor Noah, host of “The Daily Show,” for attacking comments about race that Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson recently made on the “Joe Rogan Experience.”
What did Noah say?
In an episode of “The Daily Show” this week, Noah attacked Rogan and Peterson for briefly discussing race on a recent episode of Rogan’s podcast.
“Oh my God! I’m not black! I’m… not black! Joe Rogan’s right! I’m like a Caramel Mocha Frappuccino. This changes everything! This changes everything!” Noah mocked.
“But yeah, apparently Joe Rogan really wants to know why they say ‘black people’ if they’re not the color of a Sharpie — and this actually is a common question,” Noah continued, mocking Peterson as being so “white” that “he could be Snow White.”
“The things these guys seem to be ignoring is that black people didn’t call themselves black. You understand that, right? It’s not like black people were like, ‘We’re black.’ No. In Africa, we have tribes. We have cultures,” Noah said. “But then white people got there, and they were like, ‘Wow. There’s a lot of black people here. A lot of black people.’ Then in America, they invented a rule that if you had one drop of black blood in you, that makes you black, which defined how you were treated by the government and by society.”
How did Valdary respond?
Valdary, creator of a popular anti-racism training called the Theory of Enchantment, fired back on Friday and explained that Rogan and Peterson were making the exact point that Noah himself made.
“My God, Did Trevor not realize that this was precisely Rogan and Peterson’s point, that this rule is stupid, and that blackness and whiteness are made up things? Did the Daily Beast not realize it either? Are all ya’ll just doing things for clicks?? Sighhhh,” Valdary responded.
In fact, Rogan and Peterson observed how the terms used to describe different races, like “white” and “black,” are inaccurate because people are not truly completely white or completely black.
Rather, Rogan and Peterson suggested that “tan” and “brown” are more accurate descriptions because skin tone exists on a color spectrum.
“The black and white thing is so strange because the shades are such a spectrum of shades of people. Unless you are talking to someone who is, like, 100% African from the darkest place where they are not wearing any clothes all day and they have developed all of that melanin to protect themselves from the sun— even the term black is weird,” Rogan said. “When you use it for people who are literally my color, it becomes very strange.”
Anything else?
Peterson also responded to Noah’s monologue, and called Noah’s characterization of the conversation “lies.”
“Lies. We were talking about the strange use of ‘black’ and ‘white’ to describe people who are in fact tan and brown,” Peterson said. “And if you can’t see polarization in the former usage then you’re simply not paying enough attention.”