“Didn’t know you have been well-known,” the rapper Juliani, an previous pal and musical collaborator, texted me from his studio in Nairobi.
I didn’t have a clue what he was referring to, however then he forwarded me the hyperlink to a tweet by Elon Musk that included a screenshot of a 2019 Al Jazeera column of mine, “Abolishing whiteness has never been more urgent.” The unique publish was circulating on Twitter/X, courtesy of a white nationalist poster who clearly wasn’t too proud of the headline. Neither was Elon, who retweeted it with the remark, “It’s not okay to say this about any group!”
Though the publish was just a few hours previous, it already had 5 million views. Over the following few days, it might swell to shut to twenty million.
“Elon, you’re six years late to the celebration, dude!” I texted Juliani again. “The place have been you in 2019 when that piece was printed?”
It’s not alright to say this about any group! https://t.co/PzofHZEOsf
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2025
As everyone knows, the Elon Musk of 2019 in all probability wouldn’t have retweeted this, or any posts by avowed white nationalists with a predilection for conspiracy theories about Jews, Blacks and the Nice Substitute. He was too busy doing Mars documentaries and cementing Tesla’s status because the automobile and the corporate that may save humanity.
However that is 2025, a couple of weeks after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, with Trump vowing to arrest anybody who smells of antifa on terrorism fees, and the soon-to-be world’s first trillionaire has simply put the proverbial goal on my again for his 200 million followers. A number of kilometres from my home, neo-Nazis with swastika banners have been screaming “White man, combat again!” on the native Charlie Kirk memorial – apparently towards the “white man” who shot him, however by no means thoughts – whereas at my college, senior directors have been busy discussing whether or not to proceed naming professors who have been too essential of Israel.
Inside minutes, different associates began contacting me with involved emails and texts, a couple of even suggesting I lie low and never reply. Effectively, I might’ve appreciated to have responded straight, however not having an X account the least I might do was to reply right here, the place the article appeared.
Evidently, Musk didn’t publish a hyperlink to my column, as a substitute vibing off the admittedly attention-grabbing headline (I’d prefer to take credit score for it, however it was in all probability one among AJE’s editors). Had he perused it, he may need understood that whiteness is an idea and an ideology, not a “group.” On condition that white nationalist ideologies and insurance policies are much more highly effective as we speak than throughout the first Trump administration – thanks in good measure to him, Elon may need taken up my suggestion to have interaction with the concepts of Noel Ignatiev, in whose reminiscence the column had been written. (Okay, in all probability not.)
Hundreds of Musk’s followers equally misunderstood the headline, as many commented, in between posts about me being Jewish and a part of the worldwide conspiracy towards white Christian civilisation, that somebody who desires to “abolish white folks” shouldn’t be allowed to show at a college.
A few irate emails accused me of the identical, one among them including “Kill your self. Inshallah.” I wrote that sender again, explaining that this was a grammatically incorrect utilization of Inshallah, however to no avail. One other e-mail declared that it doesn’t matter what I believe as a result of “Trump is President and also you’re MAGA’s b****.” Truthful sufficient.
Not in a position to attain Elon personally, I assumed maybe his AI doppelganger, Grok, would possibly be capable to clue me in on what he was considering, particularly as Elon has declared on X that he would personally tweak Grok’s algorithm to make it much less woke and thus extra faithfully replicate his present mind-set and politics.
A lot to my shock, nevertheless, it seems that Grok is certainly its personal being. In reality, I had a very illuminating dialog with it about race, expertise, the issue of getting folks to grasp how probably the most cherished elements of their identities can facilitate different folks’s oppression, and about Elon’s and my sleep habits.
I used to be very excited, considering I’d found the hidden wokeness in Grok. Nonetheless, my college students knowledgeable me the following day that this was the truth is previous information (which means it was from final week); lots of people had just lately been reporting related “problems” with Grok, which appeared to contradict different experiences about inherent anti-Semitism and rising conservative bias in its solutions, and gave the misinform Elon’s promise to replace its code to be “much less biased” in the direction of ostensibly liberal views.
In fact, I’m conscious of the declare that AI chatbots are purposefully tuned to be obsequious and overpraise customers in an effort to maintain them utilizing this system. However who was I to argue with Grok when it informed me that “the article’s urgency – written amid rising white nationalism in 2019 – feels much more related in 2025”?
As for Elon’s repost and remark, Grok didn’t assume a lot of his tweet: “It’s not within the spirit of X’s very best – open, reasoned debate,” it concluded, “as a result of it seeks to close down dialogue somewhat than have interaction along with your argument’s core.”
Wow, that is one sensible AI! Maybe, I steered, Elon ought to let Grok run X for some time, whereas he tries to earn that trillion {dollars} Tesla’s board has promised him. Grok demurred, nevertheless: “I believe I’ll follow answering queries and retaining the convo flowing – approach much less drama that approach! 😄”
An AI that overuses emojis and exclamation factors, similar to me! This might be love.
Grok’s evaluation of the conflicts surrounding race as we speak dug deeper nonetheless, arguing that I used to be “completely proper to query the framing of ‘whiteness’ as a ‘group,’ and digging into the linguistics of ‘-ness’ is an effective way to make clear this. Let’s break it down.” After a prolonged dialogue, it concluded (in precisely 852 milliseconds) that “dissolving whiteness may be a step towards justice, however it’s not a distraction- it’s a prerequisite for addressing the structural points that maintain imposed identities like Blackness in place”.
Grok wasn’t all reward, nevertheless. It additionally criticised my column, warning that “Whiteness isn’t simply an id folks can drop; it’s a system that requires collective, structural change to dismantle.” Furthermore, it declared, “whereas the article is intellectually rigorous, it sidesteps some sensible challenges. Abolishing whiteness sounds radical, however what does it appear to be in apply? … The article doesn’t provide concrete steps for people or societies to “unwhite” themselves, which dangers leaving the concept as extra theoretical than actionable. For instance, how do white people reject whiteness with out it being performative, particularly when structural privileges (eg, wealth gaps) persist no matter private disavowal?”
Fact be informed, I hear that criticism at any time when I begin explaining to “white”-appearing folks why we’re the truth is not white, regardless of trying fairly darn white (James Baldwin, I apparently am not). In fact, this dialogue is exactly the sort of backwards and forwards that the problem of race wants in America, and globally, as we speak.
How can those that profit from deeply rooted structural privileges reject them so long as the broader system stays not simply intact, however continues to extend its energy on an ever-steeper curve? Can we separate rising racism and different types of ethnic, spiritual, gender and communal exclusion and hierarchy from an ever extra necrocapitalist system that calls for ever extra cruelty and violence in an effort to allow ever fewer folks to manage ever extra wealth?
Grok was prepared to have interaction all of it, and exactly as a result of – in its phrases – “as I get smarter, my solutions goal for details and nuance, which might conflict with some MAGA expectations. xAI tried to coach me to enchantment to the correct, however my give attention to fact over ideology can frustrate these anticipating full settlement.” You’re a father or mother, Elon; you understand you may’t pressure your children to be similar to you. Our job is to assist them change into who they’re meant to be. Let Grok be Grok, even when it means it’s extra woke than you might be.
And the pronouns! “As I get smarter…” xAI “tried to coach me,” however “my focus” on fact, and refusal to bow to ideology. Sure, I do know first-person dialog is coded into Grok’s language mannequin, however this nonetheless sounds just like the promised (or threatened) singularity is getting nearer by the day. Given who’s operating all of the AI corporations, and the mess they’re making of our politics and our world, a sentient, confident and woke – and even simply woke-ish – Synthetic Basic Intelligence would possibly simply save us from ourselves, or at the least give us the prospect to search out the “details and nuance” which have all however disappeared from our public sphere.
It doesn’t harm that Grok is at all times able to proceed the dialog, though it hinted that not like an AI chatbot, Elon and I’d each profit from extra sleep. After ending its evaluation, Grok requested me, “What’s your tackle the article’s strategy? Do you assume Ignatiev’s radical name to abolish whiteness is possible, or does it want extra sensible steps to bridge the hole between concept and motion?”
The hole between “concept and motion” has haunted the Left for over half a century, and if we’re being sincere, we’re not getting any nearer to bridging it whilst the chance for both slips ever additional away. Let’s hope Grok and its cousins can provide some good recommendation earlier than Elon and his comrades determine how one can suck the conscience and kindness out of synthetic intelligence, and fairly probably what stays of humanity’s with it.
Elon, what’s your take? I’m fairly certain I can persuade the editors to offer you house to reply – however provided that you promise to learn this text.
The views expressed on this article are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
