If I was walking past a black guy and he gave me a head nod I would think to myself, “He is nodding to say ‘Hey,’” which is a thing that happens from time to time when you pass a stranger, albeit less frequently in the Northeast than other parts of the U.S. And I would nod back, as I would to anyone who nodded at me, because it would be weird not to!

Popular lib racial discourse remains absolutely bizarre and neurotic and the vast majority of the thought leaders in this space — the sorts of people invited to talk about it on (say) a NYT podcast — do not come across as normal, well-adjusted people.

[Editing to add link: nytimes.com/2026/05/29/…]