Given that nativism is a part of human nature, a thoughtful writer might tell us how to allow for its healthy expression while fighting its toxic excesses. Instead, Kendi condemns it wholesale—as if we can scold the parts of human nature we don’t like out of existence. As Steven Pinker explained in his brilliant book The Blank Slate, progressives like Kendi generally don’t believe in a fixed human nature that contains an element of tribalism and nativism. Instead, they believe that human beings are almost entirely shaped by environment, culture, and experience—and therefore nativism can be erased through proper education.