After the right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk’s death last year, a video clip resurfaced in which he proclaimed that Black Americans “are poorer, more murderous, and more dangerous” today than in the Jim Crow era. The soundbite sparked outrage in liberal circles, owing to the dubious suggestion that Jim Crow had conferred some advantages on its victims, and became a flashpoint in the debate about Kirk’s legacy. Since then, Kirk’s claim has spread far and wide, with respected figures like Shelby Steele of Stanford University and the former Reagan adviser Robert Woodson peddling a similar line.