As part of its Campus Equity and Inclusion Forums, the enlightened faculty of Western Washington University have decided to host a workshop that aims to "reduce the impact of white privilege on social and academic relations"...because the best way to address racial barriers (real or imagined) is to host a workshop that targets individuals based purely on their race.
The workshop series, highlighted by The College Fix earlier today, will be hosted by history professor Randall Jimerson who presumably has a lot of personal atoning to do for his white skin. Jimerson noted that while the seminar is open to everybody, it’s especially helpful for white folks who need to learn "how to reduce the expression and effects of their white privilege."
“Most people of color are aware of the existence of ‘white privilege,’ whether or not they have applied this term to the disparity between their experiences and those of white people,” he said via email. “Thus, I assume that the main focus will be on helping white participants to understand, explore, and accept (or reject) the concepts embedded in this phrase.”
“I hope that the conversation will then move to ideas about how to reduce the impact of ‘white privilege’ in our daily interactions with other people, and in our consciousness of race and other socially-constructed concepts.”
Thankfully, Jimerson noted that racism among white people is not based on "biology, but only on social constructs historically designed to privilege ‘white’ people over all others"...which means all white people can be cured of their illness through sensitivity training at any number of liberal bastions of higher education around the country...so it's a good news day.
Meanwhile, asked whether the country has made any progress at all on race relations over the past 50 years, Jimerson said he's encouraged that public schools are no longer segregated but is worried by the fact that Trump has filled his cabinet with a bunch of white supremacists.
“As a white male—even though I have a sister-in-law, a niece, and two nephews who would be described as persons of color—I do not think that I can provide a clear answer to this question,” he said. “The nature of race relations, and how this has changed in the past 50 years, is something that I can only sense indirectly.”
“Although I think that the United States has made progress in some aspects of race relations—such as overt or legal segregation—recent evidence suggest we have a long way to go,” he added. “These forms of evidence range from the racist attacks on former President Barack Obama, to documented incidents of excessive police violence towards people of color, to the increase of white supremacist organizations, and the only slightly veiled racism of many members of the Trump administration. These developments are seriously troubling for anyone who values concepts of fairness, equality, and social justice.”
The country that poor professor is living in sounds just awful...he might be better off just abandoning it and moving to some other country that is more tolerant.
And here's your opportunity to meet the forum organizers: