University to students: 'All whites are racist'

[DanaC]

I do think that education through schools can help. When I was at secondary school in the 80s, most of the schools in my town were quite racially mixed and promoted a multi-cultural attitude. We celebrated Christmas and easter, harvest festival, and eid and ramadam. Come to think of it so was primary school.
For the most part my generation in that part of the country are pretty non racist.

Where I live now, we have very segregated schools (de facto, not de jure :P) and the generation growing up in them are much less cohesive.

As I stated, taking the attitude that focusing on differences would just not be tolerated (like todays intentionally segregated dorms & stupid-centers... those would be out, you could not separate yourselves based on melanin content).
I have no issue with teaching different cultural backgrounds as long as none are preferred, like giving two weeks off for an xian holiday and none for muslim or pagan ones.

[DanaC]

If parents get to choose which school they send their children to, the majority send them to schools where the children are predominantly from the same cultural background.

Its very difficult to stop that process without imposing diversity which then becomes resented and a cause of alarm.

Same with regard to the 'white flight' problem in housing.

People should be sent to the local school and be allowed to live where they want... part of ignoring melanin.

[DanaC]

*smiles* yes they should. But unfortunately the result is that people aren;t ignoring melanin. They are making decisions based on race and culture.

So you want to do what the University is doing, indoctrinate them and their kids against their will?
BTW, I don't believe that those who move to the burbs do so because of race, urban myth.
As soon as people of color get the jack they do the same thing.

[DanaC]

So you want to do what the University is doing, indoctrinate them and their kids against their will?

Nope. Nothing as crass as what the university is suggesting.

What I was saying, is that in fact i don't know the answer. I was pointing out some cultural changes in my own country which occurred when the way in which school places were allocated changed and the demographic mix of our schools began to change with it. I do believe you can use state education to promote a healthy attitude towards your fellow citizens and good community cohesion. On its own it isnt a silver bullet but done right it can help with that generational change.

BTW, I don't believe that those who move to the burbs do so because of race, urban myth.
As soon as people of color get the jack they do the same thing.

I'm not talking about people moving to the 'burbs. I am talking about people moving from one part of town, or one street to another in order to be amongst a cultural mix they feel more comfortable with and in order to ensure their children go to a school that doesn't have a high proportion of non-white pupils. It's not a myth it's a well documented trend. I have no idea whether or not it applies in the states, I just know it applies over here.

In terms of 'people of colour' doing the same, I don't doubt it.

True story: theres an area f my town which became the main settlement point for our Irish community. They faced terrible anti-Irish sentiment if they tried to move into other parts of town and they sought out people with similar backgrounds and experiences in order to provide each other with a support circle. As time went on attitudes towards the Irish began to alter, and the Irish community became more settled and around the same time, there was a new wave of immigration from Kashmir.

As the new immigrants moved into the area where the Irish had traditionally based themselves, they faced racism from without that area and within. The Irish for their part moved out in large numbers.

Part of this is because house prices were thought (and possibly did, i don't know for sure) to go down on the street when an asian family moved in. One family moves in people get afraid that more of them will follow and put their house up for sale. Because there is an asian family or two living in that street and there are a few houses for sale on it, it makes sense for the incoming asian families to consider buying there. As the mix of the street changes, during a time of racial tension and fear more of the white (or Irish in the example above) move out.

In terms of schooling. The ward I represent is a fairly racist place. My main political opponents (and they came very close behind me) are a far right, white supremacist party. When I go knocking on doors in that ward people are racist. People are upset at the very small number of immigrants who've moved into the area. One woman told me she'd moved her child to a different school because 'a paki had come into her year'. Not her class mind....her year.

I don't know what the answer is. To remove choice would be to impose those values in a heavy handed way and would likely exacerbate the situation, at least in the short term. But...there was much less emphasis on parental choice when I was at school and that is something which has changed. There have been positive effects from that change, but there have also been negative effects. The main negative effect has been the facilitation of people's desire to self-segregate.

[ZenGum]

"A RACIST: A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. 'The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples within the U.S. system, they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination….'"

This is the most crazy definition of racism I have ever seen. It's so damn crazy I wonder if it wasn't deliberately put together by some closet white supremacist in order to provoke a backlash.

It is true that white people in the USA (and Australia) are benefiting from a historically racist system. That doesn't make all of them racist. There are many white people who work to alleviate the problem.
It is true that black people are still disadvantaged by the lingering effects of that system. That does not mean they cannot be racist.
The weirdest thing about this definition is that it makes it impossible for white people to ever stop being racists. So why bother trying?
No, the weirdest thing is that it is itself racist, by any sensible definition of "racist", such as "making judgments about people based on their race".
What mind-boggling bullshit.
Just wondering, not long ago I heard about a University in the states (maybe Georgia?) that still bans inter-racial dating. Is this still the case? Where is it? How far is it from this university here? Can we arrange an exchange program? :p

[Cloud]

crazy indeed. "All whites are racist" is a mind-boggling statement to me. People are racist. All people persecute the "different."

Education about diversity is a worthwhile thing, IMO, but not from this premise.

ETA: I see they stopped the program now.

[Perry Winkle]

That article sets my bullshit meter off the scale. Something is being mis-stated or mis-represented. Those are twisty words.

[queequeger]

I'm of a like mind, Perry Winkle. While I there's some stupidity in every group of people, and Universities are not excluded from that, this kind of program as presented would have had people screaming bloody murder at it's inception. It's probably a milder form of stupidity, rather than this heavy handed type thing.

[Cicero]

ha haa!!! That's funny...Saying all whites, despite individual qualities, are racist is racist .
That has to be a joke!

[Cloud]

well, it certainly doesn't appear to be a joke. There's a message from the University president about it on the UDelaware website.

[Cicero]

It appears to be a big joke to me...I guess it's one of those subjective opinion things...oh wait, I'm white...we're all alike...nevermind!!

lol!!!

[Happy Monkey]

I remember back when I was in high school, some of the students were using a similar definition of racism. I guess whoever was spreading it back then was successful.