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Community college cancels their diversity meeting b/c they excluded white people
- Thread starter Rentahamster
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onadesertedisland
Member
That would be a limitation of the medium. We don't know what the email intended. Only the words contained.
Tal Shiar Agent
Banned
Rich white men do for sure, but if you can't afford to go to an Ivey League school without accruing massive debt you get shit on.
The biggest issue is the division between rich and poor, not races at this point. It is the stupidly rich white men which perpetuate institutionalized racism, not Joe Shmoe.
Yes, it was very poorly worded. I had to read it a couple of times to make sure she wasn't implying that we're all a bunch of white supremacists.
The instruction is definitely discriminatory. Ask yourself if it would be "okay" if the roles were reversed. I keep coming to the same conclusion, and that is "No; the backlash would be extraordinary if that was the case."
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Reminds me of the times when I would limp home after school after being beaten up by a group of kids who kept calling me "fucking white boy". Luckily I was able to tell myself that it wasn't racism, you know, me being white and all. That made it feel better.
Massive Duck. C.M.
Banned
There's a backlash in this case. It's not her fault that some people have poor reading comprehension, or that some people are offended by the idea of people of color wanting a safe space for a short time.
That's my guess as well, not to mention that it skews the national debate conveniently away from economic discrimination. I have yet to see one single instance where identity politics doesn't turn everything that touches into shit.
well, where is this article taking place again?
Do you think racism will go away if people just ignore it?
Devolution
Member
Can't say I mind really. Exclusionary safe spaces for minority/oppressed groups is sometimes necessary.
I think your missing the point. Excluding anyone for any reason is discrimination.
Massive Duck. C.M.
Banned
Oh, I'm not missing your point or anyone else's. I'm saying in this case, it's not THE point.
Specific classes of white men do certainly. But it's probably unfair to treat all white males as a homogenous group. Much of the "white people are discriminated against as much as blacks" rhetoric comes from poor and disadvantaged white people (almost always men) misidentifying the cause of their impoverishment as being affirmative action, gender quotas etc. when the real cause is the overwhelmingly terrible effects of income inequality on society. That doesn't mean it's particularly productive to tell white males of all income and strata that they've got it made.
As it is, I don't have a huge problem with the email in the OP. I think it could've been worded a bit less trenchantly, but there's definitely an advantage to people being able to air out their grievances in a way where they don't have to worry about someone constantly arguing them down/that's not racist etc.
The quote from the OP is something I can imagine the Dean saying to defend this, even if he IS white lol
Man-is-Obsolete
Member
A diversity group with exclusions, how silly.
Yuck.
Byakuya769
Member
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAAHHA.
WHOOOOOO.
If there were racial issues and issues of discrimination at the campus, the victims deserve no space to discuss it without giving an open invitation to some of the people who may perpetuate it? Failing to invite said perpetrators then shifts the failure of true diversity on to the victims. Amazing.
From white people arguing against them constantly, suggesting that such and such a thing 'isn't racist' or dismissing someone's personal experience of racism.
Even white people just being there changes the whole timbre of the event and makes it less discursive. I'm not trying to say there should be a carte blanche to exclude certain voices from a debate but it's useful to have these spaces so experiences of racism can be articulated more concretely.
The conversation you have when you're out with your guy friends is different to the conversation you have when you're out with your guy friends and you all bring your girlfriends along.
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Banned
Nevermind
So not inviting white people is protecting people from racists?
They have this. It's called prison
Byakuya769
Member
Giving them a space to discuss problem with inclusion and racism with a lessoned worry of it getting back to people in positions of authority? Yes. Ensuring that people feel comfortable expressing their experiences without worry of being seen as a troublemaker, misanthrope or race baiter? Yes.
Your privilege clearly makes it impossible for you to accept this frame. You'd throw a fit about not being invited to a seminar on ending male perpetrated sexual violence and making the school safer towards women too, wouldn't you?
Massive Duck. C.M.
Banned
Hope that was worth it
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How is excluding an entire groups viewpoint a good thing? Why just assume that every white person (or every male in the second case) is in cahoots and are working toward hurting non whites/males?
Can whites or men or whoever not learn from others?
Yes and no?
I obviously don't think we should ignore the act of racism by any means, but at the same time we still single people out and profile people by race a lot in America (whether it be for positive or negative reasons). I kind of think that needs to go away.
It's impossible for a white person to attend a meeting like this and not chime in that something isn't actually racist and dismissing opinions.
Take your white privilege blinders off and maybe you'll understand!
Skiptastic
Member
Okay, I can see your point and that's true.
I just think it is unlikely that those "perpetrators" who would actively discriminate are the same people who would likely ask to be invited to such a meeting. Wouldn't it be more likely that the people who would want to attend such a meeting would be sympathetic to increasing a culture of diversity and support? Shouldn't there be an open dialogue?
Or, hell, if you want to take the approach of creating a support group that doesn't want to have an open invite to those who perpetuate it, how about don't send out an email to EVERY staff member. Have some piecemeal way of disseminating it to those faculty of color without just sending out a mass email that could be construed as being exclusive instead of inclusive when talking about a (typically) inclusive subject like diversity.
These are all good points that, you're right, I hadn't considered. I still hold that it could have been handled in a less confrontational way, but in this context, I can see how it would be beneficial.
Isn't that what feminists often ask for? That the boys get educated about sexual assaults as well, instead of just telling girls to not get drunk?
Byakuya769
Member
Of course! And they can arrange to meet and discuss with them those issues they are interested in.
There are times on GAF where I really can't tell what is sarcasm and what isn't.
Omegasquash
Member
The quick glance at this reads like it excludes white people, then says that if those white people want to get together to do some racist shit then they can do that.
I'm I'm reading that right, sounds pretty racist and angry.
I'm I'm reading that right, sounds pretty racist and angry.
CrocMother
Banned
Neither of those problems is resolved by not letting white people in. People of color can be in positions of authority and take offense to "race baiting".
What you definitely create by doing this is creating an "us and them" mentality based on race, which is never good.
Massive Duck. C.M.
Banned
You can pretty much ignore him without missing out
You're not, but you're not the only one
jadedm17
Member
Diversity training is Bullshit.
Note : Watch more Bullshit by Penn and Tellar
Unless the guys showing up are carrying baseball bats, staring people down, or being disruptive, you'd think that the people running the seminar would be happy to have men attend. In fact, when I went to college, there was a seminar on this subject that required everyone to attend.
Exactly, that's what I was getting at. There is clearly a backlash, as we're talking about it right now; I was just saying for the people who think this isn't wrong, to just reverse the roles.
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Edit Nevermind, it's just the same back and forth forever. It's like talking politics or religion or whatever, nobody is ever going to convince anyone else.
I don't think it did that at all.
It basically asked white people to come up with their own ways to fight racism among themselves.
Byakuya769
Member
A seminar for victims? I didn't think I needed to spell that out, but ok.
Booty Patrol
Banned
Doesn't sound like a 'diversity meeting' to me.
You could be (and in retrospect probably are) right. I may have fallen for the trap laid by the topic title.
echoshifting
Banned
Karama Blackhorn, co-author of the note:
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