4um: Always room in the budget for white guilt

Title: Always room in the budget for white guilt
Source: Star-Tribune (Minneapolis)
URL Source: http://www.startribune.com/opinion/otherviews/119508364.html
Published: Apr 9, 2011
Author: Katherine Kersten
Post Date: 2011-04-12 17:40:37 by X-15
Keywords: None
Views: 297
Comments: 10

In Lakeville, for example, the school board recently announced wrenching cuts of almost $7 million. Ninety-four teachers will lose their jobs, arts programs will suffer and a school will be closed.

There was wailing and gnashing of teeth, but the board set its jaw: There's not a dime for anything extra.

The Lakeville schools are sending a delegation of teachers to the 12th annual "White Privilege Conference" at the Bloomington Sheraton from April 13-16. The district is shelling out $160 a pop -- plus $125 a day for teacher subs -- for this "white guilt" festival.

Organizers say they expect attendees from a number of other Minnesota districts.

The conference is "built on the premise that the U.S. was started by white people, for white people," according to conference materials. Its mission is to get participants to confront their biases in a "journey in understanding white supremacy, whiteness, privilege, power and oppression," and to "agree to take action in [their] own circle of power."

The conference is sponsored by the Minnesota Justice Collaborative, a consortium of local higher-education and philanthropic institutions. It is expected to draw 1,500 teachers, students, activists, artists, social workers and counselors from more than 40 states. Minnesota public schools are represented on the list of speakers and workshop presenters.

To find out, we can peruse the keynote address for the 2009 conference. It was delivered by "social justice educator" Paul Kivel and appeared in the conference journal, "Understanding and Dismantling Privilege."

Kivel begins with what passes these days as a prayer: "I want to acknowledge the creative spirits in the world that nurture and sustain us and that connect us to each other and to the plant and animal life around us."

Then he winds up for a fire-and-brimstone sermon. We Americans "are completely dependent on U.S. imperialism and war to sustain our daily lives."

Our schools, too, are riddled with racial bias. "Our school system has been set up ... to perpetuate white supremacy and white privilege." Poor and minority students "do not drop out -- they are pushed out."

What's gone wrong? For one thing, Christianity has far too much influence. It "has played a key role in developing and justifying sources of oppression" such as "violence and genocide," Kivel tells us, and is "the beginning of modern or biological racism."

But don't despair, he counsels. We must look beyond our "declining empire" to "exciting progressive developments" in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela -- among them, "land reform and redistribution of wealth, neighborhood committees, recognition of women's unpaid labor, end of spanking."

Uh huh, thought so. Poke that name into wikipedia and see what the first result is. I dare ya.

It's a little risky getting the word out so early about the White Privilege Conference in Minnesota next spring, planners say.

That's because it's a provocative topic. And there's always the possibility that the "haters," as one of the organizers puts it, will descend in mass and try to disrupt peaceful discussions about the advantages of being white in America and the oppression that has led to.

Still, that's not happened in the 11 years since the conference founding in Mount Vernon, Iowa.

And, there are still too many people who don't know what the White Privilege Conference is to not get the word out, a triumvirate, the local chair people, told me over a bowl of soup the other day.

Lisa Albrecht started with a full head of steam. "White people don't often understand we are born with a set of benefits, whether we like it or not, that advantage us as white people in the world,'' said Albrecht, a white University of Minnesota professor in the school of social work in the undergraduate social justice minor program.

It's a conference and discussion "built on the premise that the U.S. was started by white people, for white people,'' according to conference materials.

"What white folks don't understand is their privilege and power in the system of how the USA works. When you hear 'U.S. citizen,' do you think of Raul? Somebody looking at him and asking, 'where are you from?' I've never been asked that,'' said Rick Purcel, who is white and who works as safety and systems coordinator for the Minneapolis YWCA, as he talked about colleague Raul Ramos at the table across from him.

"For me as a person of color, I always have to think of who I am,'' responded Raul Ramos, senior access and opportunity specialists with the Minnesota State Colleges and University Diversity and Multi-Culturalism Division. The conference is his opportunity to "rejuvenate" himself and to work with like-minded people "interested in turning this country into an anti-racist, multi-cultural country,'' said Ramos, who also facilitates the Higher Education Anti-Racism Team, a group of local colleges and universities.

Conference theme and speakers
More than 1,500 people from all over the country are expected to attend the conference set for April 13 to April 16, 2011, in Bloomington. The theme is "This Land is Whose Land? Defining Citizenship, Understanding Access, Taking Action.'' Hosting is the new Minnesota Justice Collaborative, which includes Minnesota Colleges and Universities, Augsburg College, the YWCA Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota, among others. Conference sign-up begins in mid-January.

Speakers include:

Rose M. Brewer, scholar-activist, professor of African-American and African studies at the University of Minnesota, as well as co-author of "The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide" and Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, "feminist, revolutionary, and historian."

The conference is far-ranging in its inclusivity, with privilege topics extending beyond skin color to gender, sexuality, class and disability. All are woven together, the planners say, adding that issues of poverty and land ownership for Native Americans will figure prominently in the Minnesota conference.

As for the conference shaking up folks?

"This conference is on the radar of conservatives because it threatens the status quo, because we're not just talking about individual change, we're talking about systems change,'' said Albrecht.

"Understanding, connecting, respecting" are keys to the conference, Purcell said.

It's all about trying to transform institutions, building lasting relationships, said Ramos.

They have given us into the hand of new unhappy lords. Lords without anger and honor, who dare not carry their swords. They fight by shuffling papers; they have bright dead alien eyes; They look at our labor and laughter as a tired man looks at flies. - G.K. Chesterton

How many Harvard educated Jews you suppose were involved with organizing this conference?

"I am not one of those weak-spirited, sappy Americans who want to be liked by all the people around them. I don’t care if people hate my guts; I assume most of them do. The important question is whether they are in a position to do anything about it." - William S Burroughs

I want either less corruption or more opportunity to participate in it. Ashleigh Brilliant

I flipped by FOX News while ago and Sean Hannity was being outraged and indignant about it.

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"This man is Jesus,” shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. “When will he come to Kenya to save us?"

White privilege: Minnesota planners says conference will take on sensitive topic head on

By Cynthia Boyd | Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010