Pacific University staff psychologist Dr. Shirley Ley is hosting a weekly webinar series called "Rising from the Margins." Ley said the platform is “dedicated to those who have been perceived as inferior or less worthy” due to their background.
In Episode 10 "The Intersection of Race, Class, and Disability," Ley spoke with the Director of Accessible Education at Willamette University Sue Minder. During that episode, uploaded to the university's official YouTube channel on July 22, Minder said,
“Every white person in this country is racist" because they “benefit from the structure of racism.”
Relevant portion begins around 12:40
When asked to confront privileges, she said that most people usually respond with “I’m not a racist, I would never use a racial slur.”
“I think the first step is we get over it,” said Minder of that reaction.
“Stop trying to pretend we don’t have privileges of some sort, because most of us do have unearned advantages,” said Minder.
In episode 11 "White Supremacy Work Culture," Ley talked about the idea that “whiteness is the supreme standard by which all peoples of culture are measured.”
“It is important for us, particularly racialized peoples, to understand how every single day of our existence is influenced and infiltrated by white supremacy ideals,” said Ley.
She went on to list three “indicators of white supremacy culture.”
They are "perfectionism," which she called "the need to get things done right all the time;"
the "sense of urgency," which she called "the idea that things should have been done yesterday;"
and "quantity over quality," which she said is "only focusing on parts of your life that are directed towards producing measurable goals."
The webinar currently has more than a dozen episodes. Some other available webinar episodes include “Racial Microaggressions,” “The POC Label,” and “Deconstructing the Model Minority Stereotype.”
Well, if I'm a racist and there's nothing I can do about it, I might as well go all out, I suppose. It also means I don't have to feel guilty about it because there's nothing I could have done about it and nothing I can do about it now.