UVM holds retreat so students "who self-identify as white” can understand their white privliege

Demographically, VT is the whitest state in the union (95.3%) and only 1% black. UVM already enrolls black student at a rate above their proportional representation in the population.

I'd like to take some liberals on a drive around Houston and count how many able-bodied black men run to cars to have some money given to them. I've seen white guys too.

It is a great city to observe the working class vs the bums. Construction sites are fantastic because you have the perfect mix of Mexican, black, and white workers, all working together. They talk to sh-t to each other, they drink beer with each other, and they make money together.

I am so sick of all of this media and higher-ed driven BS. Ultimately, we all just want to make money, have fun, and live free, regardless of what these uni-culturalist as-holes want us to think.

Self-identified progressive here, and I can't decide if that seminar is more hilarious or nauseating. I feel the same way about the young guys who jump into every political thread, so they can use the word "libtard."

Vermont:

1) Continues to re-elect Bernie Sanders, despite the Appalachialization of the state's economy.

2) Awards ribbons at VARSITY cross-country dual meets

3) Has a JV race at the cross-country state meet

Nothing that happens in Vermont should be taken seriously.

I am triggered by the microagressions in this thread.

How about citizens of this country start identifying themselves simply as Americans? As far as I can tell, it's the liberal side that is nonstop insistent on sorting people by race and ethnicity

How about the conservatives stop sorting people by whether or not they are "Christian."

Lib Rules wrote:

Regards!!! wrote:

The way you're viewing it, it really wouldn't be that bad, but you didn't read the description.

This is a retreat where white kids can go learn how evil they are and how good they have it, never mind what their lives have truly been like (per Kudzu's point).

And might I ask...? Who is paying for all of this? It says it is free and that meals are provided.

No, folks like you believe that "This is a retreat where white kids can go learn how evil they are and how good they have it". It does not say that anywhere in the description. People that are only capable of inferring that is what is most troubling to me. They are desperately in need of this retreat themselves!

What do you honestly think they are learning? To be proud of their race and embrace their heritage? Seriously what kind of positivity do you think exists that contrasts the supposed misconception of the folks who "believe that."

why do you think UVM is taking steps with regard to racial sensitivity? It's precisely because it is a place for coddled rich and upper middle class white kids to go skiing and party. When I was there, they hired virtually all non-white faculty one year in a short-lived effort to address their lack of faculty diversity. I taught an ALANA class on philosophy of race. One rich white student had her mom complain to the dean of the college because I told her she could not talk in class, while another rich white student complained that a white person was teaching the class.

jjjjj, are these students Jewish? Serious question. I have a friend that used to work Jewish summer camps up in those areas.

Lib Rules wrote:

Regards!!! wrote:

The way you're viewing it, it really wouldn't be that bad, but you didn't read the description.

This is a retreat where white kids can go learn how evil they are and how good they have it, never mind what their lives have truly been like (per Kudzu's point).

And might I ask...? Who is paying for all of this? It says it is free and that meals are provided.

No, folks like you believe that "This is a retreat where white kids can go learn how evil they are and how good they have it". It does not say that anywhere in the description. People that are only capable of inferring that is what is most troubling to me. They are desperately in need of this retreat themselves!

I think you're a troll, but in the event that you are not:

My point was that the situation that you suggested would be beneficial. It would be nice to go to a workshop with people of other races to learn of their struggles, etc. My wife and I went to a marriage retreat through our church. I thought it was going to be the stupidest thing in the world, but it was actually fantastic. We talked through a lot of issues that we would have normally never touched. I want to point out that we are VERY open with each other and neither of us are "church retreat" or "marriage retreat" people. But enough about that... I only bring it up because sometimes it can help to discuss these things in a "safe place."

The problem here is that it is a retreat for white people to learn about their own privilege. I am not sure how that helps. I can see where a workshop that included both white and black people might be helpful, but why just whites? It is like a reeducation camp to learn how easy you've had it in life, when in actuality some of us have had a damn tough time.

How about growing up with a drunk father who beats you for fun? How about growing up with a fierce Southern accent? How about focusing on running and school because you know that if you even sniff at trouble, you'll be kicked out of the house. How about working your butt off to get into a State school, making good grades while forgoing the partying, sports and other parts of the "college lifestyle" so you can keep your scholarship, work full time and then hopefully make it into a grad program?

So now that person is supposed to feel good about a weekend that is established to tell them how good they've had it? How they don't deserve what they have done? How it's been so easy for them?

How about this: How about we all treat each other as individual human beings? How about we accept that people are differe...

Fvck it, nevermind... You have your marching orders on both sides and I am playing right into it. 10/10

This statement shows just how clueless most whites are:

"How about growing up with a drunk father who beats you for fun? How about growing up with a fierce Southern accent? How about focusing on running and school because you know that if you even sniff at trouble, you'll be kicked out of the house. How about working your butt off to get into a State school, making good grades while forgoing the partying, sports and other parts of the "college lifestyle" so you can keep your scholarship, work full time and then hopefully make it into a grad program?"

You think that talking differently and forgoing the college lifestyle are difficult barriers. If only people of color were so lucky to have these as their main concern.

There are organizations that have only just recently celebrated major "firsts" with people of color. It's 2015. Think about that. How many opportunities do we take for granted? And, playing the economic card only gets you so far. There's a different perception when white kids are seen vandalizing as opposed to when people of color are - especially Blacks. Blacks are constantly deemed suspicious, whereas Whites more often than not get a pass.

Your comments show that you are the one who is truly clueless. Go out into the world and talk to people. You are not correct in your assumptions.

Lib rules sounds like they're about 22 years old.

We the People wrote:

toldyaso wrote:

Will refreshments be provided?

So funny you said that. I was just thinking that this is the same generation who grew up not being able to participate in one single activity without being handed a snack. So yes, I'm certain juice boxes and gluten-free cookies will be provided.

Guess this guy doesn't watch South Park.

Any Which Way But Loose wrote:

We the People wrote:

So funny you said that. I was just thinking that this is the same generation who grew up not being able to participate in one single activity without being handed a snack. So yes, I'm certain juice boxes and gluten-free cookies will be provided.

They should have punch and pie.

More people will come if they think they have punch and pie.

Free hats should be offered. People will come for a free hat. FREE HAT! FREE HAT!

What assumptions?

About a decade ago, I spent a couple of years researching a book on varieties of racial reconciliation. There are many varieties--more than most people might realize. My planned book had six or seven chapters. I wrote one chapter on New Age modalities, focusing on the tension within New Age thought between letting go of the past and, on the other hand, recuperating and making peace with the wounds of the collective past.

I was particularly struck by the work of Rev. Michael Beckwith. He's a black minister in California who preaches his own version of the Baha'i color-blindness creed:

http://agapelive.com/index.php?page=3

There are other interfaith, New Thought, and New Age spiritual communities where racial wounds are ministered to and healed by moving onto, so to speak, a higher plane. Marianne Williamson wrote a great book on the subject, from a Course in Miracles perspective, called HEALING THE SOUL OF AMERICA:

http://www.amazon.com/Healing-Soul-America-Reclaiming-Spiritual/dp/0684846225/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447962114&sr=8-1&keywords=HEALING+THE+SOUL+OF+AMERICA

I ended up not writing the book. Instead I got married to a black woman from Dallas and we had a kid. I decided to live it instead of writing about it.

I'm all in favor of diversity, in other words. I live it in my family, and my extended family. It would be fair to say that I don't countenance racism; I've called it out on this forum, repeatedly. By the same token, I'm leery of professional diversity educators, of whatever color, who believe they've got it all figured out. Such people are quite convinced that it's a good thing to bring a bunch of palefaced kids into a room, call them "white," and convince them that they are privileged. Inevitably, regardless of the disclaimers, they are interested in convincing those "white" people that they are the bearers NOT of privilege, but of what a theorist Aaron David Gresson called a "spoiled racial identity." They're contaminated by whiteness; whiteness is bad; therefore they, in some way, are bad.

I understand the strategic essentialist gambit that these diversity professionals are working--I understand the rationale for it, I should say--but I don't agree with it.

I think they would encounter much less resistance, and engage their student charges with considerably less bad faith, if they said "Full citizenship is a right, not a privilege, and a community of fully empowered individuals is our goal."

The question then becomes, Who has full citizenship and who, for whatever reasons, does not? Who is fully empowered in all social environments, and who is not--and why?

If you begin that way, not by ascribing "privilege" to "white people" but by articulating shared goals, then you can actually begin to have a conversation, without undue defensiveness. If a black man my age says, "I wouldn't even THINK of leaving my house without my driver's license and driving three miles to a local trail to run, because I'd be in deep s--t if a cop stopped me," I can have an Aha! moment. I can say, "Hmmm. That's what I've been doing for the past ten years without giving it a second thought."

Am I privileged, or is he disprivileged? Sounds to me like what we should both want is a society where the cops will cut either one of us exactly the same slack. And it seems to me that I should want for him the same thing I want for myself.

I think it makes more sense to call him disprivileged, and to agree that what we both want is a society where the cops treat us the same way. But maybe we shouldn't focus relentlessly on words like privilege and disprivilege. Maybe we should share stories, without rancor, and not be quite so attached to labels.

^Cliffs Notes version, if possible. Lots of millennials here.

I would say by the fact that ALANA hosts this retreat and the title of the retreat, it is supposed to teach white students to feel shame for being white and all the perceived advantages that come with it. You're probably taught to try and give non-whites the benefit of the doubt or an advantage any time you can. You need to feel white-guilt when you work hard for something and always think in the back of your mind that the only reason you have achieved success in something is because of your skin color advantage. As a result of this fact, you'll inadvertently learn to hold non-white people to a lower standard than you would yourself (since things are so easy for you), and therefore do those non-whites a disservice.

Lowered expectations for others will be your new mindset after the retreat, a very hush-hush type of racism that is almost NEVER talked about. You'll truly learn to believe that all types of Affirmative Action are necessary to make up for all your skin color advantages you have in life. Others will never be able to bridge the gap to a point where just is much is expected/required of them to succeed as there is of you due to your whiteness.