Prof creates checklist for detecting white supremacy
An English professor at Linfield College has developed a checklist that is intended to help individuals determine whether they are white supremacists.
In a Friday op-ed for Inside Higher Ed, professor Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt explains that after many years of contemplation, she “created a list of qualities and attributes of those that overtly or covertly support or contribute to a culture of mundane and everyday white supremacy within our institutions.”
[RELATED: Prof: 'The modern GOP is nothing but white supremacy']
The academic then goes on to outline 15 of her core “troubles” that she “identified to help others in academe recognize your (un)conscious contributions to white supremacy.”
The first item on the lengthy list of transgressions is working “in a position of power in a predominantly white institution” and doing nothing “to change the white supremacist power structures within your departments, committees and institutional decision-making process.”
Likewise, another sign of aiding white supremacy is thinking that marginalized colleagues who complain about oppressive work conditions are “difficult,” and saying “I am so sorry. This is unbelievable” to colleagues and students who claim “that they experienced microaggressions,” Dutt-Ballerstadt claims.
The checklist further asserts that wanting to nominate “‘stellar’ (mostly men) and obviously ‘white’” colleagues for leadership positions and awards is also a sign of aiding white supremacy, and implicitly supports “a logic of meritocracy that is built on this racist assumption that everyone has had the same access and opportunities.”
[RELATED: ‘Meritocracy’ is a ‘tool of whiteness,’ claims math professor]
“When it comes to understanding your own white privilege, you get very angry if a faculty member of color points out to you where and how your privilege is operating,” another bullet point states. “You deem such critiques as ‘uncivil’ and as not supporting a collegial environment.”
Among other points, the academic also contends that white supremacy is supported by those who “actively discourage” people of color when they “complain to you about discrimination and racism,” as well as by those who advise faculty of color to be more mindful “in respecting the viewpoint of our students.”
Notably, the professor’s checklist also includes individuals “who benefit so much from the system” that they decide “to stay out of all of this ‘identity politics,’” and those who have never thought of themselves “as an ally to any of the causes of faculty of color.”
[RELATED: Prof: ‘ALL white people are racist,’ ‘ALL men are sexist’]
“If you have made it to this point,” Dutt-Ballerstadt concludes, “you are probably feeling quite hypervisible or fragile and have decided to have some hot chamomile tea from a cup that reads ‘White Tears’ or ‘Black Lives Matter.’”
Dutt-Ballerstadt did not immediately respond to Campus Reform’s request for comment.
Follow this author on Facebook: Nikita Vladimirov
