University training teaches students to confront 'personal relationship to white supremacy'

A student and professor team at the University of Florida teamed up to create a week-long training called “Academics for Black Survival and Wellness.” Student Pearis Bellamy and Professor Della Mosley, created the initiative “for academics to honor the toll of racial trauma on Black people, resist anti-Blackness and white supremacy, and facilitate accountability and collective action.”

The stated goals of the week were to “deepen” participants’ “understanding of the history and deep-rooted nature of anti-Black racism in the U.S.,” help them confront their “personal relationship to white supremacy and anti-Black racism,” and to reflect on their own “personal impact” on “Black people in your immediate environmental context.”

Participants were also asked to establish a “personalized plan to enhance the safety and wellness of Black students, staff, faculty, alums, and community members through your academic roles,” as well as to “take action that includes time, energy, financial resources, and accountability until Black liberation is realized.”

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“All academics in the U.S. are socialized in white supremacy. Because of this socialization, it is imperative you can recognize and lean into the psychological resistance that comes up as it relates to understanding and engaging in work related to anti-Black racism and white supremacy,” explains the training description. “We will provide material for reflection to help you understand these processes and how you may contribute to or perpetuate them.”

The week-long activities included a separate activity for “Black Folx” and others focused on topics like “White Terror and Anti-Black Violence.”

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”As our non-Black colleagues engage with anti-racist activities, we want to create space for all Black people to heal. We will email people who are registered with information on healing spaces and opportunities for Black people in and out of academia to come together,” the “Black Folx” event description stated.

Young Americans for Freedom Chapter Chairman at the University of Florida, Phillip Smith, told Campus Reform, “it saddens me to see such racial division stoked on our campus, but it seems that over this past week UF has gone down the slippery slope of intersectionality and wokeness.”

“It began with banning a tradition, but now they’re blaming students for things that they have no responsibility for. My hope is that we can move past this divisiveness and go back to what made us a top ten public university in the first place.” Smith added.

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