If you’re attending the University of Richmond (UR), the school views you as one of two things. Depending on your categorization, you’re a victim or oppressor.
Per the college’s Equity page, it’s big on belonging:
Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. Belonging.
In order to fulfill our mission to “educate students for lives of purpose, thoughtful inquiry, and responsible leadership in a diverse world,” we must work together to make Richmond a welcoming place for people from all backgrounds, identities, viewpoints, and experiences.
To what, exactly, will you belong?? As made clear by UR, you belong with the whites or everyone who’s left.
The Equity page features five tabs, one of which is labeled “Antiracism.” On that topic, the school talks intention — and of an ideology that’s explicitly structural:
Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. Belonging.Racial equity is the result of intentionally antiracist policies that are supported by intentionally antiracist ideas. The University of Richmond’s pursuit of racial equity requires proactive institutional antiracist inquiry and education at all levels upon which we must build a solid structure of antiracist policies and practices. In addition, antiracism must attend to the multi-dimensional nature of racism, including the specific and different ways racism has affected individual and group experience(s). A number of current initiatives exemplify the University’s commitment to antiracism as the means to racial equity.
As previously noted by UCLA Law Professor Kimberl? Crenshaw, antiracism seeks to abolish whiteness:
“Anti-racism is the active dismantling of systems, privileges, and everyday practices that reinforce and normalize the contemporary dimensions of white dominance. This, of course, also involves a critical understanding of the history of whiteness in America.”
Hence, the University’s dedication to “White Antiracism”:
We support White Antiracism by providing opportunities to the campus community to learn about race, racism, and the practice of antiracism. A focus on white antiracism is necessary because white people have important roles to play in antiracism work. In addition, we seek to promote white antiracism efforts that relieve pressure often placed on people of color to educate white people about race, and to support and be in solidarity with change efforts led by people of color.
Via the White Antiracism page, the school puts you where you belong. It reiterates — either you’re tired of having to teach white people, or you’re part of the white people problem:
White people have important roles to play in antiracism work. The opportunities and resources below are to assist members of our campus community in learning about race, racism, and the practice of antiracism. Our focus on white antiracism is an institutional effort to relieve pressure often placed on people of color to educate white people about race, as well as to support and be in solidarity with change efforts led by people of color.
Interested parties can access UR’s “white antiracism listserv” — or have a bit of enlightenment for lunch:
The lunchtime discussion series on white antiracism is an informal space to discuss and learn about whiteness, with an emphasis on how white people can be better practitioners of antiracism. All members of the campus community are welcome to participate. No matter where you are in your journey of antiracism, you are welcome. Discussions often begin with a shared reading, and we only ask that participants keep the discussion centered on whiteness and white antiracism. The discussions occur weekly on Mondays from noon-1 p.m.
Know your “bodies” — they are, after all, what define you:
Our themes for the academic year are embodiment and practice. In other words, we are going to lean into (1) reflecting more on the ways that racism is experienced in our bodies, and (2) being more intentional in focusing on putting antiracism into practice, i.e. taking action.
Toward the goal of pre-Civil Rights segregation, education has made staggering leaps. For a culture bashing the binary, we’re apparently still fond of pairs: You’re one sort of person or the other. And the race that dictates your camp — the standard to whom all are compared? According to anti-white warriors…that would be white.
The University of Richmond hopes to fight oppression with ideological segregation. It’s a noted departure from lessons learned by recent generations — they concluded segregation was oppression.
Where is America headed? What does the future hold? Unity may await us; but if so, the wait won’t be short.
-ALEX
See more content from me:
Anti-Trans Lesbians and Gays Kick out the Colonizers With Hashtag #LGBNotTheT
Public University Seeks General Writing Consultant — Who Actively Fights the Oppressive White Race
Find all my RedState work here.
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