The University of Vermont recently held a retreat exclusively for Caucasian students so they could explore white privilege.
“Examining White Privilege: A Retreat for Undergraduate Students Who Self-Identify as White,” was the name of the three-day conference, as first reported by the website Campus Reform.
It’s a bit wordy for a T-shirt, in my humble opinion. They should’ve just called it “Blame the White Guy 2015.”
The retreat was sponsored by the university’s African, Latino, Asian, Native American and Bi/Multiracial Student Center—ALANA for short.
“It’s a new retreat specifically for white students to engage in building a stronger and inclusive campus community,” ALANA stated on its website.
The taxpayer-funded university would not tell me how the “free” retreat was financed. Typically, when you see the word “free” it means “courtesy of the American taxpayer.”
ALANA said the purpose of the getaway was for white students to “recognize and understand white privilege from an individual experience as well as the impact of white privilege on the UVM community and beyond.”
They also felt it was necessary for the university’s white students to “conceptualize and articulate whiteness from a personal and systematic lens.”
I have no idea what that means.
I’m also having a difficult time understanding what it means to self-identify as white. Is that someone who belongs to a country club, cuts the crust off his bread and doesn’t have any discernable rhythm?
ALANA provided testimonials from white privilege alumni who gave the retreat a thumbs-up.
It was a “great opportunity to talk about an identity that I had not previously felt equipped to comfortably discuss,” said one person.
I can only imagine the fun they must’ve had at—noshing on salmon and arugula in the mess hall, sitting around a campfire crooning Barry Manilow songs and sharing scary stories about how their pigmentation oppressed people of color.
As we all know—the only way to build a stronger and inclusive university campus is to shame the white children into acknowledging they are personally responsible for every imaginable evil that has befallen the world—from global warming to that episode of Happy Days when Fonzie jumped over the shark.
I was particularly intrigued by a series of questions they asked the campers: what does it mean to be white and how does whiteness impact you?
The other day I contemplated my whiteness while I was watching a “Dukes of Hazzard” marathon.
Truth be told—I do enjoy Hank Williams Junior and NASCAR and mayonnaise. But I also enjoy Tyler Perry movies.
Some folks might self-identify as black. Others might self-identify as white. But as for me—I self-identify as an American—a free man.
And I think that’s a privilege no matter what color you are.
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