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Highlights from the National White Privilege Conference in Madison

April 1, 2014

***ang!age Warning***

"# Nic$ Nova$Mac%ver %nstit!te &irector of Comm!nications

'Madison, Wisc((() he cit# of Madison hosted the 1+th ann!al nationalWhite Privilege Conferencelast ee$ at the Monona errace to disc!ssiss!es of hite s!premac#, social -!stice, ed!cation and the ea Part#(he Mac%ver %nstit!te attended m!ltiple "rea$o!t sessions and ill "ereleasing o!r highlights over the ne.t co!ple da#s(

/!r rst acco!nt comes from the "rea$o!t session titled Stories fromthe front lines of education: Confessions of a white, high school Englishteacher(

he session as facilitated "# im adersma, a former high school3nglish teacher in California and Colorado( adersma is c!rrentl#

or$ing toard her Ph( &( in critical hiteness st!dies at roc$5niversit# in /ntario, Canada(

adersma arg!ed that teachers m!st ght against the oppressivestr!ct!re in ed!cation and societ#( 6he said an#one ho is going intoteaching and ed!cation m!st "e a political g!re(

"Teaching is a political act, and you can't choose to be neutral. You areeither a pawn used to perpetuate a system of oppression or you arefighting against it," Radersma said during the session. "And if you thinkyou are neutral, you are a pawn."

6he said ed!cators need to challenge the s#stem, otherise the# aregiving in to hite s!premac#( adersma also arg!ed the rst step isreali7ing that all hite people are carr#ing the signs of oppression(

8eing a hite person ho does anti9racist or$ is li$e "eing analcoholic( % ill never "e recovered "# m# alcoholism, to !se themetaphor,8 adersma said( 8% have to ever#da# a$e !p andac$noledge that % am so deepl# im"edded ith racist tho!ghts andnotions and actions in m# "od# that % have to choose ever#da# to doanti9racist or$ and thin$ in an anti9racist a#(8

6he arg!ed that !ntil hite people admit the# have a pro"lem, the# illnot "e a"le to ght against hite privilege(

8We:ve "een raised to "e good( :%:m a good hite person,: and #et toreali7e % carr# ithin me these dar$, horri"le tho!ghts and perceptionsis hard to admit( And #et li$e the alcoholic, hat:s the rst step;Admitting #o! have a pro"lem,8 she told the session attendees(

M!ltiple ed!cators attended the "rea$o!t session of a"o!t +0 peopleand seemed ver# interested in ho to "ring the ideals of social -!stice


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and hite privilege into the classroom( /ne attendee, a teacher and thediversit# director at his school, spo$e a"o!t the activities he isimplementing and said it is important for teachers and administrators todisc!ss social -!stice ith their st!dents( adersma echoed his

sentiment(

8%f #o! don:t ant to or$ for e

adersma said she ta!ght a loer9level 3nglish class at the high schooland her st!dents ere e.cl!sivel# people of color( Hoever, she said theAdvanced Placement co!rse in her school as almost all hite and Asianst!dents( Her principal o"served class one da# and commented on thedi>erence in st!dents "eteen the to co!rses(

hat e.perience, and the fact that her "oss did not $no ho to tac$lethe pro"lem, led her to leave the classroom and or$ toard her Ph( &(adersma told the gro!p she reali7ed the pro"lem as theinstit!tionali7ed racist str!ct!re of ed!cation and her hite privilege

as ca!sing the racial achievement gap(

8% came to higher ed to st!d#( What is this pro"lem that %:m scared of; %don:t $no hat to do( M# principal is scared of this( Where do % point;Who:s at fa!lt; M# hite "od# is at fa!lt,8 she said( 8M# racial identit#,as a hite person ho "elieves that % am someho "etter or moredeserving, is the pro"lem( he hite s!premac#, the str!ct!re is thepro"lem(8

Since discoering her white priilege was the problem leading to theachieement gap, she said that she is now working to get more minoritiesinto the education profession. Radersma told the group she thinks that

students of color cannot learn as well from white teachers.

8M# partner, ho is a man, can:t tell #o! a"o!t feminism( He $nos a lota"o!t it( He considers himself a feminist, "!t #o! ant to learn feminismfrom him; No,8 she commented d!ring the session( 8?o! need to learnfeminism from a oman( ?o! need to learn hat it is li$e to "e a oman


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from a oman( He can:t teach that( % can:t teach st!dents of color nearl#as ell as a person of color can(8

Another topic of disc!ssion as ho hite people:s actions, li$edonating to charit# or helping a famil# in need, are inherentl# racist( Ahite attendee of the conference told a stor# a"o!t ho her famil#donated school s!pplies to one of her classmates hen she as in rst

grade "eca!se the famil# co!ld not a>ord them(

he receiving famil# had moved from %ndia, according to the attendee(While she as happ# to "e helping hen it happen #ears ago, she asno

8%t as li$e :ell h# don:t #o! soop in and save the da# and give herall this st!> "eca!se e can a>ord to do that for them: $ind ofmentalit#,8 she said in the session(

adersma agreed and said the famil# that as helped li$el# feltdiscriminated against(

"!t's that saior mentality, like 'sae them, because they are not like us,' andthat normaliation of whiteness. #hiteness is best and those poor othersaren't as good as us," she said. "So, we need to think of them and giethem our sympathy and our charity and our generosity, which is sodemeaning to the people on the receiing end. !t's so demoraliing anddisempowering to be receiing it."

efore ending the @09min!te "rea$o!t session, adersma enco!ragedc!rrent and f!t!re teachers to !se an organi7ation called acing Histor#and /!rselvesas a reso!rce( 6he said it is a non9prot that o>ersc!rric!la on the topics disc!ssed for middle and high school st!dents(

he White Privilege Conference aims to provide 8a challenging,colla"orative and comprehensive e.perience,8 and 8empoer and e


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Mar$ the Ial!e highlighting "o. to sho the cell contents in di>erentcolors, depending on t#pe( e.t cells are formatted in "lac$, form!las ingreen, and n!m"er cells in "l!e, no matter ho their displa# isformatted(

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