Washington Post Runs Video Encouraging White People To Go Through a 'Period Of Deep Shame' and Join 'White Accountability Groups'
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
On the most recent installment of The Washington Post's video series, The New Normal, guests on the show encourage White people to join "White accountability groups" and experience a "period of deep shame" while "acknowledging the harm our ancestors have caused."
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"In this episode," said host Nicole Ellis, "We're tackling White racial identity and why understanding your Whiteness is integral to becoming self-aware as a White person."
One way to achieve this, said Rebecca Toporek, a professor at San Francisco State University, is by joining White accountability groups.
"White accountability groups are really helpful in terms of having a place to process how having a group of people whose responsibility it is to call me on things or to challenge me," she said.
In the video, trauma therapist Ilyse Kennedy said she felt a sense of deep shame for being White while recognizing harm caused by by her ancestors. She suggested others feel similarly:
We're unpacking wrong things that we've been taught in history class. I realized that I needed to go back and unpack, and reorganized everything that I had learned because it was completely through a White lens. Most of us - in doing this work - have experienced this, where there's a period of deep shame for being White, and for acknowledging the harm that our ancestors have caused. And that's a very legitimate piece of this work, and we can't ask people of color to hold our hands through the shame piece. That needs to happen with other White people.
Just moments later, however, Torporek said, "White people don't really understand racism. And so if I'm relying on other White people to teach me about racism, that can only go so far. I only best understand racism by talking to people who are directly impacted by racism from different perspectives."
The video has drawn backlash in conservative media.
The approach espoused in the video echoes that of Robin DiAngelo, whose book White Fragility became a New York Times best-seller. For DiAngelo, the term "White fragility" refers to any negative reaction White people have when they are challenged over their race. Last year, DiAngelo declined to speak at a public university after it made a counteroffer to her speaking fee of $12,750. The university offered $10,000.
Some wealthier liberals have even taken to paying $2,500 to hold dinners in which they are lectured about race. One typical question at these dinners is, "What was a racist thing you did recently?"
The post Washington Post Runs Video Encouraging White People To Go Through a 'Period Of Deep Shame' and Join 'White Accountability Groups' first appeared on Mediaite.
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These clowns are freaking nuts.
They are mentally ill
I'm very proud of a being a white, straight male of Germanic and Nordic descent
I wouldn't say I am proud since there really is nothing to be proud of. It is more or less an accident of birth, not something I did or had any control over, it is what it is. I will not feel any sense of shame or any of that shit for the imaginary offense or crime of simply existing however.
Pathetic. These people seek validation from others - white and black - by inventing reasons to be ashamed of themselves and displaying their self-loathing for everyone to see. It’s twisted.
It seems like the weirdos pushing this nonsense are more intent than ever on making sure people of each race continue to identify racially and act in accordance with whatever the “experts” say is appropriate for the box they are in or the label that has been slapped onto them.
It's goddamn sad. Pathetic as you aptly pointed out. I will never understand people who find reasons to hate themselves or go out of their way to tear themselves down. There is being self-aware and then there is being mentally ill.
Seems to me like it is nothing more than an attention grab. It isn't about trying to heal racial divisions or historical wrongs for them, seems like they just want people to listen to them and give them that attention (positive or negative, doesn't matter which). I can't think of any other reason to come up with something this dumb.
Thinking in my best off the boat Irish Boston bar brouge......FOOOOK THA...
Fuck off. I do not, have never, and will never feel ANY sense of "shame" for the color of my skin. You can blow that idea right out of your ass. Look, I totally admit that racism has generated inequalities in the US and that I have probably benefited in some way from it, but I didn't do it. I played no part in it and as such I am in no way responsible, nor do I owe anyone an apology. This kind of shit does not help their cause and really only serves to make people like me who would normally say "yeah, you may have a point" instead respond with my first 3 sentences.