White Privilege Conference

Say what you will about Fox News -- referred to in some parts as Faux News --  but it has the testicular fortitude to report stories that would never appear in the MSM.  For example, check this out:

http://www.whiteprivilegeconference.com/wpc.html

Yes, there is actually a conference called the White Privilege Conference.  Its goal, as stated on its website, is:

What is the White Privilege Conference?

1. WPC is a conference that examines challenging concepts of privilege and oppression and offers solutions and team building strategies to work toward a more equitable world.


2. It is not a conference designed to attack, degrade or beat up on white folks.


3. It is not a conference designed to rally white supremacist groups.


4. WPC is a conference designed to examine issues of privilege beyond skin color. WPC is open to everyone and invites diverse perspectives to provide a comprehensive look at issues of privilege including: race, gender, sexuality, class, disability, etc. — the ways we all experience some form of privilege, and how we’re all affected by that privilege.


5. WPC attracts students, professionals, activists, parents, and community leaders/members from diverse perspectives. WPC welcomes folks with varying levels of experience addressing issues of diversity, cultural competency, and multiculturalism.


6. WPC is committed to a philosophy of “understanding, respecting and connecting.”

What's particularly interesting is the self-righteous tone that the WPC -- as it calls itself -- assumes.  It's not a conference designed to attack, degrade or beat up on white folks.  It's designed to examine issues of privilege beyond skin color and the ways we all experience some form of privilege, and how we're all affected by that privilege.  The WPC is committed to a philosophy of "understanding, respecting and connecting."

Well.

Let's start with the title of the group.  The White Privilege Conference.  Unless we're talking color palettes here, is there any doubt who or what the focus of the group is?  I mean, can there possibly be any confusion who the target is of this group?  I'm curious:  Would minorities calmly accept something called the Black Privilege Conference?  I'm sure there would be no uproar over that.

The WPC is organized, I'll give it that.  Just what do these people discuss at the conference?  Here's the list of workshops that might be of interest:

http://www.whiteprivilegeconference.com/pdf/WPC15-workshops.pdf

I'll cherry pick some of the more interesting monstrosities:

10 Myths of Social Justice (Beginner) 

Active Listening For Social Justice (All Levels) 

Against the Tea Party Movement (which includes this nugget in the description:  Rather than simply a reactionary movement around economic, budget and tax issues, at their core Tea Partiers believe themselves to be the “newly oppressed white victims of black dominance.” And white attitudes about black people have declined measurably during the Tea Parties ascendancy, according to recent poll data. The Tea Parties are a dire and immediate threat.)

Beyond Kumbaya: Promoting Privilege Discussions on College Campuses (All Levels)

Death of the Strong Black Sista (Beginner) (You mean there is more than one level of this??????)

Hair Me Out ! (All Levels) (as if it couldn't possibly get any sillier:  Intentionally inclusive and non-judgmental, this workshop deconstructs hair to explore the intersection of identity--gender, race, religion, ethnicity, class and sexual orientation-- and the billions of dollars that hair maintenance generates for big business in the United States. Participants engage in critical personal work around the metacommunication of hair language-blond, brunette, weave, nappy, red hair , hijab, 

pelo bueno, relaxers, gay hair , butch, fag hair , etc-- with the goal of heightening 

awareness, adding an additional lens when considering multiple perspectives and 

ultimately impacting behavior.)  (What does that even mean?????)

I could go on ad nauseam, but my nausea prevents me from adding more.

I'm sure these people take this stuff quite seriously, but for the life of me, I can't decide whether I should be amused or offended.  Part of me cracks up while reading this pap; it smacks of people with nothing better to do than invent totems at which they can tilt to justify their existences.  But on the other hand, it frightens me that there are people out there that take this stuff seriously.

This is hardly in keeping with what Martin Luther King dreamt.  This is more divisive than inclusive, no matter what their stated goal is.  Who calls white people white folks?  And since they're examining privilege irrespective of race, where are the workshops dedicated to privilege that accrues to those people in the athletic and entertainment fields whose parents provided them with lives of privilege?  What of the immigrants who came here and gained untold wealth with their inventions and innovations?  If this isn't about white folks only and is supposedly transcendent of race, where are those workshops?

That this is going on on college campuses is to be expected.  But for liberals to insist that the colleges themselves aren't hotbeds of liberalism is a crock.  What college campus today can be termed a purely conservative campus?  We can point to plenty of liberal campuses, or campuses that have predominantly liberal bents, but where are the stridently conservative faculties, the privileged white campuses that maintain the racial hegemony over this country?  

If the Tea Party -- to which I do not belong and only barely understand as a political entity -- is so racist, what is the WPC?  Are we to believe that this is well-intentioned and inclusive?  From what I've read, this is more divisive than inclusive.  This is not the America that I grew up knowing and loving.

(c) 2014 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles