ASU: Defining Whiteness

Discrimination by a state university on the basis of race violates civil rights laws. And yet, many state universities (maybe all?) have engaged in DEI programs that focus on confronting “whiteness.”

In my experience, when you ask about this, there are two stages of answers:

Stage 1:

“‘Whiteness’ isn’t about race or skin color; it is about a family of values like objectivity, empiricism, and truth that are used to marginalize other people.”

But then, when you ask, “Used by whom against what people?” you get the Stage 2 answer:

Stage 2:

“Used by white people against everyone who isn’t white.”

In other words, “whiteness” is about race. And the attempt to say otherwise is deflection because the law is clear about this.

You can talk about how you dislike “whiteness” on your personal blog all you want. But a state university cannot do so without violating the law.

I looked at ASU’s web page and found this article where an ASU chair of English explained “whiteness” in the English department. The ASU article defined “whiteness” this way:

“The study of ‘whiteness’ is the study of the privilege and dominance associated with white racial identity. See ‘The Meaning of Whiteness’ by Mikhail Lyubansky in Psychology Today (December 14, 2011).”

https://news.asu.edu/20180201-creativity-asu-english-chair-krista-ratcliffe-goals

That definition clearly explains that whiteness has to do with race. This means that if a state university isolates “whiteness” as a problem, it is saying “the white race” has this problem.

Here’s a way to test it out: Ask someone who is defending DEI if any other race can be inserted into this sentence: “We must confront [white] rhetorical concepts.”

Then watch them defend their racism.