Example #2: Was the United States Founded in White Supremacy?

And must you believe this to work at ASU?

For my second example, consider the transcript from the required training copied below that claims the Founding Documents of the United States are white supremacist documents. Remember, this is required training at ASU. That means that ASU requires employees to be taught that the United States was founded in white supremacy and that its Founding Documents are white supremacist documents. Additionally, according to this view, all of our laws and history are tied to these documents and, therefore, take part in white supremacy.

I believe white supremacy is wrong, just like I believe all forms of racism are wrong. But I disagree with the DEI interpretation of the American Founding and American history.

Here is their argument: The Founding Documents of the United States are rooted in white supremacy. All of our laws and history are tied to those documents. Not only does this mean overt examples of white supremacy, but many covert examples also. In fact, simply being a white person today means you take part in this. You are responsible for what your ancestors did or for what people with similar skin color did in the past, even if you were not related.

First, a person is free to believe these things. However, a person should also be free to not believe this interpretation of American history. I believe a sound argument can be made to show this view of American history is false. It is reductionistic and lacks any nuance. But that isn’t the issue. The issue is that a state employee should not be required to be taught this version of American history as a condition of employment.

Second, this required training content violates state law by engaging in race blame and assigning judgment based on skin color. You can see that this interpretation judges people based on their skin color. Just being a “white person” means you navigate the world in a specific way that makes you complicit in white supremacy.

Third, this training content assigns blame to people now living based on what their ancestors did. And this doesn’t even require an actual ancestor relationship since merely being a white person is enough to be complicit. So, if you have the same skin color as someone in the past who did something wrong, you are also guilty. This race blame violates state law.

Here is the transcript so you can see for yourself:

“the systems of superiority that were then written into the foundational documents of our Nation. And so when we think about, I didn't do that, my ancestors did that. I don't have a tie to my ancestors. We do really have to think about how our history and our culture and our laws and the way that we navigate this world is tied to those documents. And so laws, any kind of discrimination policies, racism is often tied to
the colonial mindset, you know, and it's also tied to race, to social class, to gender, to sexuality. And so we really do need to think about not white supremacy, as something that is rooted in the KKK for example. That is a really sort of overt way of thinking about white supremacy.

But we do need to think about those covert ways, right? How do those systems sort of infiltrate every level of our society and how can we move in ways that help to dismantle white supremacy and what it means to navigate the world as somebody differently abled or somebody who comes from a lower social class, but we haven't talked enough about what it means to navigate the world as a white person.”