by Kate Anderson
New York University (NYU) held an antiracist workshop series during the spring semester for white public school parents to reflect on “white supremacy” in their communities, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
The series was put on by NYU’s Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools (MCRETS) from February to June and cost $360 per person to attend, according to a now-deleted website. Parents attended five different meetings to discover how to become allies to minority parents and students and discuss how “internalized white superiority shows up in our actions, relationships, and institutions.”
The website explained that the series would include lessons, podcasts and readings for parents to learn about the “impact of white supremacy.”
“These workshop sessions will also engage real-time challenges participants are facing in their schools with feedback and help to work through, as well as discussion of actions we can take to challenge and dismantle racist policies and practices in our schools and communities,” the website reads.
Administrators also gave parents a copy of a handout titled “Why a White Space” by the Alliance of White Antiracists Everywhere — Los Angeles that justified why white people need to meet together away from minorities. The pamphlet explained that white people needed a space to “unlearn racism” in such a way that they wouldn’t harm minorities.
“In a culture that uplifts colorblindness, the challenges typically included charges that what we were doing was 1) divisive, 2) segregating, and/or 3) unhelpful,” the pamphlet read. “For a lot of us, it was initially hard to explain to others how white people meeting alone together could have positive results. Given U.S. history, skepticism is understandable. For many people of color, the idea that white people could (or should) be trusted to work on our issues amongst each other seems either laughable or dangerous.”
During one of the meetings, a parent questioned university officials for not including minorities in a seminar about anti-racism but was assured by Barbara Gross, the associate director of NYU’s Steinhardt Education Justice Research group, that “it’s a harm on top of a harm for them to hear our racist thoughts,” according to audio obtained by the Free Beacon.
Ilya Shapiro, the director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute, told the Free Beacon that the series was “illegal” and likely violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
“It’s quintessentially illegal,” Shapiro said. “This episode illustrates the horseshoe theory whereby left- and right-wing radicals end up agreeing on race-based societal balkanization. It’s like that social media meme: ‘woke or KKK?’”
NYU and MCRETS did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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Kate Anderson is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “New York University” by Memorial Student Center Texas A&M University. CC BY 2.0.
