July 13th 2023.
The prestigious New York University has been receiving criticism for hosting an anti-racism workshop that was exclusive to white people. The six-month-long workshop was offered to the parents of white public school students and cost $360 per person. The event was held by the Education Justice Research and Organizing Collaborative and, according to the website, was "designed specifically for white public school parents in New York City committed to becoming anti-racist and to collaboratively building equitable, powerful, multiracial parents communities in their schools."
The organizers presented a handout titled "Why a White Space," which listed the reasons for having "white-only" discussions. The nonprofit Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere argued that white people needed spaces to "unlearn racism" without being put in the presence of minorities, and to avoid causing "undue trauma or pain."
One of the parents even questioned the seminar, saying that not including people of color seemed "a little counterintuitive." NYU's Steinhardt School of Education Justice Research group Associate Director Barbara Gross justified the workshop by saying that people of color are subjected to racism all the time, and it wouldn't be fair to subject them to hearing white people's "racist thoughts."
However, legal experts have stated that this workshop could have violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which governs recipients of federal funding for nonprofit schools such as NYU. Another lawyer, Samantha Harris, said that running a "whites only" program in the name of social justice is misguided, and she finds it "inconceivable" that the people behind the program don't see the irony.
The workshop began in February 2022 – Black History Month – and just concluded its fourth year. The research group claimed that there was a growing interest in learning how to be anti-racist following the Black Lives Matter movement and George Floyd's killing.
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