Researchers at the University of Minnesota are facing a backlash after warning against what they describe as a ‘whiteness pandemic’ and urging white parents to ‘re-educate’.
The university’s Institute of Child Development (ICD) created a resource website for parents and educators, which included instructions on how to ‘halt and reverse’ what they called the negative impacts of ‘whiteness.’
They claimed a ‘whiteness’ was a pandemic’ that was driving racism in a post that defines “whiteness” as a public health issues that is both “violent” and “contagious.” The piece argued that this “disease” is spread through socialization, particularly within the family unit.
The Mail Online reports: According to the site, specifically created by the institute’s Culture and Family Lab, the term ‘refers to culture, not biology.’ ‘The centuries-old culture of whiteness features colorblindness, passivity, and white fragility, which are all covert expressions of racism common in the United States ,’ the researchers wrote.
‘Naming the whiteness pandemic shifts our gaze from the victims and effects of racism onto the systems that perpetuate racism , starting with the family system.’ These resources are directed at Caucasian people, as the researchers claimed that children growing up in white families are ‘socialized’ into harmful racist ideologies. But these sentiments have received backlash from Defending Education , a right-wing organization advocating for ‘non-political education’ and fighting against ‘indoctrination in classrooms,’ according to its website .
In a statement to the Daily Mail, Defending Education’s Senior Director of Communications, Erika Sanzi, described the ‘white pandemic’ as a ‘denigration and vilification based on race.’ ‘This is a public university and taxpayers have a right to know what they are funding,’ she continued. ‘Referring to whiteness as a pandemic is dehumanizing, and while the academics will argue, they’re not really talking about white people, 99 percent of people will understand it to mean that. It’s grotesque.’
The UM researchers noted that anyone raised in the US has ‘grown up in the whiteness pandemic.’ ‘Especially if you are white because of the power and privilege you hold in this racialized society,’ the ICD website reads. It also notes that it is ‘not your fault’ if you were brought up in ‘the culture of whiteness,’ but it is up to the individuals to take ‘antiracist action’ and ‘develop a healthy, positive white identity.’ The site directs people to various videos, guides and articles outlining the issue and explaining how it can be presented to children.
For instance, links include a blog post called ‘Talking to children about racism,’ by UM psychologist Dr Katie Lingras and ‘How to explain white privilege in terms simple enough for a child’ by journalist Maressa Brown. The resources and definition of the ‘whiteness pandemic’ are based on a paper titled ‘The whiteness pandemic behind the racism pandemic: Familial whiteness socialization in Minneapolis following #GeorgeFloyd’s murder.’ The project was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the ICD and fellowships from the state-funded university located in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul.