During this semester you might have (or have not) heard about a professor at Salisbury University teaching the ‘White Supremacy Pyramid’ in her diversity course.
The pyramid is a chart that gives examples of white supremacy at every level. The examples are ranked from least dangerous and most common to most dangerous and rare. This pyramid consists of phrases such as “mass murder, police brutality, avoiding confrontation with racist family members, cultural appropriation, ‘but my black friend said…’, and paternalism” according to Fox News. Find the full news story here.
Fox News picked up the story from Campus Reform, and broadcasted it live on January 17, 2018. They not only complained about Early Education majors being required to take the ‘Diversity and the Self” course, but they also brought a biracial, conservative, 2017 graduate, who has never taken the course, on the show to express her viewpoint.
Of course, the recent grad expressed that diversity of the mind is more important than racial diversity because she was attacked more often by being a republican than she has ever been by being a WOC (woman of color).
The only response I have for this is: seeing a young biracial woman say being black or being a woman is less hindering than having a specific viewpoint on government reforms is practically ridiculous.
Your political opinion has not impeded your ability to live in certain neighborhoods.
Your political opinion has not kept you from getting into a party.
Your political opinion has not gotten you followed by employees while shopping.
Yet all of this has happened to me and my friends just here in Salisbury for being POC (people of color).
Just because you do not experience racism doesn’t mean it’s not a big problem.
SU has kept this as quiet as possible in order to appease many parents, donors and alumni. For the school’s sake, it’s important to speak on racial inequality and how dangerous white privilege truly is in order to reinforce unity on campus.
The grad, Ms. Shekinah Hollingsworth, on the other hand, needs to check her light skin privilege.