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Education Professor: Whiteness is a "Disease"
iOTW Report ^ | 11/11/15 | Aurelius

Posted on 11/11/2015 9:38:17 AM PST by rightistight

In a scholarly article published in Teaching Education, Professor Cheryl Matias calls whiteness "a disease," while suggesting new ways to teach urban students about "racism and whiteness."

Dr. Matias is an assistant Professor at the University of Colorado at Denver. Her article, Why do you make me hate myself?: Re-Teaching Whiteness, Abuse, and Love in Urban Teacher Education, was published in Teaching Education this year.

In her article, Matias writes that teachers must address "normalized, oppressive Whiteness," saying that a "colorblind" society cannot truly exist in the United States. "Despite silently acknowledging that race plays a role in" achievement gaps, writes Matias, "the study of race, racism, and exertions of Whiteness are rarely recognized as a substantive issue in teacher education and the teaching profession."

Racism and whiteness are diseases that need to be addressed, she continues, writing, "We cannot even begin to address symptoms, such as the racial achievement gap, if we do not address the underlying diseases of racism and Whiteness."

There isn't even an argument that white supremacy exists, Matias writes, saying she won't even bother to prove the concept during her paper.

"This article acknowledges White supremacy as an overarching system of white Western racial domination, which manifests globally," she explains. "We are all operating under the system of white supremacy."

Teachers must examine their own "whiteness," Dr. Matias argues. "As the only person of color in the room," she explains, "I am often left with the pain of being denied a racial reality. Thus, the cycle of abuse is a pyrrhic victory, one where the pain and tears of whites override my own pain."

Indeed, she writes, "DiAngelo (2011) argued that white fragility plays an essential role in the maintenance of Whiteness and when unfettered, the consequences can be dire."

Education has been biased in favor of "whites," Dr. Matias goes on. "Teacher education - replete with a majority of white stakeholders who write the curricula, program frameworks, assessments, and standards - has permitted Whiteness to become a white enterprise.

“Worse yet, some white teachers and teacher educators co-opt and redefine theories first conceptualized by scholars of color who were resisting the hegemonic oppression of Whiteness,” she continues. “In using their white ocular to filter out the most radical parts of these theories to fit within white color-blind comforts,the essence of their conception is lost.”

In the end, "Once teacher education understands how and why whites have become culturally white, it can engage in a deeper conversation of race and racism, move beyond guilt, anger, and denial needed to become whole-heartedly antiracist."


TOPICS: Politics
KEYWORDS: education; race; racist
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To: rightistight

culturally white

Now I’be culturally white too?

Socialist loons.


61 posted on 11/11/2015 12:59:19 PM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: rightistight

I wish someone would make a project out of going back and searching for articles like this, news articles about black shootings, black murderers, black protests, college presidents forced out of their jobs and on and on ~~BO~~ (before obozo).

For some reason when he came on the scene, pride, shame, embarrassment, obeying laws left and hate and complaining took root. This is the change he brought to America. I can hope that will be his legacy but it won’t be.


62 posted on 11/11/2015 1:31:56 PM PST by Thank You Rush
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To: smartyaz
Noel Ignatiev is an idiot.

"White males have never contributed anything positive to the world."

Really? Where would he be if Isaac Newton had not invented gravity, or if Benjamin Franklin had not invented electricity?

Tumbling around in space in the dark.

63 posted on 11/11/2015 3:09:14 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: rightistight

People like this idiot just need to be slapped hard.


64 posted on 11/11/2015 3:10:56 PM PST by Fledermaus (To hell with the Republican Party. I'm done with them. If I want a Lib Dem I'd vote for one.)
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To: rightistight

Blacks have “whiteness?”


65 posted on 11/11/2015 3:15:24 PM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: rightistight
What a complete idiot.
66 posted on 11/11/2015 3:17:02 PM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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