'White supremacy': Presentation at Inslee Equity Summit damns objectivity, individualism

thecentersquare.com ^ | Dec 15, 2022 | Timothy Schumann

[ransomnote]

(The Center Square) – During Washington’s “2022 Governor’s Equity Summit,” the action director of the state’s Professional Educator Standards Board gave the controversial PowerPoint presentation, "Internal Transformation: How an Education Agency is Transforming Itself in the Name of Justice."

The presentation began with a “land acknowledgement,” stating “we are on the traditional homelands of the Puyallup Tribe.”

The acknowledgement then acknowledged that this admission is but “one small step toward true allyship” and that “we,” the allies, “commit to uplifting the voices, experiences, and histories of the Indigenous people of this land and beyond.” 

The presentation at the late November conference continued on to the next slide stating, “We aim to disrupt the legacy of systemic racism by centering racial equity and justice in our work.”

It asked attendees, both in person and virtual, to "please take a few seconds [of silence] to acknowledge the land that you are on as the traditional homeland of the Indigenous Peoples."

The presentation further asked, “What does it look like when we move away from white supremacy culture towards indigenous relational pedagogy? What can you do tomorrow?”

This was followed by a slide that listed values aligned with “white supremacy culture”, drawn from Dr. Tema Okun’s Harvard study “The Culture of White Supremacy in Organizations.”

It listed such values as “Objectivity”; “Individualism”; “Perfectionism”; “Worship of the written word”; and a “Sense of urgency.” The presentation advocated that these values be replaced by “indigenous relational pedagogy.

Replacement values included “Honor, integrity, & honesty”; “Perception”; “Ethical usefulness”; and “Generosity” among others. These were attributed to indigenous cultures, and pulled from publications with titles such as “Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning for Justice in a Changing World.”

Some additional presentation materials attacking objectivity said that conferees need to "Recognize that we can know things emotionally and intuitively in ways that we may not be able to explain ‘rationally,’" and that they should "Understand that often ‘rational’ thinking is actually an emotional response couched in logic."

In his speech to open the summit, Gov. Jay Inslee warned, "We don’t break centuries of habit and thinking, unless we decide to break the chains of that history. And so that is why we’re here today, to really consciously, intentionally, bring equity and justice toward the way we do business."

The reactions on social media have been mostly negative.

Pittsburgh radio host John Steigerwald said the presentation at the governor's conference “Might be the best advertisement ever for school choice.”

Washington state resident Seth Smith asserted, “Individualism helped build the greatest force for freedom, democracy, and prosperity the world has ever seen.”

He advised Inslee, “Perhaps it would be better focusing your energy cleaning up our state’s beautiful cities or auditing your state agencies.”

[Freedom4US]

What does it look like when we move away from "white supremacy culture" towards indigenous relational pedagogy?


We have to start beating our laundry out with a stick down by the river? LOL. Eat a bag of dicks, MFers.

[Organic Panic]

Ah yes. The noble savage who lived in peace and harmony among nature and the other tribes. OH... And did the cretin who created this presentation give up his property and job to an indigenous Payullup?

[Roccus]

EMPOWERMENT!!!

[ohioman]

I am afraid our future will look something like South Africa, where people are forcibly moved off their land with full support from the Government.

[Salman]

In short, they are saying freedom is slavery.

[avenir]

Nooooooooooo!!!!!

[nicollo]

The attack on individualism began during the Progressive Era, when the rise of the working, middle and professional classes led to more and not less class envy. Sometimes called the "Tocqueville effect," when marginal portions of society gain economic and/or political power, demands for reform increase, along with attacks on the established order upon which the greater equality arose.

In 1912, President Taft recognized the paradox of socialist envy:

It has been said, and it is a common platform expression, that it is well to prefer the man above the dollar, as if the preservation of property rights has some other purpose than the assistance to and the uplifting of human rights. Private property was not established in order to gratify love of some material wealth or capital. It was established as an instrumentality in the progress of civilization and the uplifting of man, and it is equality of opportunity that private property promotes by assuring to man the result of his own labor, thrift, and self-restraint. When, therefore, the demagogue mounts the platform and announces that he prefers the man above the dollar, he ought to be interrogated as to what he means thereby -- whether he is in favor of abolishing the right of the institution of private property and of taking away from the poor man the opportunity to become wealthy by the use of the abilities that God has given him, the cultivation of the virtues with which practice of self-restraint and the exercise of moral courage will fortify him.

[.44 Special]

Find a copy of Lewis and Clarks Diaries of there expedition. Pat particular attention to their description of what the the indigenous natives of the Columbia River Valley were like. These were hardened men. It’s enough to make your eyes run.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I'm worried for my newly married daughter and her husband -- they live near Spokane and will be affected by this crap when they have kids. Neither of them are political and don't follow this dreadful trend. I hope to educate them about the pernicious educational system in Washington, but I'm not sure they want to hear what's going on.

These "Land Acknowledgments" are the latest virtue-signaling, meaningless gesture. If these people REALLY believed this crap, they'd sign the deeds to their homes and land over to the Indians. Otherwise it's just another feel-good empty steaming pile of hypocrisy, just like the celebrities who do not sell their private jets, yachts, and mansions to reduce their "carbon footprints."

They put up a stupid slide, spend five seconds reading it, then feel very smug and self-satisfied about how much they CARE for the Native Americans.

[Impala64ssa]

FTA:"we are on the traditional homelands of the Puyallup Tribe"

Oh, yeah? Which peoples did the Puyallups steal what they claim as their traditional homelands from?