White people need to acknowledge their faults and fix their “whiteness,” according to an Oregon sociologist.
Professor Emily Drew will host a “conversation” in February “for white people to reflect together on what it means to ‘do our work’ as white people,” according to an announcement.
The Willamette University professor’s presentation at a local library is titled “Working on Our Whiteness.”
Participants will be asked to consider the following questions:
How can we who are white show up as more effective and less damaging participants in struggles to interrupt racism in our community? How can white people engage in efforts to dismantle racism in ways that do not reproduce or place unfair burdens upon people of color to be our teachers?
The “work” that white people must focus on “includes taking responsibility for one another, educating ourselves, and coming to view other white people as our partners—not competition—in developing antiracist identity.”
Drew also teaches ethnic studies at Willamette. “She gives presentations at universities and community-based organizations on the subjects of white privilege, gentrification, fair housing, reparations and affirmative action,” according to her bio. “In all of these capacities, she is an organizer and strategic planner, helping institutions develop and implement long term commitments to anti-racist, multicultural diversity.”
Hellbound and Down 