"Unpacking Whiteness" (03-28-2024--Hour3)

[00:00:00] What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every

[00:00:09] day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte, and if you want exclusive content like

[00:00:14] invitations to events, the weekly livestream, my daily show prep with all the links become

[00:00:18] a patron, go to thepetekalinershow.com, make sure you hit the subscribe button, get

[00:00:23] every episode for free, write your smartphone or tablet. And again thank you so much for

[00:00:27] your support. Robbie Starbuck, that's his name. He is the host of Robbie Starbuck Show,

[00:00:38] imagine that. He's Cuban American, where was it? I thought he, I want to say he, I forget

[00:00:46] where he used to work. Okay maybe Americans for prosperity, Tennessee, but I thought he was,

[00:00:52] I thought he was affiliated with a, with a media company, maybe in the blaze or daily wire,

[00:00:58] I forget which. But he had this piece the other day, he posted it up at Twitter and it talks about

[00:01:08] UNC Chapel Hill. And there is a, there's a training module. And if you don't work in any kind of

[00:01:18] like a large corporation or government institution or agency or something, maybe you don't know

[00:01:26] what these things look like. But basically it's sort of like a Zoom call, right? It's like you sit

[00:01:33] in front of a monitor in front of a computer or something and you watch a video. Sometimes

[00:01:37] I'll ask you questions to make sure that you're not just, you know, have it turned on and not

[00:01:42] paying any attention. So they do it for training and onboarding when you get hired at places and

[00:01:47] that sort of stuff. Well, there's a, there's a training module right now from UNC where they teach

[00:01:55] a thing called unpacking whiteness, unpacking whiteness because apparently whiteness

[00:02:03] went on vacation and I guess then returned home and then you got to just, you know, you got to unpack it

[00:02:10] or something. And so he's gotten a hold of a couple of these videos and so I will, I will play for

[00:02:20] you the videos that he has pushed out there that he's, he's published and they're disturbing.

[00:02:26] And the thing I always try to keep in mind on some of this stuff is, you know, and look,

[00:02:32] I am all for having the quote, you know, honest conversation about our real history, totally fine

[00:02:38] with all of that. However, when you start ascribing characteristics or attributes to all people based

[00:02:48] on an immutable characteristic like race, right? That's where you start running a foul of

[00:02:56] of an honest conversation. That's where you start getting into some bigotry and prejudice and racism,

[00:03:02] okay? So just as a heads up on that, when you start, you know, like if, for example,

[00:03:07] if you say something like the whites, you say the fill on the blank, when you start saying stuff

[00:03:13] like that, that's usually a good sign, okay? That you're on a path that's no good, okay? Just

[00:03:19] just a heads up. So here is one of the training modules unpacking whiteness, where at UNC they teach

[00:03:28] that whiteness is a social construct with no biological or scientific foundation, okay? So there's

[00:03:40] no so there's no biological or scientific foundation to a Caucasian, to people like myself

[00:03:51] hold disclosure. I am somewhat pigmentally is that the word for limited? Yeah, so

[00:04:01] so there's no biological reason for this. There's no scientific reason for this. It's just

[00:04:07] it's just all in my head. It's a construct, okay? In videos, in this module, all white people are told

[00:04:16] that they have white supremacy through white privilege and it's described as a quote delusional

[00:04:22] mental state and a sickness or a mental illness. So what does that mean? It means that all white

[00:04:33] people are mentally ill. That's that is the premise that this UNC Chapel Hill training module,

[00:04:42] keep in mind a training module. They are teaching this, they are training people in this. So if you

[00:04:49] are white, you're mentally ill. You are you are suffering under a delusional mental state.

[00:04:56] After this module one can deduce that whiteness or white privilege is a mental illness that all

[00:05:01] white people have white privilege or engage in white supremacy and therefore all white people

[00:05:05] are mentally ill. And if you don't think she's talking about all white people, well she says it

[00:05:12] actually in the final video here just to clear up any confusion. He says this is pure racism. So

[00:05:19] let me go ahead and start with this because this is a woman. Let me see here if I can pull up the

[00:05:24] right so she puts out these questions to participants in the in the program and then she is going

[00:05:30] over the answers that she has received. Okay? And so here and now she's reacting to what the answers

[00:05:40] she's received are. Take aways from this for me, we're kind of depressing frankly because I think

[00:05:48] that'll the vast majority of white people don't see themselves as being part of a white

[00:05:52] supremacy system. At least the people that replied to me, they saw it as something that other

[00:05:58] white people do. Yet I got all these replies from people of color who are having daily experiences

[00:06:03] of white supremacy so I want to know like who are all these other white people that are actually

[00:06:08] perpetuating white supremacy? And this goes to what I think I talk about often is this idea

[00:06:14] that white supremacy is in all of us, right? We've all been indoctrinated in it and we all perpetuated

[00:06:20] in different ways. Sometimes it's turned inward in a form of self-living because whiteness is

[00:06:25] glorified in a white supremacist system and in other situations it is turned outward against

[00:06:31] people of color. So and this is something I think I intend to talk about a bit more maybe in future

[00:06:37] videos. We'll see how this one goes if you all like it but those are my my highly level takeaways

[00:06:43] from those two tweets that there's a lot of work to be done to encourage white people to actually

[00:06:50] actually be uncomfortable in acknowledging their own white supremacy because I did not see much of

[00:06:55] that just just handful of people and that's the thing that concerns me. So that's the thing,

[00:07:01] that's what concerns are is that the people that were participating in these trainings

[00:07:09] where they recognize there's white supremacy but they say it's other whites that are doing it

[00:07:15] it's not them which of course this is them bargaining. This is them right feeding the alligator

[00:07:21] in the hopes that it eats them less they're like okay fine yes yes I will concede that this is

[00:07:25] the case this thing that you're alleging is true because I don't want to be seen as part of that

[00:07:30] awful thing so I will say it's true so I'm your ally but it's not me and so she's lamenting this

[00:07:38] is by the way Sonia Gupta who was leading this module this ready something or other project ready

[00:07:46] which is in collaboration between UNC School of Information and Library Science and the Wake County

[00:07:52] Public Schools that's what this is. This training module is going into Wake County Public Schools

[00:08:01] from the librarians which by the way in case we haven't noticed it by now but the librarians

[00:08:05] like apparently like that whole profession is just jam packed full of communists I'm not sure when

[00:08:14] that happened but I've been monitoring this for a couple of months now and it's like it has gone

[00:08:20] full on commie it's kind of nuts like the American Library is librarians association or something

[00:08:27] holy Toledo right what I mean you know give me the generation and I'll give you a revolution

[00:08:36] project ready is a collaboration between UNC School of Information and Library Science which

[00:08:44] it's not a science okay it's not a science just you can't just throw science

[00:08:51] after after a word and then make it into a science and I say that as one who has a minor in

[00:08:57] political science right it's not science okay but it's a collaboration between UNC School of

[00:09:05] Information and Library Services oh sorry Library Science and Wake County Public Schools the initiative

[00:09:11] describes itself as a free online professional development program targeting teachers and school

[00:09:20] librarians what could go wrong teaching all of the children's teachers and librarians that all

[00:09:27] whites are racist what could go wrong yeah that's that that's how you get past racism right is

[00:09:35] you make everybody believe things about each other based on the color of their skin that's the way

[00:09:41] you get past it right obviously so the module this training module starts off by stating quote

[00:09:51] if you identify as white oh okay well hang on a second all right well then how about this nobody

[00:09:55] identifies white anymore there you go look at me problem self I have solved the problem everybody

[00:10:02] nobody I just nobody identifies white anymore and whiteness is gone there I unpacked it completely

[00:10:09] and not only did I unpack it I zipped it back up and I I stored it in the attic we never even have to

[00:10:16] think about it ever again look at that solving all of the world's problems that's what I do here

[00:10:23] if you identify as white this module might elicit strong emotions such as anger denial shame guilt

[00:10:32] and embarrassment by the way this is um this is how they uh the the designers of these modules along with

[00:10:41] like frauds like robin the angelo this is how and and uh ibram x kendi right this is essentially

[00:10:48] shut up a re that's what that's what they do here is to say okay I'm going to call you a name

[00:10:54] and if you react in any kind of a negative way anything other than to say yes I see well that

[00:11:02] is your truth that's your lived experience right so if I respond in any other way then

[00:11:09] you have prejudged me right and you've told me that you will prejudge me that if I react negatively

[00:11:17] to being called a terrible name that if I react poorly uh if I react in any of these ways then

[00:11:22] that means that I am guilty of that which you accuse me which is a very convenient rhetorical

[00:11:28] device it's a trap actually it's a rhetorical trap right there's no way out they construct

[00:11:36] and this is why by the way even Harvard you know sort of the birthplace of critical race theory

[00:11:43] studies and all this garbage um which actually it's not the birthplace well I mean it's the birth

[00:11:47] pre birthplace of CRT but it really all just traces back to you know haggle and marks but whatever

[00:11:52] the point here is that Harvard actually did an analysis a couple of years ago about these types

[00:11:58] of trainings and whether or not they actually are of benefit in the workplace and it turns out

[00:12:04] that people hate each other hate their co-workers more after these meetings after these trainings

[00:12:11] in other words they do more damage you're not actually helping you're not solving any of the problems

[00:12:17] you're not advancing the society you're not fighting systemic oppression or supremacy or any of it

[00:12:22] you're making people angry at each other that's all you do when they weren't when they were not

[00:12:28] angry beforehand um it says it's important to get used to the uncomfortable feeling to sit with

[00:12:37] it and then to harness it in positive ways that allow you to begin to dismantle it this is ibrimx

[00:12:44] candy this it's all this is which is you know the antidote to racism uh in the past is racism now

[00:12:51] is prejudice now is discrimination now that that's what this is and then if you're not actively

[00:12:58] quote anti-racist and that means dismantling all of the institutions which by the way happened to be

[00:13:03] you know free market capitalism and western enlightenment right if you're not tearing it all down

[00:13:09] then you're part of the problem those are the only options you have which 20 years ago we

[00:13:16] we summed this up by saying you will be made to care right the issues change but the underlying

[00:13:23] issue is always the same which is the revolution right the issue is never the issue the issue is

[00:13:27] always the revolution okay if you're listening to this podcast you are obviously paying attention

[00:13:32] to the world around us you also have really great taste i might add but if you haven't started

[00:13:37] getting prepared for various emergencies i got to ask what are you waiting for please call my friends

[00:13:42] bill and Jan at Carolina readiness supply and they'll help get you started if you have no idea how

[00:13:47] to start they can help you if you're an experienced prepper they can help you to being prepared is just

[00:13:53] smart we've already established that you're smart i mean you listen to this podcast after all so

[00:13:58] let's put those smarts into action go to Carolina readiness dot com that's Carolina readiness dot com

[00:14:05] or call them at eight to eight two two six seventy two thirty nine Carolina readiness supply has two

[00:14:11] thousand square feet of supplies as well as educational materials that you're going to need for

[00:14:15] any kind of emergency veteran owned Carolina readiness supply will you be ready when the lights go out

[00:14:22] all right i'm gonna see if i can play i'm gonna see if i can play some of this uh this is uh Coleman

[00:14:26] Hughes and uh he's a podcaster guy he's a philosophy guy um he's got a new book out called color

[00:14:33] blindness and appeared on the view and so this is first him uh talking with um what be goldberg

[00:14:41] here about uh about the book and oh hang on a second here we go

[00:14:48] first question that i should ask you to to to do is explain to folks what you mean

[00:14:59] by this arguments for a colorblind America what do you mean when you say that so a lot of people

[00:15:04] equate colorblindness to i don't see race or to pretending not to see race i think that's a big

[00:15:09] mistake we all see race right and we're all capable of being racially biased so we should all be

[00:15:16] self-aware to that possibility my argument is not for that my argument is that we should try our very

[00:15:21] best to treat people without regard to race both in our personal lives and our public policy

[00:15:26] of course and the reason i wrote this book thank you

[00:15:32] the reason i wrote this book is because in the past ten years it has become very popular too

[00:15:37] in the name of anti-racism teach a kind of philosophy to our children and in general that says

[00:15:43] your race is everything right and i think that is the wrong way to fight racism and that's why i

[00:15:48] wrote this book at this time can i i'm sorry baby can i just point out that there is a reason for that

[00:15:54] you know when i went to school getting any information about anyone's race was not taught

[00:16:02] history there was no black history none of those things were taught and here in america a hundred

[00:16:07] years ago when i was a young woman that's how people saw you that's how they judged you so

[00:16:14] i think it's i don't want to say it's the your youth but i think you have a point but i think you

[00:16:23] have to also take into consideration what people have lived through in order to understand why

[00:16:30] there has been such a pointing of very specific racial things like women couldn't go to get

[00:16:40] into colleges if you are a black person there are a lot of colleges wouldn't accept you trying to

[00:16:45] equal the playing field i think that's what a lot of folks were i've been trying to do i'm sorry

[00:16:50] i didn't need to cut you i think that's your experience and that's valid you know as a counterpoint

[00:16:56] when i was in fifth grade we all watched roots together yeah in public school yeah so these are

[00:17:02] different experiences i think it's also different generations it's different parts of the country

[00:17:08] right we have very different cultures all living together in one country so i'm not going to deny

[00:17:13] that but i think i view this notion of a colorblind society similar to the idea of a peaceful society

[00:17:18] which is to say it's an ideal it's a north star and the point is not that we're ever going to get

[00:17:22] there we're not going to touch it but we have to know when we're going forward and when we're

[00:17:26] going backwards and we're going backwards when we're doing woke kindergarten in san francisco

[00:17:31] you know with with you didn't hear about the story no but yeah of course public policies that

[00:17:39] address socio economic differences would be better at benefit benefiting disadvantaged groups and

[00:17:45] that race based policies often hurt the very people they're trying to help what are some some examples

[00:17:51] of policies that would be better at reducing racial disparities so my overall argument is that

[00:17:57] class socio economics is a better proxy for disadvantage we all want to help the disadvantage and

[00:18:02] the question is how do we identify them right the default right now in a lot of areas of policy is

[00:18:08] to use you know black and Hispanic identity as a proxy for disadvantage and my argument is that

[00:18:13] you actually get a better picture of who needs help by looking at socio economics and income

[00:18:18] that that picks out people in a more accurate way and not my question but when you say that socio

[00:18:28] economics picks out people in a better way than race when you do look at the socio economics

[00:18:34] you see the huge disparity between white households and black households you see the huge disparity

[00:18:40] between white households and Hispanic households so your argument and I've read your book twice

[00:18:45] because I wanted to give it a chance your argument that race has no place in that equation is really

[00:18:53] fundamentally flawed well that's sunny hosting for questions one is whether each racial group

[00:19:00] is socio economically the same that I agree with you they're not yeah they're not and the

[00:19:05] national that yeah of course I agree with that fully the question is how do you how do you address

[00:19:09] that in the way that actually targets poverty the best great and what Martin Luther King wrote

[00:19:13] in his book why we can't wait is he called it we need a bill of rights for the disadvantage

[00:19:18] and he said yes we should address racial inequality yes we should address the legacy of slavery

[00:19:23] but the way to do that is on the basis of class and that will disproportionately target blacks

[00:19:28] and Hispanics because they're disproportionately poor but it will be doing so in a way that also helps

[00:19:33] the white poor in a way that addresses poverty as the thing to be addressed that part is true

[00:19:38] but as you are a student of dr king i'm not only a student of dr king i know his daughter oh

[00:19:44] oh well now i'm gonna she's in fallible go ahead go right um sunny hostains in fallible like

[00:19:51] she knows dr king's dog that color blindness was the goal of the civil rights movement

[00:19:56] based upon dr king's i have a dream speech you know content of character versus the color of skin

[00:20:03] brniece dr king's daughter points out that four years after giving that speech actually

[00:20:12] um dr king also said this a society that has done something special against the negro for hundreds

[00:20:18] of years must now do something special for negroes he also said in 1968 it was about less than a

[00:20:25] week before he was assassinated this country never stops to realize that they owe a people kept

[00:20:32] in slavery for 244 years so rather than class he did write about that earlier on right before his death

[00:20:41] he made the argument for racial equality and racial reparations and so your argument for color

[00:20:49] blindness i think is something that the right has co-opted and so many in the black community

[00:20:56] if i'm being honest with you because i want to be believe that you are being used as a pawn by

[00:21:01] the right and that you are charlatan of sorts no no no no no you said that you're conservative

[00:21:09] no no you did you actually said that uh podcast that you did two weeks ago i said i was a

[00:21:14] conservative yes not yes did so but my question to you my question to you is how do you respond to

[00:21:22] these wild crazy accusations i'm making okay so first thing i want to i think it's very important

[00:21:28] the quote that you just pointed out about doing something special for the negro that's from

[00:21:33] the book why we can't wait that that i just mentioned yes a couple paragraphs later he lays out exactly

[00:21:38] what that something special was yes and it was the bill of rights for the disadvantage

[00:21:42] oh my gosh broad class based pop up but he also says you must include race

[00:21:48] no he didn't he says it's okay well everyone can go everyone should go read the book why we can't

[00:21:52] wait let's not get sidetracked by that yeah get um i'm i don't think i've been co-opted by anyone

[00:21:57] i've only voted twice both for democrats although i'm an independent i would vote for a republican

[00:22:02] probably a non-Trump Republican if they were compelling um i don't think there's any evidence

[00:22:06] i've been co-opted by anyone and i think that that's that's uh an ad hominim tactic people use to

[00:22:12] not address really the important conversations we're having here and i think it's better and it

[00:22:16] would be better for everyone if we stuck to the topics rather than make it about me there you go he's

[00:22:22] exactly right good for Coleman Hughes uh his book is end of race the end of race politics he has a

[00:22:29] podcast called conversations with Coleman i've been listening to his podcast i've been watching

[00:22:33] the sky reading reading his stuff for a couple years now um the dude is not a conservative okay

[00:22:40] um this like this is absurd to me and the fact that she's like oh well you know i know Bernice

[00:22:47] and so Bernice says this and Coleman Hughes see sunny host and she made a mistake here she thought

[00:22:54] Coleman Hughes was a surface intellectual like most of the quote intellectuals that they bring in

[00:22:59] there this guy is not and so when she brings up that quote about uh about reparations or whatever

[00:23:06] Coleman knows exactly what she's talking about because he has read king's book and immediately points

[00:23:12] to the paragraph where that occurs and host and quite clearly does not know what she's talking about

[00:23:19] she's reading she read that quote off of a card so she got this information she's presenting it as if

[00:23:25] she knows what she's talking about as if she is a deep thinker and Coleman just guts her

[00:23:31] right and and think about why what is his argument his argument is address any quality by going

[00:23:39] after the socio economics and you'll you'll you'll scoop up everybody that need the help

[00:23:45] and she don't she doesn't want that to happen we have to look at race it's got to be all about race

[00:23:51] all right it is turnie time and it's also a good time to check out draft king sports book which is now

[00:23:57] in North Carolina you can legally bet on all of your favorite sports anytime anywhere in the state

[00:24:02] with draft kings and official sports betting partner of NASCAR you watching the basketball tournament

[00:24:07] games make bets as you watch and get fast and easy payouts draft kings has tons of the best features

[00:24:13] like parlays for multiple games player props which focus on an individual player and their performance

[00:24:19] within a specific game also social betting groups where you can share your bets with your friends

[00:24:24] in real time I have a special promo for you as well you download the draft king sports book

[00:24:29] app on your phone or tablet and use the code peete peete you bet five dollars and you get two

[00:24:35] hundred dollars instantly in bonus bets only on draft king sports book with code peete the crown

[00:24:41] is yours king or queen but this is a limited time offer so take advantage gambling problem called

[00:24:47] 877 718 55 43 or visit more than a game dot nc dot gov 21 plus north Carolina only bonus bets

[00:24:55] expire 168 hours after issuance deposit and eligibility restrictions apply terms are at draft

[00:25:02] kings dot com slash sports book slash and see also NASCAR is not a sponsor of this promotion

[00:25:08] and is used under license got a message here from Chris peete you may be aware of this but if not

[00:25:16] in a fairly recent episode of finding your roots with doctor Lewis gates junior sunny host and was

[00:25:23] a guest gates revealed to her that her ancestors not only owned slaves but were actually involved

[00:25:32] in the slave trade she was not pleased I do do remember that she said she was deeply disappointed

[00:25:40] to find out her ancestors family business was rooted in the slave trade the Washington examiner

[00:25:47] said that quote quotes are saying when I found out what I found out was my mother's family while

[00:25:53] they are Puerto Rican they actually originated from Spain and the reason they moved to Puerto Rico

[00:25:58] is because the slave trade had been sort of canceled in Spain and then curacao and then they

[00:26:04] moved all of their slaves to Puerto Rico and so the business the family business I have been told

[00:26:09] they were printers and journalists but they were in fact and slavers it was deeply disappointing

[00:26:17] this woman who has been lobbying for reparations I'd yes she's going to have to come out of pocket

[00:26:23] I suspect yeah so the the project that we've been talking about this hour is called project ready

[00:26:31] the collaboration between UNC and Wake County public schools called unpacking whiteness

[00:26:37] and looking to come to a school near you and by the way they say that if you are promoting this color

[00:26:43] blindness term that's actually a form of ableist language as well because color blind all right that'll

[00:26:51] do it for this episode thank you so much for listening I could not do the show without your support

[00:26:56] and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast so if you'd like please support them

[00:27:01] too and tell them you heard it here you can also become a patron and my patreon page or go to

[00:27:05] dpcalinershow.com again thank you so much for listening and don't break anything while I'm gone