I… I can’t even…
From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
“The Oconomowoc Area School District is limiting discussions about social privilege after a Martin Luther King Day exercise that touched on the subject of white privilege set off a firestorm in that predominantly white community.
Oconomowoc Superintendent Roger Rindo said he was directed by board members during a closed-door, executive session shortly after the Jan. 15 assembly not to allow future activities around the topic of privilege except in classrooms where it is related to a specific course and teachers can provide appropriate context.”
The principal of Oconomowoc High School was also relieved of his duties. The district is playing the we-can’t-comment-on-personnel-matters card, but it was pretty obviously because of this:
The Oconomowoc controversy erupted in January after a break-out session in which students were invited to fill out and discuss a "privilege aptitude test." Created by the National Civil Rights Museum, the test is designed to illustrate the ways in which some groups enjoy advantages that others do not….
[snip]
The idea that skin color carries an advantage touched a nerve among some students and parents in the district, where almost 90% of the students are white. Several parents complained, fueled by conservative talk radio.
This! Right here! They literally just demonstrated their privilege:
- Affluent white conservatives made a little bit uncomfortable by a brief, one-time discussion of white privilege?
- Principal loses his job.
- Superintendent blocks a student group from following up with a simple Privilege Walk.
- School Board makes sure the topic will never come up again.
We just can’t do anything to address pay inequality, redlining, generational poverty, mass incarceration, or, you know, unarmed people of color getting killed by police. But a white person is momentarily uncomfortable? OH, THE HUMANITY! Let’s move heaven and earth to take care of that right away!
Some choice quotes from school “leaders”…
Oconomowoc Schools Superintendent Roger Rindo:
"Schools are a microcosm of their communities. And we had parents in our community who felt like the concept of privilege went a little far, particularly for some of our younger students."
The district has to be "prudent and mindful of the context in which we live and work."
The “context in which we live and work”?? Again, the whole point of discussing privilege is literally to give people context, perspective, and empathy for those who were born into different bodies and situations. Guessing he meant something else… maybe the “context in which we live and work” means “Oconomowoc is just chock full of white supremacists, and we certainly wouldn’t want to make any of them upset, or worse yet, force them to think critically about anything.”
Oconomowoc School Board President Donald Wiemer:
"Our board is fine with discussions about diversity ... but white privilege is a lightning rod for some parents."
"We have poor people in Oconomowoc who are saying they're not privileged ... and people that say, 'Don, we worked our butts off to have what we have.'"
OMFG. The existence of poor white people does not disprove privilege.
Poor White People in Oconomowoc take note: Think really hard about the combination of choices and circumstances throughout your life that led to you being a poor white person in Oconomowoc today. Now imagine going through all of it again, only this time, you also have to deal with the mountains of crap that people of color deal with every day. Even if you sincerely believe you’d have ended up right in the same place, you can’t deny that getting there would’ve been harder. That’s privilege. An easier path; not necessarily an easy path.
One last example that should hit home in Oconomowoc:
Privilege is going fishing…
...without having to worry about somebody pulling a gun on you because of the color of your skin.