In their efforts to save “people of color” from “white supremacy,” anti-racism activists have sometimes resorted to the kind of crude stereotyping once known as racism.
SO WHAT
There’s something un-American about the woke obsession with skin color.
WHAT HAPPENED
Across the country, there have been a spate of recent cases that have sparked backlash from critics of “anti-racism.”
FLORIDA: Larry Scirotto, a former City of Fort Lauderdale police chief, was fired Thursday for enacting allegedly discriminatory hiring practices in the name of “promoting diversity,” CNN reported.
- According to a report by a law firm hired by the city to investigate discrimination complaints against Scirotto, he allegedly overlooked a white man with 20 years tenure with the department and narrowed a hiring decision down to two men of color.
- In choosing between the two men, Sciorotto allegedly asked, “which one is blacker.”
- On another occasion, Scirotto purportedly claimed a wall displaying photos of the department’s leadership staff was “too white” and said, “I’m gonna change that.”
WASHINGTON: Last month, officials from the Issaquah School District near Seattle were accused of segregating parent meetings by skin color.
In a bulletin sent out in early February, the district set aside a specific date for “Parents/Guardians of Color and Parents/Guardians with Students of Color” to meet with school officials.
- Several parents, including parents of color, complained during a Feb. 10 school board meeting that the separate meetings constituted “segregation.”
- Meanwhile, a spokesperson defended the decision by saying the board’s intention was to be more “inclusive.”
WASHINGTON, D.C.: A contributor to the Washington Post argued in an essay published last month that “the belief that one is entitled to freedom is a key component of white supremacy.”
“The notion of ‘freedom’ was historically and remains intertwined with Whiteness,” wrote Taylor Dysart, a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania, in an opinion piece that was highly critical of the Ottawa trucker convoy.
OKLAHOMA: Cedric Sunray, a former admissions counselor at Oklahoma Christian University, caused a widespread outcry in March 2020 after he lined students up by hair texture and skin color during a visit to an Oklahoma City high school.
- “The recruiter asked the students to line up from darkest to lightest skin complexion, and then line up from nappiest to straightest hair,” Steven Stefanick, principal of Harding Charter Preparatory High School, told The New York Times in 2020.
- Oklahoma Christian University issued a statement soon after the incident announcing Sunray was no longer employed at the school.
- In a column published by the Christian Chronicle, Sunray called himself an “ally against racism directed towards the Black community” and said he had no “intention of promoting a racist agenda.”
“My presentations are the opposite. They are intended to take a hard look at issues such as this,” he wrote.
SAME ENERGY
In a viral video released in July 2020, comedian Ryan Long satirized the issue by pointing out the similarity between racist and woke perspectives.
Chloe Valdary, a black writer and activist, has made a similar point.
- In 2020, Valdary characterized wokeness as a form of racial essentialism, telling the Forward that, “Ironically, it reduces us as individuals to our immutable characteristics, which is precisely what we were supposed to be fighting against.”