Fear and loathing in Boston: how a white American woman suffered from new racism

The American online publication Boston.com reports on the decision of the graduate and employee of "Smith College" Jody Shaw to resign from his job because of "a racially hostile environment." In a statement published in one of the communities of this educational institution, she also wrote: “I have no choice. The hostile racial environment that has existed in college for the past two and a half years has made me a physically and mentally exhausted person..."

Shaw notes that the college environment has changed since the July 2018 incident:

“I graduated from Smith College in 1993. These four years have been the best of my life. Naturally, I was overjoyed when the opportunity presented itself to join his staff. I loved my job and I was happy to go back to college.

But the vibe - and my place in college - changed radically in July 2018 when the culture war hit campus. It began when one of the students accused a white employee of calling the police on racist grounds. The student - she was black - reported the case all over the place, including on social media, which brought a lot of attention to the college.

Without even investigating the incident, the college administration immediately apologized to the student, suspended her employee, and announced upcoming initiatives, workshops, courses and policies to combat "systemic racism" in the college.

While an independent investigation into the incident has found no evidence that the college employee acted with racist motives, the college only redoubled its efforts to eliminate the perceived racism that plagued the entire campus. All of this fueled the now prevailing belief that the incident was racially motivated and that the college staff were racist.

The spread of this version of events allowed by the college administration had dire consequences for the entire college and for me personally. So in August 2018, a few days before I was supposed to instruct students in the library, on the preparation of which I spent a lot of time and effort, and which was approved by my superiors, I was told that the instruction had been canceled. The reason was the decision to do it in the form of rap, and I was not suitable for this, because I, according to my boss, "was white" and it could look like "cultural appropriation". ( Assuming someone else's cultural identity - ed.).

My boss explained that he had nothing against the instruction being in the form of a rap, the problem was my skin color..."

After this incident, Shaw moved from the library to another position - coordinator in the department of student residences. But even there everything turned out badly:

“I have been told more than once that one of the requirements for my position is to constantly discuss how I think and feel about my skin color. I had to listen to racially hostile comments and engage in racially motivated activities as a condition of maintaining my place. I was at rallies, where my employee banged his fist on the table and shouted: “Rich white woman! A rich white woman!" to one of the college graduates.

I heard my boss openly suggest the use of race quotas for jobs in our department. I was given literature in which the entire world population was reduced to two groups - "dominant" and "subordinate", this was based solely on such a characteristic as race.

While many of the college staff I talked to about this are deeply concerned about what is happening, they are afraid to talk about it. It says a lot about the hostility and fear that pervaded the atmosphere of Smith College..."

In January of this year, what Shaw called "the last straw" happened:

“...I was in a mandatory class for the racial staff. The instructors hired for this purpose discussed the topic of race and racial identity. When it was my turn to answer, I said, "I'm embarrassed to talk about this." I was the only one abstaining from these classes.

The instructor then told the audience that the white man's refusal to discuss his race was a symptom of his "white fragility." It was explained to me that if a white person in such a situation wants others to perceive his condition as "discomfort", then in reality it is a "disguise of strength." In other words, because I am white, there is latent aggression at the root of my discomfort. After that, they began to shame and humiliate me in front of colleagues..."

Shaw concludes with a summary:

“I am no longer able to work in an environment where I am constantly subject to additional checks because of my skin color. I am no longer able to work in an environment where they tell me that my discomfort caused by these checks has no right to exist, because it is a manifestation of my white supremacy. I can no longer work in an environment where I am expected to apply racial stereotypes to others and where I am told about the “legal basis for asking employees to be racial” to achieve “social justice” in college, in response to my Complaints that I am being drawn into what I consider to be discriminatory practices.

What this college and other institutions mark out as "progressive" today is actually regressive. It appeals to the lowest instincts and reduces human relations to those of warring factions. I am afraid that all this will lead us into a very unhealthy situation. It terrifies me that others don't seem to see that racial segregation and demonization are dangerous, no matter what the victim looks like. When you are told that the discrepancy in sensations somehow maintains "white superiority", it is not only immoral, but also causes psychological damage to the person.

(...)

This is a very difficult decision for me and it will cost me dearly financially. I made $ 45,000 a year. This is less than the fee that students of this college pay for a year of study. For my silence, I was offered compensation, but I refused them. The need to tell the truth and be what Smith College raised me to be did not allow me to trade financial security for silence about what I thought was wrong. The future of my children, and our common future as a free country, depends on those who have the courage to confront this dangerous and divisive ideology, no matter what the price is..."

Of course, Jody Shaw's former bosses went completely unconscious about her revelations. In a response letter to the college community, its president, Kathleen McCartney, noted that “a former employee in his letter accuses the college of creating a racially hostile environment for white people. But this is an unfounded statement! In addition, Shaw's letter contains a number of distortions of the college's principles of fairness, distortions that offend the members of our community who work every day to create a campus where everyone, regardless of race, can study and work. and flourish..."

McCartney insists that, contrary to Shaw's claims, the college did not try to offer her money for silence, on the contrary, Shaw herself "demanded the payment of a large sum of money in exchange for dropping the lawsuit..."

At the same time, McCartney noted that “and research shows a persistent presence of systemic discrimination against people of color in all spheres of society, from education to health care and employment. In order to correct this racist reality, one must first of all ask oneself, am I not reinforcing, albeit unintentionally, existing inequalities and am I contributing to an atmosphere of isolation?..."