White people have always followed a very basic playbook when it comes to ducking discussions and accountability for racism. It’s simple: They deny racism is happening, claim adamantly that they were raised not to see color and characterize any undeniable instances of racism as isolated incidents. Now, the gods of white fragility have bestowed upon the people who have been caucasified in the waters of Lake Minne-honky a new racism deflection gift—Critical Race Theory.
It doesn’t matter that white conservatives have no idea what CRT is. All they need to do is band together, keep calling the academic study everything it’s not, and watch white supremacy do its work. There’s a picture-perfect example of this happening in Traverse City, Mich., where white high school students were caught in a private Snapchat group engaging in a mock slave auction where they discussed how much they would sell and buy their Black classmates for. This prompted the school to issue an anti-racism resolution, which many white parents took issue with, unsurprisingly.
“I know how much I was sold for: one hundred dollars,” 16-year-old Nevaeh Wharton, who said she was alerted to the group by a fellow student, told the Washington Post. “And in the end, I was given away for free.”
From the Post:
The Snapchat group, titled “slave trade,” also saw a student share the messages “all blacks should die” and “let’s start another holocaust,” according to screenshots obtained by The Washington Post. It spurred the fast-tracking of a school equity resolution that condemned racism and vowed Traverse City Area Public Schools would better educate its overwhelmingly White student body and teaching staff on how to live in a diverse country.
Events in Traverse City would demonstrate how quickly efforts to address historic disparities or present-day racial harassment in schools can become fodder for a campaign against critical race theory, fueled by White parents’ growing conviction that their children are being taught to feel ashamed of their Whiteness—and their country.
