Diversity Training is Not Anti-American Propaganda
The Trump Administration recently announced a ban on all federally-funded diversity training, citing it as “anti-American propaganda” that creates “division and resentment.” Unfortunately, no data was provided to support this claim, other than the president’s personal opinion.
I am having a difficult time understanding his viewpoint. In my experience as a former cultural diversity instructor, I had a handful of white students who shared the president’s opinion. Their sentiment was “if we don’t talk about race, then we won’t have any problems.” Of course, that would mean no problems for white people. Talking about race and ethnicity is uncomfortable for many white people because of our nation’s blemished history. Yet racism is undeniably alive and well in the United States as evidenced by the many occurrences of police brutality that happen all too often. So why not talk about it?
The white student who feels uncomfortable talking about race is usually of the “well-meaning” variety (see my article “Shades of White: White Attitudes Toward Racism in America” for a lengthier description). They don’t really believe racism exists because in their bubble, it doesn’t. I would love to believe this about our president as well, but unfortunately there have been too many occurrences of racist rhetoric — both blatant and subliminal — coming out…
