The Edinburgh University has been accused of supporting ‘blatant racism’ for having hosted a supposed ‘anti-racism’ conference which banned white people from speaking.
The conference, called ‘Resisting Whiteness 2019’, took place over the weekend and was organized by a group which purports to oppose racism and describes itself as a QTPOC (queer and trans people of color) organization.
The event’s organizers allege that it seeks to ‘amplify the voices of people of color’ and to give ‘people of color a platform to talk’, the Telegraph reports.
According to the event’s blurb, organizers will ‘not be giving the microphone to white people during the Q&As’. Similarly, one of the two ‘safe spaces’ is reserved ‘only for people of color’, while the other is open to people who are feeling ‘overwhelmed/overstimulated or uncomfortable’.
“If you are a white person with a question, please share it with a member of the committee or our speakers after the panel discussion,” the blurb reads.
However, 42-year-old Jane McColl, an anti-racism campaigner from Glasgow, described the event as ‘blatantly racist’, adding: “It sets back the battle to achieve equality and fairness by decades, all because of the actions of a tiny group of extremists, whose perverse sense of logic has led them to belittle white people, not by who they are as individuals, by merely because of their skin color.
“Imagine if this event was called ‘Resisting Blackness’ and non-white people were told they could not ask questions, nor access a room because they were the ‘wrong’ color,” McColl added.
A spokesperson for the university has stated that the tackling racism was of great importance for the institution while adding that it placed ‘great value on issues around equality and voice’.
No comments:
Post a Comment