Rantz: Seattle English students told it’s ‘white supremacy’ to love reading, writing
Students in a Seattle English class were told that their love of reading and writing is a characteristic of “white supremacy,” in the latest Seattle Public Schools high school controversy. The lesson plan has one local father speaking out, calling it “educational malpractice.”
As part of the Black Lives Matter at School Week, World Literature and Composition students at Lincoln High School were given a handout with definitions of the “9 characteristics of white supremacy,” according to the father of a student. Given the subject matter of the class, the father found it odd this particular lesson was brought up.
The Seattle high schoolers were told that “Worship of the Written Word” is white supremacy because it is “an erasure of the wide range of ways we communicate with each other.” By this definition, the very subject of World Literature and Composition is racist. It also chides the idea that we hyper-value written communication because it’s a form of “honoring only what is written and even then only what is written to a narrow standard, full of misinformation and lies.” The worksheet does not provide any context for what it actually means.
“I feel bad for any students who actually internalize stuff like this as it is setting them up for failure,” the father explained to the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.
Everything is ‘white supremacy’ at Seattle Public Schools
The father asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution against his child by Seattle Public Schools. He said the other pieces of the worksheet were equally disturbing.
The worksheet labels “objectivity,” “individualism,” and “perfectionism” as white supremacy. If students deny their own racism — or that any of the nine characteristics are legitimately racist — is also white supremacy. Denialism or being overly defensive is a racist example of an “entitlement to name what is an [sic] isn’t racism and that those with power have a right to be shielded from the stresses of antiracist work.”
The father argues the concepts are “incoherent and cannot stand any sort of reasoned analysis.” And he notes that it’s set up to ensure students accept every concept without ever questioning the claims.
“How is a 15-year-old kid supposed to object in class when ‘denial and defensiveness’ is itself a characteristic of white supremacy? This is truly educational malpractice.”
Terms and definitions regarding white supremacy given to Lincoln High students.
White students told to apologize in yet another Seattle high school controversy
Another aspect of the white supremacy lesson at this Seattle school involved a video titled “Getting Called Out: How to Apologize” by Franchesca Ramsey. It’s reportedly presented in the context of white students expressing what the teacher views as “white supremacy.”
“Getting called out, in this context of this video, is when you say or do something that upholds the oppression of a marginalized group of people,” Ramsey says.
Ramsey says her advice is about becoming an ally and “doing the right thing.” She explains you shouldn’t “get defensive” by denying you’re oppressing marginalized people, even if you’re not actually oppressing marginalized people.
“What you really need to do is listen because this is where the other person is hopefully going to explain to you what you did wrong and how you can explain it,” she says.
In the context of the worksheet on white supremacy, it seems clear that students must merely accept that they are upholding oppression. Using the worksheet, if a student defends independence or a love of reading and writing, that student is supposed to accept that it’s white supremacist thinking and stop acting independently or loving to read and write.
The worksheet on white supremacy.
The father also wonders how many students will fall for this toxic thinking across Seattle schools where concepts around white supremacy are so clearly partisan.
“I feel bad for any students who actually internalize stuff like this as it is setting them up for failure,” he said.
Seattle Public Schools spokespeople provided their normal response to requests for comment: none.
‘How do white supremacy characteristics show up in your personal lives?’ was a question in a worksheet given to Lincoln High students.