'White Privilege Conference' Held In Bloomington
By Edgar Linares, NewsRadio 830 WCCO
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It's a conference with a title that organizers say sparks dialogue. The White Privilege Conference begins this week in Bloomington, Minn.
This will be the conferences 12th year and most attended year according to organizers. They expect about 2,200 to attend the four-day conference.
"The purpose of our conference is to bring people together to have some challenging dialogue about issues of white privilege, white supremacy and the history of privilege and oppression," said Abby Ferber, a member of White Privilege Conference national planning team.
Ferber is white and she says as a white person she had privileges that have been invisible to her most of her life.
"When I'm driving down the street, I don't get pulled over by the police on the pretext of driving two miles over the speed limit," she said. "I may get off of a speeding ticket because I seem like a non-dangerous white person."
In an article in the Star Tribune written by Katherine Kersten, a senior fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, she criticized Lakeville Area schools for sending a delegation to the conference after they had announced almost $7 million in cuts. She called the conference a "white guilt" festival.
Joe Thomas agrees with Kersten. Thomas, with the Council of Conservative Citizens, stood by the road in front of the hotel where the conference is being held and flagged down cars with a sign reading, "It's my white privilege to welcome you."
"I feel it's my duty to secure the future of my race and children," said Thomas. "I think it's ridiculous. They're taking public money … that's yours and mine and are paying to come here and learn about white guilt."
Lakeville Area schools spokeswoman, Linda Swanson says the money used to pay for delegation at the conference didn't come from the state's general fund. She said it came from an integration and equity grant the schools apply for each year.
Conference organizers say 20 percent attending will be grade school teachers from across the nation including the Twin Cities, 14 percent from non-profit staff, 25 percent are college students, 8 percent are high school students, 14 percent are higher education staff, and 2 percent come from the private sector and corporate world. The other percentage attending include social workers and psychologists. Ferber says 52 percent coming have attended more than one conference.
"The thing about white privilege is that it teaches us that not all students are the same," said Ferber. "They come with different baggage from different backgrounds and we need to be aware of those differences in our classrooms."
