According to Elizabeth Boltz Ranfield, a white professor at Anderson University in Indiana, the school’s decision to divide its diversity and inclusion discussion sessions based on race was only about “white people’s feelings.” Anderson University is a Christian university.
It’s hypocritical, says English professor Elizabeth Boltz Ranfield, who took to TikTok to point out, that when white people create their own default ‘white spaces,’ but then get unhappy when black, indigenous, and other people of color build their own groups to oppose splitting races.
Recently, the Racial Equity Taskforce of the school made a decision to convene “listening groups” segregated along racial lines in order to raise the level of openness in discussions about race and equality.
Sessions for ‘White Students’ and ‘Students of Color’ will be held today and on April 19.
@lizboltzWhen white people get upset about affinity groups existing.♬ original sound – LizBR
In a 1965 address, Martin Luther King Jr. referred to segregation as ‘rationally unexplained and morally unjustified’ and stated that it was a violation of human rights.
Ranfield, on the other hand, claimed in a social media post on April 9 that white people are complicit in “default” segregation, making these meetings legitimate.
White people do this thing where we create spaces and are a part of spaces that are white only not by statute, but by default – so circumstances allow a space to continue to be white only even though there’s no rule that says white only.
She claimed that whites employ rationalizations such as “this is only a white (geographic) area” to justify the segregation.
A corrective solution, according to Rainfield, is Anderson University’s segregation of the discussion sessions
Even though they are not expressly barred, people of color are forced to accept these spaces. However, Ranfield, a white man, remarked that when individuals of color do the same, white people get outraged.
If people of color begin to organize and create spaces that are for them, white people, we get all, ‘Well, isn’t that segregation.
‘”Aren’t you trying to divide us?”,’ she says, mimicking a generic white person. “‘Why aren’t I allowed to go there.’
Then you end up with these protests over segregation that are really about white people’s feelings of getting, one, excluded from a space and, two, worrying that people are going to say mean things about them in that space and they’re not going to get to defend themselves.
A Christian youth ministry cult member, Ranfield explains, “the reason why we shouldn’t be in those areas in the first place is that we transform it into our feelings of defensiveness.'”
The racism task force at Anderson University surveyed students and found that separate sessions for white and non-white students would allow everyone to talk freely.
‘After compiling the responses, the task force decided to welcome students into respective listening groups based on race and ethnicity,’ university President John Pistole, who is white, wrote defending the decision. ‘This evidence-based method was selected for listening groups based on research models that demonstrate it as being highly effective for receiving candid feedback.’
Some pupils of color aren’t on board with the decision. One of the college’s female basketball players, Maya Turner, stated she was “embarrassed” by the decision of the university.
‘So Anderson University is holding racially segregated listening sessions and meetings now???’ Turner posted on Twitter. ‘As a student that attends Anderson University, this is extremely embarrassing and upsetting. It’s 2022 I can’t believe this kind of stuff still goes on.’
@lizboltz hey, everybody I knew in HS, sorry i probably tried to convert you #teenmania #teenmaniaministries #cult #exvangelical ♬ original sound – LizBR