The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction runs several programs that emphasize racial issues.
One of those programs – an Americorps operation called VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) – encourages white students to wear white wristbands that serve “as a reminder about your (white) privilege?”
The program for high school students “seeks to build capacity in schools and districts serving low-income families to develop an effective, sustainable, research-based program of family-school-community partnerships,”according to its Facebook page.
That sounds reasonable enough. However, the program becomes a bit suspect when one notices the Gloria Steinem quote on the top of their webpage: “The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.”
The webpage list a series of suggestions for high schools students to become more racially sensitive. The suggestions include:
• Wear a white wristband as a reminder about your privilege, and as a personal commitment to explain why you wear the wristband.
• Set aside sections of the day to critically examine how privilege is working.
• Put a note on your mirror or computer screen as a reminder to think about privilege.
The Wisconsin DPI also sponsors CREATE Wisconsin, an on-going “cultural sensitivity” teacher-training program that focuses largely on “whiteness” and “white privilege.” – WTMJ