The question is what they were expecting.
Disaffected participants in the 2016 White Privilege Conference (WPC) have taken to Twitter to complain that the conference was, ironically, too white and was actually filled to the brim with white supremacy.
Adopting the hashtag #WPCSoWhite, inspired by the recent #OscarsSoWhite campaign, Twitter users claimed the conference that was supposed to battle white privilege instead served to entrench it.
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
The tag appears to have been started and pushed with particular vigor by Aeriel Ashlee, an education consultant who attended WPC and objected to several parts of a keynote address delivered by (white) historian James Loewen.
She said Loewen’s rhetoric, which was solidly progressive throughout, actually entrenched white supremacy, partly because his speech allegedly lasted too long. When Loewen attempted to defend himself, Ashlee said that any defense was invalid and only further showed his white supremacy.
https://twitter.com/heaterMPH/status/721343767085760513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/aerielashlee/status/721342362539192320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
@aerielashlee Dr.Moore told me, just before I started, to take one hour. I took exactly 53 minutes.
— James W. Loewen (@JamesWLoewen) April 17, 2016
https://twitter.com/aerielashlee/status/721691735806631937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Others ganged up on Loewen for using the n-word during his speech, which dealt heavily with racist sentiments throughout American history. One even described Loewen’s comments as “deeply offensive and traumatizing.”
https://twitter.com/heaterMPH/status/721343767085760513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/TheeKWard/status/721366267895136256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/TheeKWard/status/721366267895136256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The #WPCSoWhite label was used to go after more than Loewen’s speech, though. Users also complained about everything from the hairstyles of white attendees to the “ridiculously unsafe” environment that apparently existed (TheDCNF noticed no evidence of any violence or otherwise dangerous behavior during the three-day conference).
N-word NEVER acceptable from #whitefolks lips! Deeply offensive & traumatizing. @JamesWLoewen #WPCSoWhite #PHLWPC17 https://t.co/oLP9M9GwUs
— Jill Poklemba (@jillmarette99) April 16, 2016
https://twitter.com/aleistalking/status/721778772005892096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/aerielashlee/status/721424572147462145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Another attendee even denounced a white male at the conference for selling a book that was, in her view, too expensive.
https://twitter.com/Immy_White/status/721695543790018561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
TheDCNF estimates about 70% of attendees were white.
A regular ticket to the conference, purchased in advance, cost $375, and the cheapest ticket (for college students) was still $200. Attendees hoping to attend a special Saturday night dinner or special bonus sessions could end up spending hundreds more, and most attendees also had to cope with lodging and travel costs. Having the free time and money to attend a three-day conference, it turns out, may be the most privileged thing of all.
This report, by Blake Neff, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
