College civil-rights offices and DEI staff sometimes teach that whites can’t be victims of racism, because non-whites don’t have power, only whites do. Acting on such teachings can get colleges in hot water, legally speaking. The College Fix gives an example:
A white professor’s racial-discrimination lawsuit against Pennsylvania State University-Abington can move forward, a federal judge ruled recently. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone ruled Friday against a motion to dismiss from the Abington public university. Penn State sought to stop former English Professor Zack De Piero’s lawsuit that alleged he was “individually singled out for ridicule and humiliation because of the color of his skin,” according to the original filing.
De Piero’s attorneys argued that mandatory diversity trainings and race-based grading constituted a “hostile work environment, in violation of Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” that forced De Piero to resign, according to the ruling’s summary.
Grading students on the basis of race drew support from nearly 400 Penn State faculty from various campuses. The letter said the lawsuit is one example of “attacks from reactionaries who claim that curricula, programs, and initiatives aimed at promoting inclusivity and equity are racist and divisive,” as previously reported by The College Fix…
One of the mandatory trainings, as detailed in the ruling, included a “breathing exercise” after the murder of George Floyd, where non-black employees were asked to hold their breath “just a little longer – to feel the pain.”
Judge Beetlestone said university “white privilege” and other trainings “can contribute positively to nuanced, important conversations about how to form a healthy and inclusive working environment. Indeed, this is particularly so in an educational institution. ”
However, employers “risk liability under federal law” when race discussions use “a constant drumbeat of essentialist, deterministic, and negative language.”
The Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, which represents De Piero, lauded the ruling.
Other lawsuits raise similar issues. A DEI staffer recently sued the University of Wisconsin for discriminating against her because she is white.
Colleges sometimes engage in such discrimination because they believe there legally is no such thing as discrimination against whites. One example is from the University of California at Los Angeles, where its Director of Race and Equity, Johnathan Perkins, claimed that “every white person is racist to some degree”, and falsely claimed that “white people cannot be victims of racism,” and “only white people can impose racist harm.”
But his interpretation of the law has been rejected by courts. Under the civil-rights laws, white people can be victims of racial discrimination, as the courts have ruled many times. Moreover, non-whites have been found guilty of imposing racist harm, and stereotyping whites as racist simply because they are white is considered racially hostile workplace behavior that can lead to civil-rights violations. The Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal to fire white employees because they were white, in Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education and in McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transportation Co. (1976). Courts have ruled that racial harassment is illegal even when it is committed by blacks against whites, in cases such as Huckabay v. Moore (1998) and Bowen v. Missouri Department of Social Services (2002).
The federal courts have sentenced non-whites to prison for committing violent racial harms — hate crimes — against whites. Those decisions make plain that it is not “only white people” who “can impose racist harm,” as Perkins claims. Courts have ruled that “baseless accusations of racism” made against white employees because they are white can be racial harassment that contributes to a racially hostile work environment in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. (See Underwood v. Northport Health Services (1989)).
Yet Perkins advocates racial discrimination against whites, and frequently expresses racial hostility. He tells whites not to wish him a “Happy Juneteenth” because he will “flip tf out” if they do. He says that whites, unlike Blacks, “should NOT be awarded the day off for Juneteenth,” even though that is discriminatory. Perkins says that while “most” people “value community,” “white people do not.” He said on Juneteenth 2023 that he was “Blaming white people, who should ALL be working today, of all damn days.”
