Teaching about White Supremacy and Privilege after the Capitol Insurrection

ABSTRACT

In spring 2021, we taught a course called Honors White Supremacy and Privilege to university honors students at our higher education institution in Florida. Aimed at helping students process intellectually the Black Lives Matter events of the preceding year, the course took place just as a reaction was gathering momentum against anti-racist teaching. We present the materials used in the 1-credit course and contextualize the experience in ongoing Republican legislative efforts, particularly in Florida, to undermine the ability to teach courses like this. Much of the essay addresses the lessons we took away from the reading material and classroom discussions. These include the non-essentialism of race, the benchmark “normality” of whiteness, the material consequences of white supremacy, connections of the Trump presidency to a history of white supremacy, the recurring reactionary responses to challenges to the racial status quo, and the need to teach about white supremacy and privilege.

KEYWORDS:

• White Supremacy
• White privilege
• Classroom teaching

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.