Contact: Leah Barbour
Photo by: Megan Bean
STARKVILLE, Miss.--For anyone who insists racism, discrimination and inequality will end if folks will just stop talking about it, antiracism activist and author Tim Wise has a message.
"That's exactly how social problems work. Nobody would ever starve if we didn't talk about hunger. Let's talk less, and the problem will somehow resolve itself," Wise told the crowd at Mississippi State University's 2014 Diversity Conference. "Think about what it takes to be that oblivious.
"If we're going to create equity," he continued, "we have to talk about more than diversity and representation and multiculturalism--we have to talk about power, and we have to talk about inequality and access."
Wise presented "White Privilege" in MSU's Colvard Student Union at the Thursday [Nov. 13] installment of the conference, "From Conversation to Collaboration: Pathways to Diversity." Attendees at the luncheon address in the Bill R. Foster Ballroom represented a variety of groups, including the general public and MSU students, staff and faculty.
"Folks of color have been talking about issues of white racial privilege, inequality, discrimination and injustice forever, but it is those of us who look like me--a white man doing antiracism work--who get most of the attention," Wise observed.
He praised MSU leadership, including conference organizers from the President's Commission on the Status of Minorities, for opening a discussion about white privilege at a diversity conference. He said many institutions of higher learning avoid the topic at diversity-education workshops, seminars and conferences.
However, Wise's antiracism efforts--including writing six antiracism books, training teachers in antiracism and appearing in antiracism documentaries--are only part of the fight against inequality, he said.
"Though I am grateful for the opportunity to share ideas with you, it's also morally, ethically and practically incumbent upon me to acknowledge the privilege that is embedded in my very presence here," Wise explained. "I acknowledge the people of color, both here on this campus and in the respective communities from which you come, who are really doing the work every day. So, you need to honor them."
Along with venerating past and present civil rights trailblazers, Wise repeatedly stressed the importance of considering history, equality and privilege with an honest, clear perspective.
"If we're going to create equity, we have to see the world as it is," he said. "We can't manufacture it in our brains the way we want it to be; we have to see it as it really is, so we can figure out what we've got to do to make things better."
Sponsors for Wise's address included the MSU Holmes Cultural Diversity Center, the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, the Department of English and the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education.
MSU's Diversity Conference continues through Friday [Nov. 14] with "Unify with Courage: Moving Beyond Agreeing to Disagree" in MSU's Union ballroom. Life coach Megan O'Nan will present, while a roundtable will conclude the proceedings.
Conference sponsors include the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, the College of Veterinary Medicine and the offices of the Vice President for Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine; the Vice President for Development and Alumni; the Vice President for Research and Economic Development; and Student Leadership and Community Engagement.
Learn more about MSU's 2014 Diversity Conference at http://ce.msucares.com/DiversityConference/.
MSU is Mississippi's flagship research university, available online at www.msstate.edu, facebook.com/msstate, instagram.com/msstate and twitter.com/msstate.