'For white people only' event helps college students examine 'nasty little racist inside them'
Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, held a "for white people only" event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day that helped attendees look at the "nasty little racist inside them."
The event — "How to Embrace Your Inner Racist: A Session for White People" — was led by Ahmed Afzaal, a Concordia professor of religion and social activism who's published works such as "Free Speech Comes with a Price Tag" and an essay on the peaceful application of jihad in the modern world, Campus Reform said.
What are the details?
The event's description says, "After participating in this session, attendees will be able to ... recognize and acknowledge that there is a nasty little racist inside them, and to do so without becoming angry or defensive; and ... describe the skills of psychological flexibility that they must develop in order to make authentic choices in defiance of their racist tendencies."
A side note indicated that the session "is for white people only. While we won't stop people of color from attending, they should know that their presence in the room is likely to interfere with the effectiveness of the session."
Campus Reform said it reached out to Afzaal and Concordia but didn't hear back in time for publication.
However, a Concordia student named Gabe — who asked the outlet not to use his last name over fear of backlash — said whites exclusively attended the event.
"The room was packed with people sitting on the floor," he told Campus Reform, adding that about 70 students went to a morning session. There also was an afternoon session scheduled.
Other topics
Concordia also featured a number of other events related to MLK Day. Among them were:
- "Calling In Call-Out Culture," which was scheduled to examine everything from celebrities being "canceled" to similar examples at Concordia and "alternative strategies of addressing bias and ignorance" in order to find "the best method in which we might create an environment where cultivating empathy, humility, and space to learn is at the top of our ever-growing to-do list."
- "Anti-racism for White People," which was scheduled to "engage in advancing awareness of whiteness, what it means, and how it operates."
Here's video of a 2016 campus chapel event that featured Afzaal addressing spiritual harmony:
