The Cost of Privilege: 3 Ways White People Pay for Whiteness

Three hundred plus years ago the ruling English class in the American colonies gave privileges (like the right to bear arms, hold public offices, marry other whites, and receive payment for work) to poor European farmers and indentured servants to seperate them from their poor or enslaved African brothers and sisters. This was a calculated move to avoid combined uprising by the working and enslaved classes like Bacon's Rebellion. White Privilege was forged in Capitalism to stratify and divide the working class making them easier to exploit for capitalist gains…

Truth TellingIan McLAughlinMarch 20, 2019White Privilidge, Whiteness

Power Privilege and Pragmatism: Why We Need More Than Moderate Politics

Underlying all political discourse is a certain assumption of what is practical. The contours of which are seen as not only natural but obvious. These artificial contours are erected by those in power and serve only one real purpose: the preserving of power and limiting of progress. Without fail, arguments for pragmatism have slowed progress: it was not pragmatic to abolish slavery, it was not pragmatic to grant universal suffrage, it was not pragmatic to end child labor, it was not pragmatic to limit the work week to 40 hours. You see the pattern. Those in power use pragmatism to stifle grassroots movements that push towards justice…

Truth TellingIan McLAughlinMarch 14, 2019Pragmatism, Ocasio-Cortez, Pelosi, Moderate, Centrist, Progressive, Tea PArtyComment

Is It Just to Profit from Social Justice?

In late 2018 Nike launched it’s ‘Taking a Knee - Just Do It’ advertising campaign; a nod to Colin Kaepernick’s protest pushing for racial equity. In early 2019, ‘Gillette released it’s ‘The Best a Man Can Be,’ advertising campaign; tackling intersections of toxic masculinity. In both instances, we saw huge corporations mainstreaming a positive social justice message; moves that will most likely prove profitable…

Truth TellingIan McLAughlinMarch 5, 2019Nike, Gillette, social justice, CapatalismComment

Why Are Men So Broken: Toxic Masculinity

“Harvey Weinstein Will Be Arrested and Charged With Rape,” a New York Times headline reads; “R. Kelly Pleads Not Guilty to Sex Abuse Charges,” a WSJ headline reads; “Trump Mocks Al Franken for Resigning Quickly Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations,” a Washington Post headline reads; “Kavanaugh Battle May Energize Republicans Ahead of 2018” a PBS Newshour headline reads; “GOP Senator Mocks Alexandria Ocasio Cortez,” a Daily Wire headline reads… we could go on and on highlighting examples of how the media has captured subtle truths and overt outcomes of our patriarchy - namely Toxic Masculinity…

Truth TellingIan McLAughlinFebruary 27, 2019Patriarchy, Toxic Masculnity, obama, Kelly, Weinstein, Trump, Jay Z, Gillette, #MeTooComment

How Russian Interference Highlights a Gap in our Educational System

Step back for a moment to 2015 and 2016 and the run up to the historic Trump-Clinton Election. Maybe you saw or clicked on a Facebook ad depicting two black men handcuffed in Colorado for “driving while black.” That ad targeted people who Facebook determined were interested in Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Black history. Or maybe you clicked on another ad posted minutes later by the same firm to the same target audience that read, “police brutality has been the most recurring issue over the last several years.” Or maybe you clicked on a different ad posted by the same firm for a Facebook page titled, “Back the Badge,” which was the firm's most successful page. “Back the Badge,” cost $1,785 to advertise, It targeted 20- to 65-year-olds interested in law enforcement who had already liked pages such as “The Thin Blue,” “Police Wives Unite” and the “Officer Down Memorial Page,” and received 1.3 million Facebook impressions and 73,000 clicks…

Truth TellingIan McLAughlinFebruary 20, 2019Russia, 2016 Election, Race, RacismComment

White Mediocrity: Where Do You Set the Bar?

If you have worked in education for any amount of time you are familiar with the terms “achievement gap” or, if you work in a more conscious organization, the “opportunity gap”, as well as the school-to-prison pipeline. In fact, I would bet that most people, whether they work in education or not, are familiar with these terms. They are real things, with real life consequences. Young people across the country go to schools where they are not expected to produce anything resembling the production of knowledge and are instead being supervised until they age out, drop out or are pushed out of public education. These cycles persist because we fail to hold students to high expectations in schools with the biggest “opportunity gaps.”…

Truth TellingIan McLAughlinFebruary 7, 2019white mediocrity, High Expectations, Teaching

White Guilt, Paralysis, Amnesia & Fragility in Action: An Analysis of Louis CK, Gervais & Seinfeld

We recently released a blog piece titled “5 Social Justice Terms to Help Name and Deconstruct White Supremacy” meant to help facilitate the interruption of whiteness by those of us interested in seeing the dismantling of white supremacy. Shortly after we released that piece the clip of Chris Rock, Louis CK, Ricky Gervais, and Jerry Seinfeld in conversation and Louis CK using the N word went viral. We thought it may be helpful to analyze the clip using the 5 terms as a way to highlight examples in real life of these phenomenon taking place…

Truth TellingIan McLAughlinJanuary 8, 2019louis CK, Ricky Gervais, Senfield, White Guilt, White Fragility, White Paralysis, White AmnesiaComment

5 Social Justice Terms to Help Name and Deconstruct White Supremacy

Racism, the erasure of Native People, and anti-Blackness was all created to uphold White Supremacy: which encompasses the systems and institutions that benefit people considered white. White Supremacy has reigned in America for the past 400 years; dating back to the invention of the term in Anti-Miscegenation laws written by white men during the 1600’s. From James Baldwin to Rosa Clemente, prominent activities of color have noted time and again that deconstructing White Supremacy is the burden of white people - as we created it. However, one of the biggest issues with deconstructing whiteness is the idea that it hides itself in plain sight - especially to white people. Below are 5 terms related to whiteness that can help to sharpen our lens so we can see and name whiteness in efforts to break it down…

Playing the "White Card": Can Whiteness Trump the Midterm Election and the Constitution?

The country woke up yesterday morning to the news that Donald Trump plans on eliminating birthright citizenship via an Executive Order. This is yet another blatant leveraging of whiteness to energize Trump’s white working class base. The violence inherent in its worldview means nothing to Trump or those that work with him. This move plainly illustrates that the elevation of white supremacy is fundamental, and a priority. It exposes the lie that the Constitution or any aspirational principles enshrined within it, or any other founding document’s rhetoric, are anything other than distractions for the masses who need something to believe in…

The Politics of Teaching

Very few professions have to defend their existence the way teachers do. There seems to be an insatiable need to critique teachers and “fix” education via “fixing” teachers. Often what this looks like is formulas and best practices compiled in a rubric meant to facilitate teacher accountability and increase effectiveness. Teachers pushback with some iteration of “teaching is an art not a science.” After more than a decade in the classroom…