A “White Privilege Conference” was held on March 25 to 29 at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison, Wisconsin. This conference has been held for 15 years, it is funded in part by tax dollars, and it is geared toward educating the state’s teachers on how to help destroy white peoples’ undeserved privilege, overcome the oppression of minorities, and work toward a more equitable world. At least some news reporters were denied access, but one found a way in and reported the following.

An individual named Kim Radersma lead a breakout session entitled “Stories from the Front Lines of Education: Confessions of a White, High School English Teacher.” Ms. Radersma is currently working toward her Ph.D. in “critical whiteness studies” (presumably in the Sociology department) at Brock University in Ontario, Canada. During her session she told the participating teachers that white people are like “alcoholics” with their racism. They will never be cured of it but will always be racists at heart.

Describing herself, it is reported she said, “being a white person who does anti-racist work is like being an alcoholic … I will never be recovered by my alcoholism … I am so deeply imbedded with racist thoughts and notions and actions in my body that I have to choose everyday (sic) to do anti-racist work and think in an anti-racist way.”

As a person who is committed to the preservation of human rights and devoted to science, I am deeply disturbed by this. The above accusation appears to be that white people are inherently racist for the same reason they have white skin—racism is part of their DNA. This would make white people racially inferior to all the other ethnic groups around the world who do not suffer from “white privilege.”

This is a scientifically testable hypothesis. So, as an advocate of science, I have to ask Ms Radersma and the organizers of the conference, where is the evidence for this? This question must be answered, because, if this grave assessment of the nature of white people was made without scientific evidence, then it is nothing more than an expression of vile racism against white people. I fear that is the case and that the organizers of the conference knew this charge against white people could not be rationally defended, which is why the conference was closed to public scrutiny.

I challenge the future Dr. Radersma to defend her hypothesis in public. I challenge her to expose her accusations against the white men, women, and children of America to the illuminating and purifying light of scientific examination. If she is not willing to do this, the inevitably conclusion must be that she is a racist fraud and her belief is just one of those foul things that grow in the dark.