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At an “antiracism” website called EmbraceRace.org, a proud white activist recently shared his personal experience guiding his daughter Aya, 8, toward the uncomfortable self-awareness that because she is white, she is racist even if – or perhaps especially if – she believes she is not. It is a disturbing look at the mindset of white antiracist “allies” who believe they are participating in the grand project of socially engineering a utopian future, starting with inculcating a racial consciousness and a corrosive guilt into their own innocent children.
“Explaining to My Eight-Year-Old That Yes, She Too, is Racist” is a heartfelt confession by Jonathan Osler, whose brief bio states that for more than 20 years, he “has worked to advance educational equity and racial justice as an educator, nonprofit leader, and parent organizer.” He is the curator of WhiteAccomplices.org (where it reminds you that “as White people, whether as an Actor, Ally or Accomplice, we are still part of the ‘oppressor class’”) and the “co-founder of several equity-centered parent organizations in Oakland, California.” This is a man committed to liberating non-whites from the oppression of America’s systemically racist, white supremacist boot heel.
Osler writes about a family road trip during which the topic of racism arose and his young daughter Aya, who is white like her parents, declares from the back seat that she is not racist, that she plays with kids of other races at school and doesn’t care what they look like. For most people, this seems like a fair objection; after all, if you think nothing of other people’s skin color, and treat no one differently on that basis, you are not racist. It is as simple as that.
Not for the antiracist. The race-obsessed Progressive today believes that racism is not only “baked into” every structure, policy, tradition, and value of our oppressive society, but that it is also inherent in the unconscious biases of white people. Whites who reject this frankly racist accusation are simply in denial, according to antiracists. Bestselling race hustler Ibram X. Kendi even calls denial “the very heartbeat of racism.” So Jonathan Osler had to disabuse his daughter of her naïve self-defense.
Aya’s parents had already immersed her in antiracist social activism, such as “teach-ins about White privilege,” even before she could read. Her dad writes that the family talks with each other regularly about “racial inequities” at school, “police killings of Black people,” and “the horror of immigrants being separated from their families.” But her parents have assured her that “her White privilege will protect her from experiencing many of these harms.”
It isn’t “white privilege” that protects her from those experiences; simply obeying the law will shield her from all but the most unusual circumstances or bad luck. But antiracists bristle at the suggestion that those in approved victimhood categories have any agency to control their own circumstances. In an oppressive society, their thinking goes, the oppressed are always innocent and any racial disparities, such as a disproportionate representation in the prison population, are the result of systemic racism, not the behavior of oppressed People of Color™.
In any case, Jonathan Osler explained to Aya that racism isn’t just something perpetuated by a few bad apples like the police and Donald Trump (Osler actually named them as examples): “It’s us, too.”
Osler then lectured his impressionable eight-year-old about her skin color being problematic, which seems rather abusive. “Whiteness [sic] is not actually normal for everyone,” he told her, and asked her to imagine “how it might feel to be a person of color in a society always being judged against White [sic] norms.” He didn’t explain, at least in the article, what white norms are and what’s wrong with them. You may recall that, in a notorious example of the racist Left’s condemnation of such norms, the woke Smithsonian Institute was excoriated for displaying a chart labeling hard work, self-reliance, respect for authority, and the nuclear family as “white” traits. Is Osler saying that blacks are unfairly judged against those norms? Because that would be racist.
Osler relates that a few days later he summoned up the courage to confess to his children that he has racial biases. He told them about an incident in which he
walked past a Black [sic] man in my neighborhood. He was shuffling a bit erratically, with only one arm inside a sleeve of his jacket that flapped in the air behind him. I could almost visualize the split-second thoughts traveling across my mind: Is he drunk? Is he mentally unwell? Is he going to mess with me? I wondered how differently I would have reacted if the man was White [sic]. As we passed each other, he gave me a big smile and I nodded back sheepishly.
Actually, Osler was justified in being wary of a stranger of any race passing him who acted and looked sick or mentally unstable; he was right to listen to his instincts in a situation that could potentially have turned violent. That was his common sense – not racism – alerting him to be cautious. Turning off your situational awareness, out of a misguided concern that being distrustful of a suspicious black man is somehow racist, is dangerously stupid, and now Osler is passing this bad advice down to his young daughters.
His daughters admitted that they too had had similar experiences and thoughts. “Despite my naive longing to raise bias-free, anti-racist babies,” Osler writes, “my kids obviously harbor implicit biases and have the capacity to act in racist ways. But unlike me, they’ve discovered this truth at a much younger age.”
He went on to assert that it’s not enough for white families to “dutifully ply our kids with the right books about the extraordinary achievements of people of color, and take them to the right marches to express their righteous outrage against the latest injustice.” (Fact check: it’s a terrible idea to take your young kids to political marches.) It’s critical, Osler writes, that white parents “share that we have ugly, shameful thoughts and reflect aloud about where these racist notions came from in order to model this process for our kids.”
After all, he doesn’t want Aya “to become a police officer, pulling over Black [sic] motorists for driving in the ‘wrong’ neighborhood,” or “a teacher who, because of her unexamined biases, is more likely to discipline Black [sic] boys and not refer Black [sic] girls to gifted programs.” He also doesn’t want his other daughter Noa, 11, “to become the type of politician who campaigns on building border walls” or “to unnecessarily call the police on a person of color.”
Osler appended to his article a list of recommended readings, among which are Ibram Kendi’s book Stamped (for Kids), and another article about guilt-tripping your white children, this one by EmbraceRace co-founder Andrew Grant-Thomas, who is black, titled, “Your 5 Year-Old is Already Racially Biased.”
Jonathan Osler is representative of the self-loathing that has warped today’s white illiberals, who believe their cultish, social justice mission requires them to bequeath this unfortunate derangement to their own innocent children. This brainwashing abuse is damaging a whole new generation of kids, both black and white, who otherwise could learn to get along as equals and judge each other not by the color of their skin, as the collectivist Left wants, but by the content of their character.
Follow Mark Tapson at Culture Warrior
DC says
Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter, had the perfect explanation for people like Osler.
Wiesenthal was often asked why the Jews didn’t resist Nazi oppression more forcefully……….why did they go meekly to the camps.
His response was that Nazi propaganda was so pervasive in German society that some Jews came to believe it and actually thought they were inferior.
A certain segment of Jewish society thought they were unworthy to live.
That mentality is what plagues Osler and his poor son.
Whites in America are being prepared for a “holocaust” similar to the one going on now in South Africa.
Patricia says
It’s all massive methodically plotted culture marxism, meant for brainwashing mind control AKA:
Identity “politics” with funded fake NGO to support their false claims.
jeremiah says
Very important that Simon brought up this factor amongst the many that contributed. DC.
Mo de Profit says
He should take his little girl and all his friends for a night out in Baltimore if he wants to see racism.
Jeff Bargholz says
Or Oakland, LA, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, St Louis, Atlanta, New York City, Baltimore or the City of Brotherly Love for some racism from the Brothers. He can take his abused daughter to Seattle, Portland, San Fran or any other blue city if he wants her to experience the white on white racism he perpetrates.
Or he could just surrender himself to the authorities for child abuse.
danknight says
I would suggest a few ‘hoods in Dallas or Fort Worth …
… but that would tantamount to murder.
Even illegals, criminals, and other similar minorities flee those ‘hoods …
CowboyUp says
I don’t know where he lives, but it implied he teaches and organizes in Oakland. So they shouldn’t have too far to go for some cultural enrichment, firsthand anti-racist education, and reparation payments to the oppressed.
No wonder their academic scores suck so bad, with teachers like him. You can bet his daughters attend a private school and it’s obvious they all live far from the hood. Apparently his non-profit is very profitable.
Joe Esposito says
This is child abuse. Arrest that psycho.
Mark Dunn says
Thank you this article was eye opening. I now understand that racism/anti-racism is a sort of secular Calvinism. You are born either a racists/unelected or you are one of the chosen/people of color. Secular Calvinism like its Christian counterpart destroys the idea of the individuals free will and responsibility, it is closer to islam than to Western thought. Both are evil theologies.
jeremiah says
Can’t agree more. It also reminds me of Christians who wear horse hair shirts and beat themselves to a pulp constantly supposedly purging themselves to prove devotion.. A perversion hiding as commitment rather than actual practice of Christianity.
Chief Mac says
Because of feral government criminal acts all white people in America have been discriminated by law for over 40 years now. The racist quota system ihas crushed the nation
Jeff Bargholz says
Women who get jobs through Affirmative Action and then use their positions to “network” as many women as possible into jobs are just as bad. I’ve worked with competent women but never under one. I learned my lesson several times and I’ll never work for a woman again. Most of them make lousy leaders and anybody who claims otherwise is full of it.
Intrepid says
Jonathan Osler, is a professional white anti-racist who is obsessed with his own ego. He also seems to be vying for the Ibram X Kendi “I hate who I am” award.
There is nothing more pathetic and boring than someone who makes a career out of self loathing. Can you imagine being around someone like this 24-7?
Poor Aya. Tapson writes: “Her dad writes that the family talks with each other regularly about “racial inequities” at school, “police killings of Black people,” and “the horror of immigrants being separated from their families.”
Where is Social Services when you need them? I know…dumb question. Social Services is as woke as Osler is.
Tom Kelly says
Why not he tlk about talk about foster care if he is so guilty of his own race?
John Kindybal says
24/7 with this nut-case? Ouch! A derringer for next Christmas might be in order here.
Jeff Bargholz says
Yes. Some people shouldn’t be parents and that scumbag is definitely one of them.
internalexile says
In some circles, being aware of what does not seem right in your surroundings is called “situational awareness.” And, as Martha Stewart used to say, it’s a good thing.
Owie says
Osler, to judge from his social media posts, is not a virtue signaler. His profession is goodness directed at unfortunate dark-skinned people, which he announces every minute of his life in flashing neon. Poor Aya will probably end up in the Klan, where she doesn’t have to listen to his constant garbage.
danknight says
Well … yes.
For those of us who grew up in Red Diaper Doper Baby homes …
… we’ve known this “forever.”
I’ve known it since the Watergate era … when my ‘woke’ teachers informed me of my congenital racism.
SPURWING PLOVER says
Start them young that’s how Liberals in the NEA like to do it Greta Thunberg is a example
Jeff Bargholz says
That’s how pedophiles operate, too. Sick minds think alike.
FDTS says
“I wondered how differently I would have reacted if the man was White [sic]. ”
I have a feeling that if the white guy was large and dressed like a biker, he’d probably wet himself. These “anti racists” are merely performance artists of the lowest type.
CowboyUp says
He’s mostly bs, and pretty lame bs at that. I don’t buy his account of his conversations with his daughters, either. Jimmy carter set that standard near half a century ago with little amy’s concerns about nuclear proliferation. I see it a lot with leftist writers.
Ken says
“Jonathan Osler is representative of the self-loathing that has warped today’s white illiberals…”
I would qualify that a bit – the “self-loathing” of Osler and others like him is really a very thinly disguised self-love. His chest thumping is actually quite obnoxious and theatrical humblebrag
Arnoldf says
This turning a society against itself is a communist tactic. Divide and conquer. There is no virtue in this at all. The father should be shamed. It is no less than a fatal immune disorder where the body’s defenses begin attacking the organs of the body. We must call it what it is and not pussy-foot around with it.
Curt Koenig says
Child abuse.. plain and simple
CS says
Shouldn’t this self loathing white racist put his white daughter up for adoption to remove her from grip of his obvious inherent white racism??
CowboyUp says
He should. Only a bipoc parent can raise his girls to be true allies and anti-racists. He admitted he’s a racist and can’t help but contaminate them with his whteness.
Spurwing Plover says
Since it was the Democrats who owned kept sold traded slaves and Separated Families its the Democrat Party who should pay not the American People
groovimus says
About those “extraordinary achievements of people of color”, are they “extraordinary” if you temporarily discount Western civilization? Sure. I for one am enamored of ancient far Eastern philosophy. But in reality, the material and intellectual achievements of the West cannot be compared to any other civilization, and we have to train our progeny in the facts; that we are extraordinarily fortunate to live in the civilization. But the gigantic irony is that the achievements and successes of the civilization are so monumental as to induce profound guilt and shame in weak (i.e. leftist) white people for such a heritage. So in their minds, the civilizaation must be taken down, like all the way down.
We can be sympathetic to ethnic groups that have large numbers of individuals that cannot successfuly fit into the norms and rules of our civilization; at the same time learn that it is not our fault. And the proof of this is that some ethnic groups, namely Jews and Asians, who are more successful than Caucasion white people in fitting into the norms of our civilization. But as to the success of the west we have to hit them with these real situational parameters over and over, every day, and not apologise for any of it. Obviously there are horrible things in the histories of any civilization including the calamities of the West and there is no covering it up. But we have a choice, let the left destroy us, or piece by piece expose the lies their worldview requires to sustain itself.
commonsense says
We need to do more than refute their innumerable lies. At this juncture it seems, more drastic actions must be taken to suppress these anti-civilizational lunatic Bolsheviks. I am not, however, suggesting that anything be done which violates the Constitution. But surely the tools exist to meet this increasing threat head on.
jd says
It is not true that Jews and Asians are more successful than whites at fitting into European (Western) civilization. For decades, the parasitic elite class has waged war on white Americans, bringing in millions of Asians which they have used to push whites out of professional positions, reducing their participation and opportunities. (To bring down the West they must first destroy Western people.) They have flooded the country with illegals to marginalize blue-collar Americans. They use propaganda and discrimination to limit white participation in universities and employment and are becoming increasingly overt about their agenda. Whites are significantly underrepresented as perpetrators of violence (compared to their population size) and are significantly overrepresented as victims of racial violence. Nonetheless, violence against whites is rarely called a hate crime. It is generally treated as not at all important. They use propaganda to blame all hate crime on whites, despite the obvious inaccuracy of this claim. Hispanics who engage in hate crimes are classified as white, not Hispanic, inflating the number of white perps. They have done everything they can to marginalize us in our society and have done it, generally, with the approval of people in other sectors. What I find is that although whites are being intentionally displaced from the workforce, and widely demonized, I see many conservatives praising Asians for the opportunities they have received at the expense of white Americans. (I don’t blame Asians.) I don’t see anyone, except Breitbart, pointing out the reality of our situation.
emily daniel says
Osler and his ilk are suffering more from pathological narcissism than self-loathing (can anyone name a bigger egomaniac than anti-racist Queen Robin Di Angelo?). The “I must apologize for being white” nonsense is a self-serving justification for creeps like Osler to gain attention, moralize, and profitably market this pernicious ideology. I suspect that many non-whites are onto Osler’s scam and find him as repulsive as most whites do,
Joe says
Communist brainwashing, pure and simple. Not a pretty sight.
Laurence says
Indeed. That’s all CRT is.
SPURWING PLOVER says
McCarty warned us about the Commie Scum Hollywood made putrid movies like REDS and ANT BULLY and Hanoi Janes The Butler
Darryl says
What starts with Osler culminates in Oct 7..
WhiteHunter says
How did Biden’s Transition Team overlook this guy when they were making lists of potential Cabinet members and Supreme Court nominees?
Frank Lund says
I remember a story told long ago in the german newspaper SPIEGEL.
There was a family: Granddad, 150% Nazi lived in the 1940, Father, grew up in communist Serbia and was 150% Communist. Son was active in the war 1992 and was not nice (to his political affiliation later)
Now, the father raised his son 150% communist style, e.g. telling him how glorious communism was, how great the leaders like Lenin, Stalin etc were and how evil everybody else, including the Nazis were.
In short: Brainwashing 101.
When the son was 15 his father asked him, what he thought what he wanted to become.
Son: After your relentless communist indoctrination, there is only one choice: Commander of a Concentration Camp.
Laurence says
I feel sorry for the poor child being brainwashed and emotionally abused in such a manner. When she becomes an adult, I hope she cuts this abusive bastard out of her life.
JS says
Aya’s parents are sick people. Its too bad treatment won’t help them. We are screwed, there are so many of them that can’t be helped.