An increasing number of liberal white women across the country are coughing up $2,500 to confess their "white privilege" and hid...
An increasing number of liberal white women across the country are coughing up $2,500 to confess their "white privilege" and hidden "racism" while enjoying an upscale dinner, The Guardian details in a fascinating new report.
The dinners are put on by outspoken progressives Regina Jackson and Saira Rao — just look at Rao's Twitter feed, especially this tweet — and are designed to "smash [the guests'] white fragility" and convince them to confront their subconscious racial biases.
"Our mission is simple — reveal the naked truth about racism in America and unleash your power as white women to dismantle it," Jackson and Rao state on their website. "White women: We are talking about your complicity in upholding white supremacy and keeping Black and brown women down."
What are the details?
The group is called Race to Dinner and here is a rundown of how it works from The Guardian:
A white woman volunteers to host a dinner in her home for seven other white women — often strangers, perhaps acquaintances. (Each dinner costs $2,500, which can be covered by a generous host or divided among guests.) A frank discussion is led by co-founders Regina Jackson, who is black, and Saira Rao, who identifies as Indian American. They started Race to Dinner to challenge liberal white women to accept their racism, however subconscious. "If you did this in a conference room, they'd leave," Rao says. "But wealthy white women have been taught never to leave the dinner table."
According to The Guardian, the dinners operate less like conferences and more like interrogations, as guests at the dinner are asked one by one, "What was a racist thing you did recently?"
"Recently, I have been driving around, seeing a black person, and having an assumption that they are up to no good," one attendee said at a recent dinner in Denver. "Immediately after I am like, that's no good! This is a human, just doing their thing. Why do I think that?"
"What I went through to be a mother, I didn't care if they were black," another said, in reference to her adoption of two black children. "So, you admit it is stooping low to adopt a black child?" Rao immediately challenged, leading the guest to accept the racist undertones of her statement.
While it would seem unlikely that anyone would voluntarily submit themselves to such questioning, the dinners are only growing in popularity. Jackson and Rao have barely had any time off since starting the project in spring 2019, with 15 dinners being held so far.
Evidently the women are plagued with such white guilt that the dinners acts as something like a therapy session: "A sense of self-righteousness seems to wash over the eight white women. They've shown up, admitted their wrongdoing and are willing to change. Don't they deserve a little pat on the back?" The Guardian article notes.
Why liberal white women?
Jackson and Rao specifically target liberal white women for these dinners because they believe they are "the most receptive audience." What about the 53% of white women who voted for Trump? They, like white men, are a lost cause.
"White men are never going to change anything. If they were, they would have done it by now," Jackson told The Guardian.
Liberal white women, on the other, provide a unique opportunity for the Race to Dinner co-founders to accomplish their aim.
"If they don't hold these positions themselves, the white men in power are often their family, friends, and partners," Jackson added.
Jackson and Rao aren't concerned with "the stuff of Trump, the KKK and Nazis," they say on their website. "That's easy, it's obvious and denouncing it requires almost nothing of white folks."
The difficult task, they say, is dismantling the systemic racism that is present within you. You must recognize that you are "an active participant in upholding white supremacy."
More wine. Pass the pasta.
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