A website run by the “Culture and Family Lab” at the University of Minnesota’s flagship Twin Cities campus features a page warning about what it calls a “whiteness pandemic” and offering “resources” on how to “halt and reverse” it.
“If you were born or raised in the United States, you have grown up in the Whiteness Pandemic, and you can play a role in halting and reversing this pandemic, especially if you are White because of the power and privilege you hold in this racialized society,” states the webpage, which is part of the university’s Institute of Child Development.
“If you were socialized into the culture of Whiteness during childhood, it is not your fault, but as an adult it is now your responsibility to self-reflect, re-educate yourself, and act. If you are a White adult, antiracist action involves an ongoing process of self-reflection in order to develop a healthy positive White identity while engaging in courageous antiracist parenting/caregiving.”
Parents’ rights organization Defending Education highlighted the webpage and related materials in a report released on Tuesday.
The site urges readers to understand racism as an “epidemic” or “pandemic” and argues that “another” pandemic is “lurking” underneath and driving it — the so-called “whiteness pandemic.”
The page lists several experts and links to materials they provide, including content aimed “especially for white parents.” These resources reference the death of George Floyd and include guidance on fostering what they call a “healthy white racial identity.”
“Whiteness refers to culture, not biology: the centuries-old culture of Whiteness features colorblindness, passivity, and White fragility, which are all covert expressions of racism common in the United States,” the university webpage says.
“Naming the Whiteness Pandemic shifts our gaze from the victims and effects of racism onto the systems that perpetrate and perpetuate racism, starting with the family system. At birth, young children growing up in White families begin to be socialized into the culture of Whiteness, making the family system one of the most powerful systems involved in systemic racism.”
One paper linked on the site, based on a survey of mostly liberal White mothers with average household incomes above $125,000, concludes that “Family socialization into the centuries-old culture of Whiteness – involving colorblindness, passivity, and fragility – perpetrates and perpetuates U.S. racism, reflecting an insidious Whiteness pandemic.”
The website also notes support from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) as part of a “predoctoral fellowship.” In a statement to Fox News Digital, NIMH clarified that its role is limited to a general training grant for Ph.D. students at the Institute of Child Development (NIH Grant T32 MH015755), and that it is not directly underwriting the lab or the broader project.
“It does not fund this project, the ‘Culture and Family Life’ lab, or any of the research described,” an NIMH spokesperson said. “The Principal Investigator on that training grant is not an author on the paper.”
Among the other resources featured are works by Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo, as well as a link titled, “How to explain white privilege in terms simple enough for a child.”
Rhyen Staley, research director at Defending Education, told Fox News Digital that the program is emblematic of how diversity, equity and inclusion efforts remain entrenched on campuses. “This far-left programming at a major public university is another example of how ingrained DEI is in higher education and is not going away any time soon,” Staley said.
Staley added, “It is not only concerning that these programs appear to still be up and running, but that absurd ideas like ‘whiteness’ also gain legitimacy through dubious activist-academic ‘scholarship.’ Universities must end this nonsense yesterday.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a University of Minnesota spokesperson said the institution is “steadfast in its commitment to the principles of academic freedom.”
Last month, Defending Education also reported that the University of Minnesota is providing K–12 teachers with ethnic studies materials that promote a range of left-wing causes, including defunding the police, Black Lives Matter, and warnings about “white supremacy” and “settler colonialism.”
