Anti-Racist author Tim Wise to speak at GVSU this Thursday

Tim Wise is a long-time anti-racist activist and author of numerous books that challenge White Supremacy, most recently, Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority.

His lecture for this Thursday is entitled, Beyond Diversity: Challenging Racism in an Age of Blacklash, where he will critique “diversity” efforts on campuses and in corporate America.

Unlike conservative criticisms, which claim diversity and multiculturalism have gone too far, this presentation focuses on how most “tolerance” training amounts to little more than a feel-good approach which fails to address the fundamental structures of racism and inequality.

Since it is these institutional realities that cause a lack of “diversity” in the first place, failure to discuss strategies for changing the current distribution of power will doom diversity efforts to failure. Focusing on personal prejudice rather than institutional bias is shown to be inadequate for building an anti-racist movement. The negative impact on all Americans that results from failing to address structural racism will be discussed in detail.

Tim Wise Lecture

Thursday, January 31

Noon

GVSU – Allendale Campus

Kirkhof Center – Room 2250 Grand River

This event is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the GVSU LGBT Resource Center.