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University of Minnesota paper brands ‘Whiteness’ as a pandemic
The paper demands a shift from a culture of whiteness that features colorblindness, passivity, and White fragility.
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Staff Reporter - Wed, 26, Nov 2025
- 02:33 EST
- 22
Representative image / Pexels
The University of Minnesota's Culture and Family Lab has stoked controversy with a new paper, describing 'Whiteness' as a pandemic and urging white parents to actively re-educate children against it and shift the gaze from the victims and effects of racism to the systems that perpetrate and perpetuate racism.
Titled, 'Whiteness Pandemic: Resources for Parents, Educators, and other Caregivers', the authors elaborate, "the centuries-old culture of Whiteness features colorblindness, passivity, and White fragility, which are all covert expressions of racism common in the United States."
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The authors, Dr. Gail Ferguson, Dr. Keira Leneman, Dr. Lauren Eales and Sarah Gillespie, note that being socialized into the culture of Whiteness during childhood it is not the individual's fault, but this can be overcome through self-reflect, re-education and action, making it incumbent on white adults to delve into "antiracist action" that involves an ongoing process of self-reflection in order to develop a healthy positive White identity.
Critics, however, have described the ideas as absurd. A conservative parents’ rights group, Parents Defending Education, slammed the University of Minnesota’s 'Whiteness Pandemic' research project, labeling it “far-left programming” and decrying the academic legitimization of “absurd ideas like ‘whiteness’,” according to Fox News.
The university stood by the project, defending it as protected academic freedom and stating it welcomes open discussion about embedded cultural structures, the Washington Examiner reported.
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