The assistant dean of Brandeis University, Kate Slater, took the opportunity to send a reminder message about racial justice following the one-year milestone of George Floyd’s killing. This message began circulation on Instagram under one of her posts that stated,”all white people are racist”, despite her own skin color is white. Slater informed social media that she hates “whiteness” and everything it has done over the United States. She was sure to ensure social media viewers that being white and undergoing the “whiteness” regime are two completely things. Slater also included in a post, “I don’t hate white people. I hate whiteness. To distinguish between the two, please feel free to watch my recent live ‘what is whiteness?'” In doing so, Slater went over her synopsis of what the term whiteness declares to be versus the origin race, white. Slater has self-described herself on social media, as being a racial justice scholar and educator. informing her followers where her standing ground on the white people and racism dilemma was, Slater earned an additional following of about 5400 followers. Receiving a bachelor’s degree in English and theater from Skidmore College. Following her love to learn, Slater pursued a master’s degree in education from Northeastern University and furthermore gained a Ph.D. in educational policy from the University of New Hampshire.
In her previous thesis, Slate wrote,”Yes, all White people are racist in that all White people have been conditioned in a society where one’s racial identity determines life experiences/outcomes and Whiteness is the norm and the default. That includes me!” Following this post, she followed up with more Instagram content that was titled ‘a few points of clarification’ for those that lacked understanding of her content. Being the educator that she is, Slater took it upon herself to hold lives on social media where she was more capable of holding discussions over the content she posts. These lives allowed her peers and new followers the chance to speak their thoughts on the issue and arising disagreements that seem to flare up from her discussions.
Slater believed that critical race theory was not the creator of oppression, however, it does name the oppression that exists as we know it. In standing her own ground, Slater called out for all white people to take action towards making a change. The change Slater declared was the following, “For all white folks, I invite you to take a moment today and reflect on the past year. A year of ‘racial reckoning.’ How have you been paying attention, interrupting, and holding yourself accountable? How will you commit and recommit to racial justice, to disrupting and divesting from whiteness, and to building a more equitable world that’s free of racial subjugation?”
Speaking out on her platform, Slater received a lot of negative feedback from social media which resulted in her switching her profile to a more private platform in hopes to rid the negativity. Slater made it clear that as she believes her ideals are focused on the experiences of minority students who lack representation within higher education systems. A factor being that Brandeis University charges nearly 57,000 dollars per year for students to attend, which currently houses only about five percent population of black students compared to the forty-five percent of white students.
