Students Wear White Pins to Remind Them of White Privilege

Students at Elizabethtown College, a private liberal arts school in Pennsylvania, have signed on to wearing white pins this month as a symbol of remembrance for, and recognition of, their white privilege.

The pins are in the shape of a puzzle piece.

And of course, the campaign, which kicked off this past weekend, is the brainchild of the left – in this case, the Elizabethtown College Democrats.

Here’s a bit of backstory, from the College Fix:

“Elizabethtown College Democrats, who say it aims to make students at the small and private liberal arts college in Pennsylvania more introspective about issues of race, especially in their predominantly white region of Lancaster County.

“‘Discussions about race are often perceived as being only open to people of color, but I think it is just as important for white people to partake in conversations about race,’ Aileen Ida, president of the College Democrats, told The College Fix via email.

“Ida said white people are continually allowing for a societal system of oppression to occur unless they work against it. The white puzzle piece pin represents racial struggles of all sorts.”

Elizabethtown ranks 115th on the National Liberal Arts List created by U.S. News & World Report.

And according to Ida, all the white students who attend are privileged.

Again, from the College Fix:

“Asked if all white students are privileged, Ida responded “yes,” but clarified that she doesn’t think all whites are socioeconomically privileged. Ida declined to cite specific examples of white privilege.

“She also clarified that it’s not just white students who can wear the pins, that students of all races should take part to start a campuswide discussion that crosses racial divides.

“Yet, she notes most people of color already have to live with racism while white people don’t.

“‘I believe that this [inherent white privilege] can be seen in the day-to-day life of people of color versus the day-to-day life of white people,” Ida said. “Most people of color don’t have a choice but to consider how their race affects their life on a daily basis, this is not true for most white people.’

“According to the campaign’s official Facebook page, the project is similar to one started by a Lutheran pastor who made a commitment to ‘wear a white puzzle piece pin every day for a year to force herself to think about her white privilege and the impact white privilege has on people of color.’”