Pomona Students: ‘Truth . . . Is a Myth and White Supremacy’

A group of students at Pomona College wrote an open letter to the school’s outgoing president claiming that “the idea that there is a single truth . . . is a myth and white supremacy,” according to a report by The Claremont Independent. 

The letter, which was written by three self-identified black students and has been signed by at least 30, claims that “historically, white supremacy has venerated the idea of objectivity . . . as a means of silencing oppressed peoples.” 

According to The Claremont Independent, the letter was in response to an e-mail that Pomona president David Oxtoby sent to the campus after protesters shut down a speech from Black Lives Matter critic Heather Mac Donald that had been scheduled for April 6.

“Protest has a legitimate and celebrated place on college campuses,” Oxtoby wrote in his email, according to The Claremont Independent. “What we cannot support is the act of preventing others from engaging with an invited speaker.”

“Our mission is founded upon the discovery of truth, the collaborative development of knowledge and the betterment of society,” it continued. 

Yes — “the discovery of truth.” Who could have a problem with that? After all, truth is the one thing that no one can really argue against, right? Well, apparently not — and apparently, believing that that’s the case is actually pretty racist: 

“The idea that there is a single truth — ‘the Truth’ — is a construct of the Euro-West that is deeply rooted in the Enlightenment, which was a movement that also described Black and Brown people as both subhuman and impervious to pain,” the students’ letter stated, according to The Claremont Independent. “This construction is a myth and white supremacy, imperialism, colonization, capitalism, and the United States of America are all of its progeny.”

“The idea that truth is an entity for which we must search, in matters that endanger our abilities to exist in open spaces, is an attempt to silence oppressed peoples,” it continues.

{snip}