American Renaissance Replies to Denunciation by UC Santa Cruz
AR Staff, American Renaissance, May 1, 2017
On April 24, supporters of American Renaissance put up AmRen posters on the campus of UC Santa Cruz, as reported in the Santa Cruz Sentinel of April 26. On April 28, administrators at the UCSC residential colleges of Merrill and Crown sent a letter to their “communities” denouncing the posters and proposing ways to “repair the harm” they had caused. That letter appears below.
Here is Jared Taylor’s reply to the USCS administrator, which also appears below.
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Dear Prof. Abrams:
I have received a copy of the notice you sent to students at UC Santa Cruz about the American Renaissance posters that were put up on your campus on April 24. As you note, the posters encourage whites to take pride in their race and to reject white guilt. You also write that you “believe it is beneficial for everyone, including white people, to have a positive understanding of their racial identities,” and yet you write that these posters represent an “ideology of hate.”
I ask you: What would be “a positive understanding of racial identity” for whites that you wouldnot call an “ideology of hate”?
You say that whites may have a “temporary experience of guilt” when they learn about “the racist systems and structures that have oppressed people of color throughout human history and in the present day.” You then say we must go about the “the important work of dismantling racism and thus transforming our communities.” What is “temporary” about the mental state you expect to produce in whites by convincing them they have oppressed non-whites “throughout human history and in the present day”? What hope is there for positive white identity in “the important work of dismantling racism” when, as you no doubt believe, all whites are “racist,” and no non-white can be “racist”?
I ask again: What is your conception of a positive white identity?
You say that my organization, American Renaissance, is motivated by “hate” because the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) says so. Don’t you realize that this is like accepting a character reference on Hillary Clinton from Donald Trump? Do you think the SPLC can read people’s minds and explain what motivates them?
You write that American Renaissance has a “well-documented history of arguing that white people are morally and intellectually superior to people of color.” This is false. We have described the strong evidence that whites are, on average, more intelligent than blacks, as well as the strong evidence that East Asians are, on average, more intelligent than whites. And could you please point me to where we have stated—as you claim — that whites are “morally superior” to non-whites?
You end with advice for students: “[C]ontinue the lifelong process of educating yourselves about the many forms of human difference.” This would be a worthy goal if you were sincere. But do you really want students to learn about racial differences in crime and illegitimacy rates, differences in susceptibility to disease, and levels of serum testosterone? Do you really want them to learn that American blacks, whites, and Asians can be distinguished simply by the combinations of bacteria that live in their mouths? Do you want them to learn that no group south of the Sahara ever discovered the wheel or came up with a calendar or a written language?
I note with amusement that you urge students to learn about human differences at special centers that celebrate Hispanics, Asians, American Indians, women, and homosexuals. One group is missing, isn’t it? Please remind me what a positive white racial identity would look like.
You see? Your campus needed those posters. Your students need relief from closed-mindedness. You write that your students have “the freedom to express opinions; to hear, express and debate various views.” Really? Then I urge you to celebrate that freedom rather than try to suppress it.
Sincerely,
Jared Taylor, Editor
American Renaissance
Letter from UCSC administrators to student about the American Renaissance posters.
Dear members of the Crown and Merrill communities,
On Monday 4/24/2017, multiple staff members at Crown and Merrill Colleges received reports regarding three different unauthorized flyer postings in various locations at and around the colleges. Similar flyers have been found at other UCSC campus locations. The flyers contain messages encouraging a sense of pride in whiteness and decrying “white guilt.”
Each flyer includes the logo and website URL for American Renaissance, a white nationalist organization identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. As reported recently by Newsweek, the flyers appear to be part of a national campaign to paper college and university campuses with racist propaganda.
The Crown and Merrill incidents have been reported through the UCSC Report Hate web site.
As the leaders of Crown and Merrill Colleges, we are deeply troubled by the language used on these flyers, in part because some may read them as innocuous. Indeed, we believe it is beneficial for everyone, including white people, to have a positive understanding of their racial identities. The process of developing a healthy white identity may include the temporary experience of guilt when learning about the racist systems and structures that have oppressed people of color throughout human history and in the present day. However, as many race and ethnic studies scholars have argued for decades, “white guilt” is unhealthy and unhelpful as a long-term state of being in that it distracts from the important work of dismantling racism and thus transforming our communities into spaces where people of all racial groups have equitable opportunities to participate, lead, and thrive.
However, the concept of “white guilt” takes on a very different connotation when it is used by an organization like American Renaissance, which has a well-documented history of arguing that white people are morally and intellectually superior to people of color. In that context, there can be little doubt that these flyers are a rallying cry to resist efforts at promoting the values of mutual respect and the embrace of diversity espoused in UCSC’s Principles of Community, theCrown mission, and the Merrill ethos. We are dismayed at the anonymous distribution of ideology of hate at UCSC, and are deeply concerned about its possible impact on our students, staff, and faculty. If you have been affected by this situation and wish to seek support or engage in dialogue, we invite you to reach out to Crown or Merrill staff such as Residential Assistants and Coordinators for Residential Education, or provosts and other faculty members.
We also acknowledge that people are permitted to express viewpoints that run contrary to the Principles of Community and the values of our colleges. As noted in the UCSC free speech statement, all persons have “the freedom to express opinions; to hear, express and debate various views, no matter how unpopular; and to voice criticism,” provided that they do not violate campus policies, state law, or federal law in the process. They do not have the right to violate the Crown or Merrill posting policies, as appears to be the case here, nor any other applicable posting policies for other areas of the UCSC campus. Further, within these same parameters, people are also free to use their own voices to critique the content of speech they find problematic, as we have done in this letter to the community.
We encourage all Crown and Merrill students to continue the lifelong process of educating yourselves about the many forms of human difference. UCSC offers many opportunities and resources, available to students of any and all identities, that may support such learning. These resources include but are not limited to:
◦ African American Resource and Cultural Center
◦ American Indian Resource Center
◦ Asian American/Pacific Islander Resource Center
◦ Chicano Latino Resource Center
If you played a role in the posting of these flyers, we urge you to come forward and engage responsibly with our community. We acknowledge that you may not have fully considered the potential impact of anonymously posting these inflammatory materials. Taking responsibility is perhaps the best way that you can attempt to repair the harm caused and rebuild trust within our community. These kinds of outcomes may be facilitated through a restorative justice process such as those offered through UCSC’s restorative justice program. We will gladly support such a process should you be willing to come forward.
Please feel free to contact any of us should you have questions or concerns about this matter.
Sincerely,
Prof. Elizabeth Abrams, Merrill Provost
Brian Arao, Associate College Administrative Officer
Alex Belisario, College Administrative Officer
Prof. Manel Camps, Crown Provost
