OPINION: Taxpayers subsidize a project to fight racism by knitting
A “house-sized” knitted “structure” to advance “anti-racism” is in the works at Pennsylvania State University.
Vagner Mendonça-Whitehead, the director of the university’s school of visual arts, has been working on his “anti-racism knitting-loom project” since 2020, apparently with the help of taxpayers. The project includes him working at a loom while he plays audio books of critical race theorists and “anti-racism” proponents, like Ibram Kendi and Robin DiAngelo.
The professor’s artwork “was financed in part by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community & Economic Development,” according to a disclosure at the end of a university news release.
Mendonça-Whitehead’s shared his experience with “anti-racism literature” and “discomfort.”
“The type of literature I am listening to, and that inspired this work, is frequently difficult and disturbing to me and people of similar or superior privilege,” the professor stated in a university news release. “Through this discomfort, learning takes place.”
“Anti-racism literature also offers a liberating comfort to those most affected by systemic racism,” he said.
“In many ways I hope to literally suspend this past as a symbolic gesture to attempt to remove racism from our societal foundations,” he said. This will serve “as a reminder that we must always be on the lookout for the fragility of freedom, as the knitted material will still touch the ground.”
The project is supposed to be knitted representations of written works. The professor says on his personal website he has knitted books, including “How to be an Antiracist” by Kendi, as well as “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo. All this means, according to a Fix review of a video, is he knits a long shawl while listening to audio books.
It is unclear how much money Keystone Staters are shelling out for the knitted house. The university media relations team did not respond to an email and voicemail on Wednesday that asked for the funding amount.
The commonwealth’s community and economic development media team responded and asked for a deadline on Wednesday and said it would try to get an amount, but subsequently referred The Fix back to Penn State: “We suggest that you reach out to the University for information on how this project was funded.”
Mendonça-Whitehead also did not respond to an email on Wednesday. The Fix could not find the grant in the commonwealth’s database for community development projects.
Anti-racism includes the idea that any existence of racial disparities is proof of racism.
It ignores any variables that might explain differences but has still been heavily embraced by universities despite being of a lower evidentiary standard than a third-grade science fair project.
However, leading anti-racism, and well-paid proponents, such as Ibram Kendi, regularly fail to live up to these principles, as documented by College Fix investigations.
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IMAGE: Pennsylvania State University
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