Students Wear White Pins as Reminder to Check Their White Privilege

Students at Elizabethtown College are wearing white pins as a reminder for students to check their “white privilege.”

Take a quick glimpse of what our campaign will involve! pic.twitter.com/bH2EC1lILl

— Elizabethtown College Democrats (@etown_dems) February 10, 2017

The campaign was organized by the Elizabethtown College Democrats. Speaking to the online conservative campus watchdog site, The College Fix, ECD President Aileen Ida claimed that the campaign was initiated in an effort to help white students participate in discussions on race. “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,” Ida said.

“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 added. “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.”

Ida goes on to suggest that even white individuals who are aware of their privileges are complicit in the oppression of minorities.  “No matter how accepting someone is, that doesn’t stop them from being part of a system based on centuries of inequality,” she said, adding the campaign transcends politics.

According to a now-deleted portion of the group’s Facebook page, the campaign is set to continue throughout the next month.