California School Board Members Take ‘White Ally Test’

Board members in California’s Sunnyvale School District took a “self assessment for white allies.”

The checklist was titled “Suggested Competencies for White Allies and Change Agents” and asked board members to rate their agreement with a number of statements on a scale from one to five.

The document asked board members to rate whether or not they accept the idea of institutional racism, a core tenet of the Critical Race Theory movement.

Members were asked to rate whether or not they “recognize how institutional racism permeates societal institutions, including the legal, policing, and justice system, housing, health care, education, employment, the military, politics, the media, entertainment, etc.”

The form also asks if they “recognize and intervene when white people are expecting or demanding that people of color educate them” or if they “recognize how I was socialized as a white person or as a person of color in the context of white culture, and how these experiences still impact me today.”

“I effectively intervene to shift white cultural norms and dynamics of white privilege, to create greater equity and inclusion,” the form also asks.

The members were also asked if they “understand how white cultural values and norms are infused into formal expectations and workplace culture” or “consistently recognize and respond to racial implicit bias.”

Other portions of the document told the members to rate the extent to which they “recognize and effectively respond to racist microaggressions that occur in my presence, including racially coded terms and phrases” and “understand how the cumulative impact of multiple, persistent racist microaggressions and institutional racism negatively impact people of color and the quality of their lives.”

The bottom of the document notes that it was created by Kathy Obear of Alliance for Change Consulting and Coaching. Obear runs an in-depth, multistep “White Accountability Group” program.

Notes from the board meeting also add that one trustee “led the Board on an equity discussion” by utilizing an article titled “I Know My Place: How Whiteness, White Culture, and White Educators Permeate and Shape Universities handout.”

A review of documents reveals that the district’s Parent Teacher Association has spent at least $4,300 on services from Britt Hawthorne, a diversity, inclusion, and equity (DIE) consultant who says she “is committed to raising a generation of antiracist children by centering families of the global majority.”

Hawthorne’s website espouses one of the core tenets of Critical Race Theory, claiming, “To become antiracist, you need to understand how racism exists in every part of American society — your classroom or household included.” 

“Britt can give you the tools to unpack, confront, and take accountability for the ways we perpetuate systems of oppression without being aware of it,” her website also advertises.

Spencer Lindquist is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerLndqst and reach out at slindquist@breitbart.com.