Brigham Young University’s officially sanctioned “Anti-Racism Club” has been caught contradicting its name. The club’s official Instagram profile features a link to a list of resources containing racist, provocative, and divisive materials from left-wing authors.
The materials feature several far-left talking points, including calls for white people to pay slavery reparations. Other topics include Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI); the inherent bigotry of white people; and the need to end capitalism.
The list reads as a “who’s who” of radical left wing authors and their most influential works, including Robin DiAngelo’s “White Fragility,” Ibram X. Kendi’s “Be Anti-Racist” podcast, and a book titled “Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race” by Reni Eddo-Lodge.
The presence of these materials raises questions about the nature of the Anti-Racism Club and the role it seeks to play on BYU campus.
Even the concept of “Anti-Racism” stems from the far-left ideology known as Critical Race Theory, or CRT. According to the Legal Defense Fund, CRT is “is an academic and legal framework that denotes that systemic racism is part of American society — from education and housing to employment and healthcare” and “holds that racism goes far beyond just individually held prejudices, and that it is in fact a systemic phenomenon woven into the laws and institutions of this nation.”
As Ibram X. Kendi, who’s podcast appears in the club’s resources, explains: “To be antiracist is to see ordinary White people as the frequent victimizers of people of color and the frequent victims of racist power.” According to his book, “The most threatening racist movement is not the alt right’s drive for a White ethnostate but the regular American’s drive for a ‘race-neutral’ one.”
Kendi also claims that the “All Lives Matter” and “Blue Lives Matter” movements are designed to preserve white racism, argues that being anti-racist means being “feminist” and supporting LGBTQ+ activism, and decries capitalism as racist. In his own words, “To love capitalism is to love racism. To love racism is to love capitalism.”
The club also promotes materials which appear to violate BYUSA’s policy prohibiting clubs from engaging in political activism.
According to the BYUSA Clubs Handbook, “A club can not specifically be created to promote a specific political agenda… Clubs are meant to be a place where people can come and feel safe and welcomed, no matter their political beliefs.”
Additionally, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ official essay on racial and cultural prejudice states “Striving to follow the Savior’s teachings and example, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints condemns racial and cultural prejudice in any form” (emphasis added).
These books, along with others on the club’s list, contradict the Church’s teachings on race and call for activism along the lines of a clearly partisan political agenda, violating BYUSA’s rules.
The club’s Linktree page also directs students to external websites such as Native-Land.ca, which instructs users to identify “whose Indigenous lands” they occupy, as well as organizations like the National Immigration Law Center that advocate for progressive immigration reforms. Several film recommendations on the list explore topics such as “white privilege” and “systemic oppression,” which critics say promote a racialized and divisive view of American society and promote left-wing activism.
To some, it appears as though certain forms of activism are being ignored, so long as they go under the guise of inclusivity.
As the university continues to emphasize respect and unity within its community, allowing a club to endorse literature rooted in “anti-racist” ideology may instead deepen ideological divisions on campus and promote a worldview and culture which stands opposed to the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Cougar Chronicle has reached out for comment from the Anti-Racism Club and the BYU Student Association and has not yet recieved a response. The story will be updated as needed.
Cover Photo Source: https://www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/about/the-council/corporate-planning-performance-budget/supporting-strategies-and-plans/anti-racism-strategy
