Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/News
NewsRace

University of Michigan-Dearborn Dragged Online After Promoting Non-POC Virtual Space for White Students to Discuss Race: ‘That’s….Called a Klan Rally’

Posted byBy Ashleigh Atwell | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

A Michigan University apologized after advertisements for two virtual event series segregated the student body by race.

The University of Michigan-Dearborn scheduled the virtual “cafes” for Tuesday afternoons and were designed to foster conversations about how to address racial injustice. However, two graphics advertising the events separated potential attendees into groups: non-people of color and Black, Indigenous and People of Color.

University of Michigan-Dearborn apologized after advertisements for two virtual event series segregated the student body by race. (Photo: University of Michigan-Dearborn/Instagram)

An archived announcement retrieved by The Detroit News stated the non-POC café was designed for “students that do not identify as persons of color to gather and to discuss their experience as students on campus and as non-POC in the world.”

“Feel free to drop in and discuss your experiences as non-persons of color and hopefully brainstorm solutions to common issues within the non-POC community,” it added.

The event is hosted by the university’s Center for Social Justice, according to a virtual flyer. The non-POC cafe was heavily criticized on Twitter.

“That’s….called a Klan rally,” tweeted one critic.

“Can someone explain to me why the University of Michigan has non-POC cafes?” questioned another user.

UM-Dearborn apologized for the ads on Wednesday.

“UM-Dearborn sincerely regrets the terms used to describe the ‘café’ events held on September 8. The terms used to describe these virtual events and the descriptions themselves were not clear and not reflective of the university’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,” the university said in a statement.

The news release emphasized the events were not closed off to certain groups and the students would be supervised by a faculty or staff member.

“The original intent was to provide students from marginalized communities a space that allowed for them to exist freely without having to normalize their lives and experiences,” the message continued. “While also providing students that do not identify as persons of color the opportunity to deepen their understanding of race and racism without harming or relying on students of color to educate them.”

Independent journalism still matters.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top