Salisbury University wants incoming students to read about abolishing the police and “dismantling whiteness,” according to an “Anti-Racist Reading List” uploaded to the public institution’s diversity website over the weekend.
Among the nearly 100 recommended books, articles, films, and podcasts that made the list are a New York Times article arguing that white women are “instruments of terror,” an op-ed that claims “white people have no culture,” Nikole Hannah-Jones’ infamous 1619 Project, and a podcast titled Dismantling White Fragility.
A section of the list targeting police and the criminal justice system includes “The Case for Delegitimizing the Police,” a book claiming that “transgender” people shouldn’t be incarcerated because they already face “systemic trauma” in their day-to-day lives, and a Teen Vogue article on demands of the prison abolition movement.
“These are just recommendations for resources if folks want to learn more,” a representative of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion told the New Guard.
Regardless of whether these readings are required or optional, it’s disappointing that a public university is pushing a one-sided leftist agenda on its students without encouraging them to read the inspiring works of conservative authors like Lt. Col. Allen West (We Can Overcome: An American Black Conservative Manifesto) and others.
The university states that the resources are provided in order to “further inclusive excellence and foster a more welcoming and supportive campus climate.” If this truly is the goal, why is Salisbury actively villainizing 70.8% of its students?