Signage for the University of California (UC Berkeley) in Berkeley, California. | Source: Smith Collection/Gado / Getty

I don’t think most white people understand that America is a default white space. I don’t think they get that traditional America is white America. That virtually all of the nation’s long-standing institutions—the justice system, corporate America, the housing market in well-resourced neighborhoods, financing and, of course, academia—are institutions that are geared toward whiteness. Looking for default white spaces in America is like looking for a needle in a haystack that’s actually made up of needles.

So, sometimes people of color need their own spaces to get away from America. And by “America,” I mean white people.

Right now there are a lot of white people losing their fragile minds over the University of California, Berkeley students of color carving out a space for themselves to “avoid white violence” and, well, whiteness in general if we’re keeping it real.

UC Berkley off-campus housing bans white students from common areas to avoid “white violence” https://t.co/0UROCsne9g

— Not the Bee (@Not_the_Bee) August 20, 2022

From the New York Post:

The five-story, 30-room “Person of Color Theme House” near the school requires students to declare their race when signing in and to announce when they’re bringing white guests in to the building, according to house rules leaked on Reddit.com.

“Many POC moved here to be able to avoid white violence and presence, so respect their decision of avoidance if you bring white guests,” the rules declare. “White guests are not allowed in common spaces.”

The building, which houses up to 56 students a few blocks from the university,  also urges students to avoid bringing family members that “express bigotry,” according to the College Fix.

“Queer, Black, and Indigenous members should not have to avoid common spaces because of homophobic or racist parents/family members,” the rules state.

The building was set up by the Berkeley Student Cooperative to bring affordable “housing to low-income, first generation, immigrant and marginalized students of color” in the Bay Area.

Adam Ratliff, Assistant Director of Media Relations and Critical Communications for the university, told The Post the “co-op housing is not run by the university” and is actually “operated by a private landlord, and it is not the role of the campus to comment on what private landlords are ‘allowed’ to do.” And if white people had done the five minutes of research it would have taken to see that the school itself is not banning white people from anything, they wouldn’t be up and down social media acting like reverse Jim Crow is happening at Berkeley.

White people banned from UC Berkley housing coop. You need to identify your race when you sign in.

You can’t make this stuff up!https://t.co/JZc0BxuTg0 pic.twitter.com/4eWR7bZTUb

— Rick Arnonal (@RickArnonal) August 20, 2022

Berkley is not letting white people in any common areas THAT IS DISCRIMINATION AT THE WORST. WHITE PEOPLE NEED TO BOYCOTT BERKLEY AND SEE HOW FAST THEY HIT THE SEWER

— Jack Flint (@JackFli18403739) August 20, 2022

So schools denied money meant to help poor white kids, teachers unions say in case of lay offs white teachers get fired first, white students are not allowed in some areas of Berkley and white people are the biggest threat to America
This is the news over just the last cple days

— SohoTheFrog (@Sohothefrog) August 20, 2022

I guess the folks at Berkley aren’t familiar with the black on black crime rates versus the white on black crime rates.

— Jack Woodrup (@JackWoodrup) August 20, 2022

Yes. Berkley is now banning white students from certain areas of campus. https://t.co/88fQ4QuxSr

— @MAGA1776 (@ricksta42251938) August 22, 2022

So basically, this is a story about how POC can’t have anything of their own without white people crying about it, rather than a story about anti-white discrimination. Again, whiteness is the default for cultural and social normalcy in America, and because white people haven’t experienced this country as a person of color, they don’t really grasp the need for POC-exclusive spaces.

And, as the above tweets clearly indicate, they react to these spaces by clearly demonstrating why we need them.

SEE ALSO:

Black Faculty Call For Boycott Of White Nationalists At UC Berkeley

Trump Threatens To Cut UC Berkeley’s Federal Funding After Protests


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