SCRAP
Students Challenging Racism and (White) Privilege

The Mission of SCRAP:

SCRAP, through various forms of media, seeks to communicate a comprehensive understanding of racism: how it works on many levels (institutionally and individually), how it functions at the level of everyday assumptions, actions, and representations, how White people benefit from the disadvantages of people of color, and how not discussing or confronting racism is the best way to perpetuate it.  Instead of taking a colorblind or "multiculturalist" approach to racism, SCRAP would like to promote more awareness of the structures of racism and their relation to power and privilege.  Examining and deconstructing Whiteness is a large part of this.  SCRAP would also like to empower more people to act against racism and build coalitions to deconstruct systems of oppression.  SCRAP encourages White people and other privileged members of society to be honest with themselves about their involvement in systems of oppression, so that we all may confront racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia in every aspect of our lives.

SCRAP Resources:

TABLE "SCRAPS":
SCRAP has created a series of table tents that can be used to increase awareness and understanding of antiracism.  These table tents are especially designed to be put on tables in college dining halls, and may be printed and re-used by anyone wishing to make use of this resource.  Each tent has a specific theme, such as colorblindness, whiteness, etc. All tents are in Microsoft Word format.

 Table SCRAP 1: Redefining Racism
 Table SCRAP 2: The Myth of Reverse Racism
 Table SCRAP 3: The Perils of Colorblindness
 Table SCRAP 4: White People - Does Racism Concern You?
 Table SCRAP 5: Learning about Race
 Table SCRAP 6: What is Whiteness
 Table SCRAP 7: Racism Workshops
 Table SCRAP 8: Antiracism Checklist

 WHITENESS POSTER:
This poster is for people who are interested in exploring the topic of racism, and would like to start developing a better understanding of Whiteness and White privilege.  In 1988, Peggy McIntosh, a professor at Wellesley College, wrote an article detailing how White privilege works in her life. Her helpful list of 46 White privileges is excerpted in this poster. You may read her entire article online, or download and display the poster.

Poster about Hate Speech

Poster about the Prison Industrial Complex

Poster about Social Change

 WRITING BY STUDENTS:
Multiculturalism: Commodifying Diversity through Institutionalized Lamp Black-ness, by Pitzer graduate David Zinser.
 

Opinion Editorial, April 9, 2002:  "The White People of Pomona College"  by Pomona College student Janelle Orsi
 

Other Helpful Anti-racism and Whiteness Studies Resources:

Article by Peggy McIntosh: "White Privilege and Male Privilege"

Articles by Robert Jensen on White privilege and racism

Bibliography on Whiteness Studies

The Global Privileges of Whiteness, by Kendall Clark

My White Problem -- And Ours, by Kendall Clark

Articles by Tim Wise

Whiteness Studies: Deconstructing (the) Race

Center for the Study of White American Culture: A Multiracial Organization

History of SCRAP:

SCRAP was founded by Janelle Orsi and a small group of students at the Claremont Colleges (near Los Angeles) during the Fall of 2001. SCRAP's main activities centered around a series of table tents and flyers with information about racism, Whiteness, and anti-racism. These tents were distributed throughout college dorms and dining halls and served to create awareness and conversation about the topic of racism.

Some More Recommended Reading:
•  Delgado, Richard, and Jean Stefancic, (eds). Critical White Studies: Looking Behind the Mirror. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997.
•  Dyer, Richard. White. New York: Routledge, 1997.
•  Frankenberg, Ruth. White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993.
•  Helms, Janet E. A Race is a Nice Thing to Have: A Guide to Being a White Person or Understanding the White Persons in Your Life. Topeka, KS:
    Content Communications, 1994.
• Kivel, Paul. Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work For Racial Justice. British Colombia, Canada: New Society Publishers, 1996.
• Roediger, David. Towards the Abolition of Whiteness: Essays on Race, Politics, and Working Class History. Verso, 1994.

(Last Updated February 10, 2003)