If you live in Wisconsin, you’re going to learn that it ain’t easy being white.

Gov’t Wants Volunteers to Wear ‘White Guilt’ Bracelets

March 15, 2013

Kermit the Frog famously said “It ain’t easy being green.” If you live in Wisconsin, you’re going to learn that it ain’t easy being white. AmeriCorps’ volunteers in Wisconsin are being encouraged to wear white bracelets so that they can constant remind themselves that they are privileged (presumably undeservedly so). For those wondering, AmeriCorps is a federal government program, which means that taxpayers are supporting it.

One of the AmericCorps programs in Wisconsin is known as VISTA. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (“WDPI”), which oversees the VISTA program, has announced that it thinks all of the white volunteers in the program, working with low-income, often racially-diverse, public schools, should wear “white bracelets as a reminder about your privilege.”
Indeed, the WDPI has devoted pages and pages of its website to information that reminds those white volunteers who are freely giving their time, energy, and knowledge to the program, that they’re spoiled and undeserving. In an introductory page larded with that language known as “bureaucratic PC,” white volunteers are told that, even though they didn’t know it, they have a problem and need to be re-educated:

The AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers are serving in schools that are culturally and racially diverse. Wisconsin schools are becoming increasingly diverse, therefore multiple opportunities for training are provided that help the volunteers better serve the schools and communities in which they are placed. This is one strand of information for this year’s 17 Wisconsin VISTA volunteers.
Here you will find a variety of resources for VISTAs about the topics of power and privilege. Understanding the implications of both are important for your work as VISTAs. Not only should you examine the kind of privilege you bring to your site but also how power is distributed among the families, community members, and students you work with. The VISTA project encourages VISTAs to think about power and privilege in the context of race, gender, socio-economic status, to name only a few. Certainly what follows is not an exhaustive list of resources, but it should offer some good information and places to begin learning. Suggestions for material or links to add to this page are welcome!
“The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.” –Gloria Steinem

One of the many documents included to show that white volunteers are decent human beings who want to share their blessings with others but are, instead, undeserving racists, is a flow chart detailing how they can deal with the unconscious, but nevertheless evil, arrogance and bias: