Thomas Jefferson School of Law, along with Sempra Energy, the San Diego Human Relations Commission and the Mayor’s Office of Ethics and Integrity sponsored the event Exploring Race and Privilege from a White Perspective: A Conversation with Robert Jensen at the University of San Diego’s Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice on Wednesday April 11.

Dr. Jensen, a professor of media law at The University of Texas at Austin, is a prominent voice against racism in the United States. He is the author of several books which address racism and inequality in the U.S., including; The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege (City Lights, 2005); Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity (City Lights, 2004); and co-author, along with Gail Dines and Ann Russo, of Pornography: The Production and Consumption of Inequality (Routledge, 1998); among other books.

The timing of the event coincided with the news that the MSNBC cable network had decided to sever its ties with talk show host Don Imus over racial remarks he made on air about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

“There’s no reason to be surprised,” said Jensen in an interview before his appearance. “Don Imus and his on air-partners’ stock-in-trade is that racist, homophobic stuff. They’ve gotten away with it for years, and CBS and NBC could have pulled the plug on him at any time.”

Jensen says it comes down to ratings and profits – and a large group of listeners who think like Imus thinks. “He has a large audience and the most important lesson is not what Don Imus says, but that he gives voice to sentiments more prevalent than we care to think in this country,” according to Jensen.

“We live in a white supremacist society,” noted Jensen as his on-stage interview began. “We have privileges by advantage of being white.  It seems ludicrous to use that term, yet it’s appropriate. Although I don’t think Don Imus would use that term.”

Jensen was being interviewed by Dr. Danell Scarborough of the Mayor’s Business Office on Business Process Reengineering on his theme of white privilege in society.

“There is a radicalized disparity in this country,” Jensen said. The gap between black and white is wider than it was during the Civil Rights movement. The pace of change is so glacial, it will be decades, if not centuries before we achieve racial parity.”

Despite Jensen’s view on the slowness of social change, he feels that the United States can bring about progress more quickly if we have the will as a society to achieve it.

“We can do it if we want to,” he said to the very diverse audience of more than 120 people. We decided we would land on the Moon and we did it. We’ve decided to cure cancer and we’re doing it.  Don’t you think we could solve the radical disparity (among races) if we wanted to?”

Jensen made his remarks to a very diverse audience of more than 120 people.

Noting that the dominant group in our society is white northern European, Jensen  explained what he feels is a widespread attitude among Caucasians in the U.S.:  “I can’t renounce my white privilege…but the real question you have to ask yourself is:   are you willing to engage in the struggle to change it the disparity?”

For more information on Jensen and his works, see Robert Jensen’s homepage at http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/index.html.