Makers of the “It’s okay to be white” signs speak out

Tom McCormick

Signs reading “it’s okay to be white” were found around campus Tuesday , and were partially responsible for sending the university into a frenzy. This comes in the wake of a threatening Facebook post and the subsequent suspension of UNF student Ken Parker, former Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan and neo-nazi.

The photo of Ken Parker posted to social media that caused him to be suspended from the university.

A group of three individuals responsible for posting the majority of the signs agreed to speak with Spinnaker. By their request, their identities are to be kept anonymous, due to alleged fear of being targeted. They say they have no affiliation or connection to Ken Parker and claim it was entirely coincidental that they put up the signs amid hysteria surrounding the Facebook post.

“It doesn’t imply any kind of association with white nationalism at all,” said one of the individuals. “That sign, those five words, do not have any kind of implicit meaning besides the sentence itself. It just reveals your own thoughts about that.”

When asked about their motivation for putting up the signs, they expressed their belief that the reaction to the signs reveals the internal biases of those reacting to it.

“It’s a very plain sentence and to have such a violent reaction, I think, says more about you than the person who put up those signs,” said one of the individuals. “It reveals your own internal racism.”

The individuals spoke at length on the subject of white identity in the United States, citing a double standard they claim exists between whites and people of color.

“I’d say we don’t truly know [what it’s like to be white in America] because we’re not really allowed to even talk about it without scrutiny, as we’ve proven with these flyers. I think, culturally speaking, being white in America is being seen as being a part of a kind of ‘old guard’ that is in the wrong, in many ways,” said one of the individuals. “We’re told that whites are racist through their genetics, power, and privilege alone and we wholly reject this position.”

This flyers was also seen on campus. Photo by Spinnaker Media.

Another said some that some people look at being white as a sin.

“They act like being white is an original sin, basically,” said another. “Like, it’s a sin to have less melanin in your body. It’s ridiculous. It’s another form of identity politics, you know, another form of collectivism. People on the left talk about, like, ‘let’s be tolerant, let’s have diversity and inclusiveness, let’s not divide people.’ But at the same time, that’s exactly what they’re doing by saying since you’re white, you can’t talk on this issue because of your skin color.”

They touched on what they saw as a poor institutional response to this trend, including the administration’s response to instances of racial tension at UNF.

“The left is so concerned with breaking down institutions and systems, but at the same time they are collectivizing black identity, native American identity, and particularly demonizing white identity,” said one of the members. “Is that not its own institution, is that not its own system? They’re not really going against any kind of institution, because Delaney folded to them. He absolutely folded to their requests when it came to other instances of racial tension on campus… They’re not fighting against anyone.”

Finally, the conversation shifted towards the response of media and other institutions to rising racial tensions in the United States. The individuals claimed that the American left-wing seeks to divide Americans through the collectivization of racial identity, with a mostly anti-white slant.

“They’ve boiled it down to two categories,” said one of the individuals. “You’re either white or you’re a person of color. It’s a very sharp line and they apply lots of distinctions wholesale to either side of that line.”

One of the individuals behind the signs is actually a person of color.

“As a person of color, I am completely against anyone collectivizing my identity as an individual,” said another. “We are individualist, we don’t see things through an intersectional lens whatsoever.”