Who is Brandi Baldwin? Black diversity speaker says NO to terms like white supremacy: 'White privilege is myth'
A diversity training session at The Free Library of Philadelphia has the attendees in question label the session as 'anti-Black', when consultant Dr Brandi Brown told them to avoid terms like 'white supremacy' and 'systemic racism' because seeing that they distracted from solutions and focused on just one race. She also referred to 'white privilege' as 'one of the myths out there', leaving the attendees disgruntled.
The session left the attendees outraged seeing that they'd spent years fighting for racial justice at the Free Library. The Philadelphia Enquirer recently reported the findings of a survey taken by the library employees in December, where 83% of them said claimed to have faced racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, in a place that's meant to stand for diversity and inclusion.
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The session, which was held via Zoom, by Dr Brandi Baldwin, a Black woman herself, posed the question to 200 attendees -- 'Are all the inequities you experience at the hands of White people?' A number of staff has spoken against her presentation.
Andrea Lemoins, a library community organizer and the co-founder of Concerned Black Workers of the Free Library, spoke out against the same. "Black folk, we are seriously suffering from PTSD from that training, even thinking about it now, I just wanna cry," she said. "To say that white privilege doesn't exist? That is a whole level of anti-blackness and internalized racism for her that I just cannot fathom."
"It's important not to alienate our fellow White workers, it's true," said Librarian Perry Genovesi. "But as a White worker, I've come to grips with my benefits in white supremacist society. Thinking our fellow White workers are incapable of change, to come over to the side of antiracism, is deprecating." He also pointed out that presentation was "divorced from reality".
Who is Dr Brandi Baldwin?
Dr Brandi Baldwin is a psychology and business professor, a former Wharton lecturer, author and the CEO of Millennial Ventures Holdings. She worked with companies such as Comcast, Discover, and also the federal government, consulting on organizational and development strategies.
As per her website, she 'also hosts the "Diversity and Confusion" podcast and "Leader-ish Podcast". She is the founding visionary behind the Calling All Allies Project (CAAP), an initiative that empowers organizations to address their commitment to equity by making necessary, positive change in the areas where culture and climate intersect with Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI).' As reported by the Daily Mail, Baldwin has defended her presentation, stating that she gave the kind of presentation that was requested, however, it did not match with what the attendees were looking for. "They were looking for something totally different," she said, "They were looking for clearing the air."