A Tennessee school district’s professional learning conference was found to include a presentation that labeled Christians, among others, as having “privilege status.”
The Clarksville-Montgomery County School district complied with a public records request that Parents Defending Education (PDE) submitted regarding the conference entitled “Engage 23: The World Needs More Purple People.”
On page 5 of the conference materials, it seems that “purple people” use Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) to “connect.”
The materials also included a handy chart for school staff and educators that classifies groups of people as either having “privilege” or “oppression.”
Anyone who is white, able-bodied, straight, Christian, male and who are either young adults or middle-aged adults from middle class or upper class backgrounds are of course “privileged” according to the chart. This leaves people of color, women, those belonging to any other religion other than Christianity, those identifying as LGBTQ+ – as well as nonbinary, genderqueer, polyamorous, asexual, aromantic – and anyone with a physical or cognitive disability, or who comes from a working class or poor background as “oppressed.”
