August 14, 2019 Chris Butler

An African American Chattanooga man who opposes “white privilege” training in the Hamilton County School System is getting pelted with criticism not only from fellow blacks but from The Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Patrick Hampton, vice president of the Chattanooga-based Hamilton Flourishing, says the theory of “white privilege” cripples blacks, forces them to accept self-defeat, and does nothing to make them realize their fullest potential in life.

Hampton gathered screenshots of this “white privilege” training and sent them to the media. These screenshots infuriated the public.

This theory, Hampton went on to say, divides people and does not produce positive outcomes.

“It is basically saying achievement equals white privilege, and any white person who achieves anything of significance or success or financial wealth only got it because of white privilege,” Hampton told The Tennessee Star Tuesday.

Hampton said he grew up in an inner-city neighborhood. He said he learned to reject the theory of “white privilege.”

“If I achieve something then I wouldn’t want anyone to put that on my skin tone. It is hard work. A lot of the people I know who have a lot of wealth work really hard for it,” Hampton said.

“What it does is it creates what I call ‘an eternal victimhood in the black community,’ where anytime anyone does anything of success you just blame it on privilege and then you’re a victim. I think this is what’s killing young people wanting to be successful in the black community.”

Hampton said a black-owned newspaper in Chattanooga is out to discredit him. Other blacks, meanwhile, call him, among other pejoratives, “an Uncle Tom” and “a sellout.”

Pam Sohn, a Chattanooga Times Free Press opinion editor, referenced Hampton in an editorial this week in which she defended the “white privilege” In-service teacher training.

“The fact that a training session for Hamilton County teachers became the object of controversy locally speaks volumes,” Sohn wrote.

“What it says is that we need to continue a conversation about race — whether local conservatives think so or not.”

As The Star reported, taxpayers paid thousands of dollars for the white privilege training that county teachers recently had to sit through.

School board member Rhonda Thurman, however, said she plans to hold school system employees accountable for the curriculum — even if she is the only board member who does so.

Also, as reported, the curriculum, however school system officials define it, taught teachers that “people of color cannot be racist because they lack the institutional power to adversely affect white lives.”

The curriculum also taught that white privilege exists because of enduring racism and biases.

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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to chrisbutlerjournalist@gmail.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND ADDITIONAL ARTICLES

https://tennesseestar.com/2019/08/14/black-chattanooga-conservative-warns-white-privilege-training-creates-eternal-victimhood/?fbclid=IwAR3R8EvkVlJRr876KIoIAkFJ2kPo2CXyA1F4b51tHtI_r1KSZ1hk78bq06E