The popular rhetoric of “reverse racism” suggests that white students are victimized by racism, but it is unclear what contemporary white college students specifically find negative about their experiences in race classrooms. Analyzing interviews and open‐ended survey data from 54 white undergraduates at a predominantly white university in the Northeast, this research note shows that “reverse racism” is not the primary framework through which respondents interpret their negative classroom experiences. Instead, respondents rely on racist tropes about people of color to position themselves as silenced in these settings. We show how respondents (1) describe hypothetical scenarios involving explosive professors and students of color, and (2) view the race classroom as a space for learning “different perspectives,” in order to (3) claim that their whiteness renders them ineligible to participate in class discussions. Amidst political and academic condemnation of “cancel culture” and the perpetuation of myths that left‐wing activists of color unjustly target free speech, white students may incorporate these concerns into their meaning‐making. Although respondents do not explicitly invoke “reverse racism,” we argue that these narratives still reinforce the existing racial structure. These preliminary findings suggest the need for further exploration of white students' complex reactions to race classes in the current sociopolitical context.

中文翻译：

---

超越逆向种族主义：关于白人大学生如何构建课堂沉默神话的研究笔记


“逆向种族主义”的流行言论表明白人学生是种族主义的受害者，但目前尚不清楚当代白人大学生对他们在种族课堂上的经历有何特别的负面看法。这份研究报告分析了东北部一所以白人为主的大学的 54 名白人本科生的访谈和开放式调查数据，结果表明，“逆向种族主义”并不是受访者解释其负面课堂经历的主要框架。相反，受访者依靠对有色人种的种族主义比喻来将自己定位为沉默的在这些设置中。我们展示了受访者如何（1）描述涉及爆炸性教授和有色人种学生的假设场景，以及（2）将种族课堂视为学习“不同观点”的空间，以便（3）声称他们的白人身份使他们没有资格参与课堂讨论。在政治和学术界对“取消文化”的谴责以及有色人种左翼活动人士不公正地瞄准言论自由的神话长期存在的背景下，白人学生可能会将这些担忧纳入他们的意义建构中。尽管受访者没有明确援引“逆向种族主义”，但我们认为这些叙述仍然强化了现有的种族结构。这些初步研究结果表明，需要进一步探索白人学生在当前社会政治背景下对种族课程的复杂反应。