White Privilege essay contest draws hate-filled response, entry time extended

WESTPORT — What started three years ago as a town-sponsored essay contest to encourage young people to grapple with issues of diversity has triggered a tsunami of backlash from people upset by the topic selected for 2017 — white privilege.

The heated and often intemperate views have been unleashed in emails and phone calls to local officials and to Harold Bailey Jr., the chairman of TEAM (Together Effectively Achieving Multiculturalism) Westport, the committee charged with celebrating the town’s cultural and ethnic mix.

The emails and postings were received in the days and weeks after a Jan. 31 Associated Press story ran on the essay topic. Bailey said the Westport Police Department has been involved in monitoring what’s been going on.

A man who claimed to be a laid off white male wrote in an email to the town: “My whole life been screwed by your affirmative action. So sick of you rich liberals (who) think it is great to help minorities not at your expense but at the expense of poor white males.”

Read more: http://www.thehour.com/news/article/White-Privilege-essay-contest-draws-hate-filled-10965393.php