…by Jonas E. Alexis
As Jim W. Dean would have put it, you canât make this stuff up. We are living in an age where virtually everything can be construed as racism, including mathematics, which we all know is a universal language and which is based on logical and rational patterns.
Rochelle Gutierrez is a math education instructor at the University of Illinois. Back in 2017, she promiscuously argued that mathematics âoperates as whitenessâ and is therefore racist. âWho gets credit for doing and developing mathematics, who is capable in mathematics, and who is seen as part of the mathematical community is generally viewed as White,â she said.[1]
You ainât seen nothing yet. She moved on to say: âAre we really that smart just because we do mathematics?â[2] Why the red herring? Whoâs is arguing that? You see, Gutierrez cannot seriously defend the position that mathematics perpetuates whiteness, and therefore she has to resort to straw man and completely irrelevant subjects in order to distract readers from her main thesis.
âIf one is not viewed as mathematical, there will always be a sense of inferiority that can be summoned,â[3] she added. Well, why doesnât she apply the same principle in sports? Would any coach in the NFL or the NBA or soccer or baseball or even WNBA even remotely listen to her nonsense?
Gutierrez then posited a statement that turned out to be self-destruct: âThings cannot be known objectively; they must be known subjectively.â[4] Well, if things cannot be known objectively, then the statement that âthings cannot be known objectivelyâ cannot be known objectively and is therefore intellectually worthless. In other words, Gutierrezâs entire ideological substratum falls apart with little mental exercise.
The sad thing is that Gutierrez is not some drunken sailor out there who is just tired of living. She has a B.A. from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Her dissertation title? Beyond Tracking: How the Beliefs, Practices, and Cultures of High School Mathematics Departments Influence Student Advancement.
In any event, Gutierrez wants to keep minority students under her rule and dictatorship. She wants to manipulate naĂŻve students so that they cannot think through serious issues. She also wants to influence the math curriculum in Washington.[5] Unfortunately, this ideology is spreading around the world. A student of mine cracked me up at the end of this semester by writing âBlack lives matterâ at the bottom of his pre-calculus exam. He was somewhat shocked to realize that I donât buy this mumbo jumbo.
As a final note, I wonder what people like Fern Hunt, Mark Dean, Elbert Frank Cox, Katherine Johnson, Valerie Thomas, Lonnie Johnson, Annie Easley, Mae Carol Jemison, Christina Eubanks-Turner, Candice Renee Price, Dionne Price, Chelsea Walton, Talithia Williams, Ulrica Wilson, Edray Herber Goins, Rudy Horne, among countless others, would think of this womanâs pernicious ideology.
From 1872 and all the way to 1955, students at Dunbar High School would have told Gutierrez to shut up.
- [1] âUniversity of Illinois professor publishes written theory explaining why mathematics coursework ‘perpetuates white privilege,ââ Daily Mail, October 25, 2017.
- [2] Ibid.
- [3] Lucy Pasha-Robinson, âTeaching maths perpetuates white privilege, says university professor,â Independent, October 25, 2017.
- [4] Ibid.
- [5] This âmath is racistâ ideology is making its rounds in Washington. âIs math racist? New course outlines prompt conversations about identity, race in Seattle classrooms,â Seattle Times, October 15, 2019; Elise Takahama, âIs math racist? New course outlines prompt conversations about identity, race in Seattle classrooms,â Chicago Tribune, October 10, 2019.

Jonas E. Alexis has degrees in mathematics and philosophy. He studied education at the graduate level. His main interests include U.S. foreign policy, the history of the Israel/Palestine conflict, and the history of ideas. He is the author of the book, Kevin MacDonald’s Metaphysical Failure: A Philosophical, Historical, and Moral Critique of Evolutionary Psychology, Sociobiology, and Identity Politics. He teaches mathematics in South Korea.
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Maybe the University should replace Gutierrez with one of the Quad squirrels (I used to sit on the bench seen behind the “She wants to” text in the photo caption in the picture and feed them)? The “tree rats” certainly have more common sense.
The picture is also taken from a weird direction since it shows the Illini Union in the background – if she and photographer had reversed positions it would have Altgeld Hall where math is (hopefully still) taught in the background.
Your reference to Dunbar is very pertinent. Graduates were achievers all though often of humble background and all were Black. High expectations produced high results. See FIRST CLASS by Alison Stewart.
Yes, the same w chess because white makes the first move LoooL
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