American Booksellers Association roasted for posting 'antiracism' message that includes racism toward white women

On Tuesday, the American Booksellers Association announced that it will be holding a virtual workshop focusing on "antiracism" and white women.

"As we strive toward racial justice, there's an opportunity for people who identify as white women to examine how they have navigated sexism and misogyny and internalized white superiority," states the organization's event description.

The event, which will be held virtually on Oct. 21, "is open to all booksellers, regardless of how they identify, but will speak specifically to white cisgender women, trans women, and non-binary folks who have internalized feminine gender norms."

The "What's Up with White Women?" workshop will reportedly focus on "three patterns of behavior — control, perfectionism, and defensiveness — in order to help booksellers recognize and replace these harmful patterns with actions that build authentic cross-cultural relationships in the workplace and beyond."

According to the American Booksellers Association, "this program was created after People of Color asked workshop facilitators Ilsa Govan and Tilman Smith to take a closer look at their behaviors and assumptions as white women and do the work to learn with and educate other white women."

The organization states that "Ilsa Govan is an anti-racist facilitator, consultant, leadership coach, activist, and the co-founder of Cultures Connecting, which has helped countless organizations put their vision of racial equity into practice. She lives in Seattle, WA."

"Tilman Smith is an educator, consultant, facilitator, and activist focused on racial justice, white privilege, internalized sexism, and internalized white superiority. She lives in Seattle, WA," the statement continues.

Critics on social media have since called out the American Booksellers Association's racism towards white women.

"I'm sorry, but this is incredibly racist," The Post Millennial's contributing editor Ian Miles Cheong commented on Twitter. "Disgusting," he added in the replies.

"[Y]our anti racist book sounds kinda racist," The Blaze's Jessica O'Donnell stated.

"I don't think they understand what racism means..." radio host Larry O'Connor said.

"Outta here with this racist trash," Arc Digital editor-in-chief Berny Belvedere responded.