Yale Lecturer Told Audience She Fantasized About ‘Unloading a Revolver Into the Head of Any White Person That Got in My Way’
Pradipta Mitra / Wikimedia Commons
In April, Yale University hosted a lecturer who gave a talk titled, “The Psychopathic Problem of the White Mind.”
As it turns out, it was the lecturer who sounded psychopathic.
Dr. Aruna Khilanani, a psychiatrist in New York City, gave the talk on April 6. Audio of the lecture was posted on Substack by Bari Weiss. During the speech, Khilanani made a series of racist statements and described a graphic fantasy she had about killing White people. The talk was given at the Yale School of Medicine as part of its Child Study Center Grand Rounds.
At one point during the lecture, Khilanani said:
I had fantasies of unloading a revolver into the head of any White person that got in my way, burying their body, and wiping my bloody hands as I walked away relatively guiltless with a bounce in my step. Like I did the world a fucking favor.
Later she stated, “White people are out of their minds and they have been for a long time.”
She also claimed that it’s a waste of time for people of color to talk to White people directly about racism.
“We are asking a demented, violent predator who thinks that they are a saint or a superhero, to accept responsibility. It ain’t gonna happen. They have five holes in their brain. It’s like banging your head against a brick wall. It’s just like sort of not a good idea.”
Khilanani elaborated, “We need to remember that directly talking about race to white people is useless, because they are at the wrong level of conversation. Addressing racism assumes that white people can see and process what we are talking about. They can’t. That’s why they sound demented. They don’t even know they have a mask on. White people think it’s their actual face. We need to get to know the mask.”
In an interview, writer Katie Herzog asked Khilanani about her sweeping generalizations. Khilanani responded:
This idea that I’m the one generalizing is actually defensive. Do I really believe on some level that every single white person is racist? No. Clearly. I have one percent left of that friend group. [Here, Herzog notes, “In the lecture, Dr. Khilanani explains she has cut most of her white friends out of her life.”] So no, I don’t. At the same time, I’m saying how it functions psychologically when someone says “You can’t say that,” and “Not all of us,” what you’re saying subconsciously is “I’m the exception to what you just said and you made me feel like I’m a racist and I don’t experience myself that way. I do not want to experience myself as a racist and I’m going to turn the tables on you and say you’re the racist because you’re generalizing and that’s what a racist does.”
Khilanani here is deploying a tactic whereby she deems those who protest her accusations of racism as being “defensive,” as if to demonstrate her point. As such, the rhetorical framework she’s established attempts to insulate her allegations from any rebuttals – at least from White people.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
