Recently, I came across one of the most bizarre ideas floating around in the world of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI): the notion that mathematics is racist, and therefore Black students and white students should be taught math differently. This so-called movement even has a name: ethnomathematics.
According to its proponents, math as traditionally taught is an oppressive, Eurocentric construct. They claim that requiring students to arrive at one right answer is “white supremacy,” and that we should instead develop math curriculums that are racially tailored. In other words, “Black math” versus “white math.”
Let me be blunt: that’s ridiculous.
Mathematics is not Black or white. Two plus two equals four, no matter who you are. Gravity doesn’t care about your race. Interest rates don’t shift based on the color of your skin. The entire idea of splitting math into racial categories is not only scientifically unfounded—it’s deeply insulting to everyone’s intelligence.
How DEI Fuels Division
This isn’t just about math. It’s about the larger ideology behind DEI, one that promotes division rather than unity. DEI crusaders often frame society in terms of oppressors versus oppressed. Instead of emphasizing universal principles like merit, hard work, and equal opporthtunity, they insist on filtering every human interaction through the lens of race.
During the March 7, 2024 hearing titled “Divisive, Excessive, Ineffective: The Real Impact of DEI on College Campuses,” Dr. Erec Smith gave testimony that cut right to the heart of the matter.
Dr. Smith is a research fellow at the Cato Institute, an associate professor of rhetoric at York College of Pennsylvania, and co-founder of Free Black Thought, an organization promoting viewpoint diversity within Black communities. He has been outspoken against these misguided educational experiments, and for good reason.
Dr. Smith’s Words on Colorblindness
Here’s part of what Dr. Smith testified:
“If you tell people that colorblindness is a bad thing, you’re essentially telling them how to think about me—without my consent. If you tell someone to look at a Black person and say, ‘They’re Black, so you need to see them differently,’ you’re telling them to look at me differently, without my say. That erases individuality and personal sovereignty. Yes, we are members of groups, but we are also—perhaps most importantly—individuals.”
This is exactly the point. When DEI proponents reject colorblindness, they aren’t advancing equality—they’re reinforcing stereotypes. They are asking us to view each other not as human beings, not as individuals, but as avatars of racial categories. That is the very definition of racism.
The Problem with “Ethnomathematics”
Dr. Smith also highlighted the absurdity of “ethnomathematics”:
“The idea that Black kids learn math differently from white kids, and therefore need ‘Black math,’ is just wrong. The idea that getting the right answer is somehow inherently ‘white’ is wrong.”
And he’s right. This kind of thinking does nothing to empower students. Instead, it lowers expectations, creates artificial barriers, and insults the intellectual capacity of the very students it claims to help.
Math is one of the most universal human achievements. The Pythagorean theorem works the same in Lagos as it does in London. Algebra doesn’t suddenly change when you cross a border or switch skin tones. To suggest otherwise is not education—it’s indoctrination.
Toward a Meritocratic Society
What we should strive for is simple: a meritocratic and colorblind society. A world where every individual is judged by their character, their effort, and their ability—not by the color of their skin.
Meritocracy doesn’t mean everyone has the same outcome; it means everyone has the same rules. When we abandon that principle in favor of “racialized math” or “racialized writing,” we aren’t helping disadvantaged students—we’re handicapping them.
Education should unite us around truth, knowledge, and shared discovery. When DEI ideologues push divisive and unscientific concepts like ethnomathematics, they erode the very foundations of learning and progress.
Final Thought
Math is not racist. Demanding excellence is not oppression. Expecting students to get the right answer is not “white supremacy.”
The real racism lies in lowering expectations, dividing knowledge by skin color, and insisting that people can only succeed within the narrow boxes that DEI bureaucrats build for them.
If we want a just and flourishing society, we must reject these divisive ideologies and return to the principles of merit, individuality, and universal truth.
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Comments
One response to “Mathematics is racist according to DEI proponents”
Completely agree. Mathematics is not a cultural piece conveniently manufactured by ancient Greeks or Eurocentrics. It is the fiber of existence itself, neither black or white. It is ontologicallt real and fundamental.
Those who mouth off about racism in math show, first and foremost, their complete ignorance of math. They’ve mistaken human abstraction for reality.
“Correct answers = cultural bias” so I suppose the Second Law of Thermodynamics oppresses refrigerators? The only thing more primitive than racism is institutionalising it under the banner of equity; instead of splitting “black math” and “white math” we should uplift meritocracy. We should demand all the more for a mathematically literate society. There can be no elevation of the citizen or true liberation if we split OBJECTIVE subjects up simply because disparate outcomes exist. This is the most insidious form of racism, the soft bigotry of low expectations.
Good read 👍