Professor Karla Erickson, Associate Dean and Professor of Sociology at Grinnell College in Iowa, is a “feminist ethnographer of labor,” a board member of the Grinnell Regional Medical Center, and as well as Grinnell College’s Day Care and Pre-School.

Identity Politics

Beginning in 2015, Erickson taught a course titled “American Whiteness.” According to the Daily Caller, the original syllabus stated that “whiteness” is, “very bad idea,”

According to the class syllabus, the course examined “whiteness” as a “specific racial formation with a distinct history.” The stated goal of the course is to “attack” racism by “making whiteness more visible,” and declares racism as the “foremost social problem” plaguing the nation.

The syllabus states that, by the end of the course, participants will undergo an “intellectual journey” to understanding how “whiteness” “functions in a racist nation.” Class discussions are also designed to assist students in developing an antiracist identity.

In 2021, Erickson hosted a video lecture, and posted it on Grinnell College’s youtube page, titled “White Innocence.” In the video, she attributes the Capitol Hill Riots to America’s history of white supremacy. Erickson urged her viewers to use critical race theory in order to interpret the events at Capitol Hill, or what she termed the “white nationalist siege”.

Despite this, she stated in the lecture that an automatic presumption of innocence exists for those involved in the riot because of the color of their skin, or what Erickson terms “white innocence.” Describing the rioters as an “army” of white males expressing their resentment, Erickson claimed that this is part of a long history of white supremacists taking up arms when their rights are threatened. She then cited proof of this by alleging the police displayed a violent response to the Black Lives Matter movement over the summer, compared to an allegedly mild response to the mostly white rioters.

Although admitting in the same lecture that she has no evidence to back up her claim, Erickson claimed that the Capitol Police had collaborated and assisted with the “insurrection.” She then claimed that regardless enough evidence had been gathered or not, the Capitol Riots were caused by a failure to frame “white nationalist inspired violence” as a national security threat.