Shaw's letter lacks specific details about events that took place and favors a grift-y "reverse racism" narrative. When reading her letter I got the impression that Shaw was leaving out at least some details that could weaken her argument. From the letter..
The last straw came in January 2020, when I attended a mandatory Residence Life staff retreat focused on racial issues. The hired facilitators asked each member of the department to respond to various personal questions about race and racial identity. When it was my turn to respond, I said “I don’t feel comfortable talking about that.” I was the only person in the room to abstain.
Later, the facilitators told everyone present that a white person’s discomfort at discussing their race is a symptom of “white fragility.” They said that the white person may seem like they are in distress, but that it is actually a “power play.” In other words, because I am white, my genuine discomfort was framed as an act of aggression. I was shamed and humiliated in front of all of my colleagues.
I find it hard to believe that Shaw would be shamed and humiliated for being genuinely uncomfortable with addressing a sensitive subject like race. What were the questions being asked? As a "last straw" event, it'd be helpful for readers to know as much as possible about how this retreat was conducted and what questions were being asked.
I filed an internal complaint about the hostile environment, but throughout that process, over the course of almost six months, I felt like my complaint was taken less seriously because of my race.
I was told that the civil rights law protections were not created to help people like me. And after I filed my complaint, I started to experience retaliatory behavior, like having important aspects of my job taken away without explanation.
It'd be helpful to know how the internal complaint was handled. She "feels like" it was taken less seriously because of her race (but offers no proof). And who is telling her that civil rights protections weren't created for people like her (white people?)? Administrators? Retreat facilitators? Randoms on Twitter?
Bari doesn't appear to have investigated/fact checked much into the details in the piece, most notably Smith's claim that Shaw demanded a payment in return for dropping a legal claim. Shaw claims that she was offered a settlement in exchange for her silence?? Shaw has threatened legal action, so we'll see if any further details come out. She's sitting on $275k+ raised from GoFundMe, so she might just prefer that route.