A New York-based psychiatrist who was invited by Yale University to give a talk titled Psychopathic Problem of the White Mind told the audience that she had fantasized about ‘unloading a revolver into the head of any white person’ who got in her way.
Dr Aruna Khilanani, who runs her own practice in Manhattan, delivered the talk virtually to medical students and faculty back in April after being invited by Yale School of Medicine’s Child Study Center.
Audio of her 50-minute lecture was published on journalist Bari Weiss’ Substack blog on Friday.
Khilanani, who has previously taught at Cornell, Columbia and New York universities, made a series of stunning comments during her talk that was largely based on the psychology behind ‘whiteness’.
Dr Aruna Khilanani, who is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, delivered the talk virtually to Yale University medical students and faculty back in April
‘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 f**king favor,’ Khilanani said during the talk.
She went on to say that white people feel they are being bullied when people of color bring up race and described it as a ‘psychological predicament’.
‘They feel that we should be thanking them for all that they have done for us. They are confused, and so are we. We keep forgetting that directly talking about race is a waste of our breath,’ she said.
‘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 also said speaking to white people about race was ‘useless’ because she says they are not at same 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,’ she said.
Khilanani, who has previously taught at Cornell, Columbia and New York universities, made a series of stunning comments during her talk that was largely based on the psychology behind ‘whiteness’. Pictured above is the flier for the talk
After Khilanani delivered the talk, Yale only made it available to students and faculty with a warning that said it contained ‘profanity and imagery for violence’. Khilanani says it was only released internally after facing calls from some to release it
At various other points, she described white people as being ‘out of their minds’ and said that they make her ‘blood boil’.
‘This is the cost of talking to white people at all. The cost of your own life, as they suck you dry. There are no good apples out there. White people make my blood boil,’ she said.
After Khilanani delivered the talk, Yale only made it available to students and faculty with a warning that said it contained ‘profanity and imagery for violence’.
Khilanani says it was only released internally after facing calls from some to release it.
She is now arguing, however, that Yale is trying to suppress her by not releasing the footage of her talk publicly.
The doctor has posted a series of TikToks in the last week claiming the school hasn’t included the name of the talk or that she delivered it.
A caption on one of her TikTok’s reads: ‘My talk at Yale Child Study Center was just released internally. Unnamed and untitled like the privilege it protects.’
Khilanani, who is a forensic psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, says on her website that she has ‘specialized in expertise in treating race, gender, sex, artists and whiteness’.
She is now arguing that Yale is trying to suppress her by not releasing the footage of her talk publicly. The doctor has posted a series of TikToks in the last week saying the school hasn’t included the name of the talk or that she delivered it
In an interview that Khilanani gave journalist Katie Herzog, which was published alongside the audio on Weiss’ Substack, the doctor said she gave Yale the name of her talk after being invited.
She said Yale did not respond or raise concerns about her talk for a ‘long period of time’.
‘I was kind of surprised because usually people want to know a lot of details. And then I think, and I’m not sure about this, maybe they only put the announcement out the day before,’ she said.
‘I’m not sure. This is what I think because I only got the concerns as relayed to me from the dean right before. I didn’t hear any concerns prior to that.’
A person in the Dean’s department contacted her a day before the talk questioning the potential impact of her presentation given it was specifically about the ‘white mind’.
The email read: ‘Good morning, I was surprised to see the announcement for tomorrow’s grand rounds. I imagine replacing the words ‘white mind’ with ‘Asian mind’ or ‘gay mind’ as we work towards equity and inclusion and unity. I wonder what impact this presentation will have.’
Asked about the person’s concerns and if they had a point, Khilanani said part of the ‘anxiety’ was around the use of the word white and ‘them having to reflect on that’.
‘When I’m breaking this down psychologically, what they’re saying on some level is like, ‘We need things to be the same. If you can say ‘white,’ we can say ‘Asian’.
‘Psychologically, they’re actually making a false equivalence. What they’re doing psychologically is obliterating the difference between white and Asian, and if you obliterate the difference there’s no f**king problem here so shut up, you’re the real racist. That’s how it functions psychologically.’