Yale Lecturer Says Fantasy of Shooting White People Taken Out of Context: I Was ‘Speaking Metaphorically About My Own Anger’

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After facing backlash for saying that she had harbored “fantasies” about shooting white people, psychiatrist and Yale lecturer Dr. Aruna Khilanani told the New York Times that her comments were taken out of context, and that she was speaking metaphorically.

“Dr. Kilanani, a forensic psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, said in an email on Saturday that her words had been taken out context to ‘control the narrative,’” the Times report said. “She said that her lecture had ‘used provocation as a tool for real engagement.’”

“My speaking metaphorically about my own anger was a method for people to reflect on negative feelings. To normalize negative feelings,” Khilanani also told the Times. “Because if you don’t it will turn into violent action.”

In April, Khilanani gave a lecture at Yale University’s School of Medicine called “The Psychopathic Problem of the White Mind,” as part of the school’s Grand Rounds program, described by Yale as a “weekly form for the Yale Child Study Center faculty, staff and affiliates to come together and learn about all aspects relevant to the mental health of children, adolescents and their families and communities.”

According to the Times, in the online lecture Khalanani “described a ‘psychological dynamic that is on PTSD repeat,’ in which people of color patiently explain racism to white people. Who deny their attacks. When people of color then become angry, white people use that anger as ‘confirmation that we’re crazy or have emotional problems,’ she said.”

“I had fantasies of unloading a revolver into the head of any white person that got in my way, burying my 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,” Khalanani said.

Former Times opinion writer and editor Bari Weiss posted an audio version of Khilanani’s talk on Substack on Friday, generating a great deal of online reaction. Khilanani, who practices in New York, is not affiliated with Yale.

In a statement, the Yale School of Medicine said it found “the tone and content antithetical to the values of the school.” It has made the lecture available only to those who could have originally attended – “the members of the Yale community.”