Yes, “It simply admits the reality that there is a history of racial subordination in the United States and says this needs to be acknowledged and studied.” The “liberal order,” “enlightenment thinking,” and the other synonyms for it mentioned in your quote IS that history of racial subordination, among several other forms of entrenched hierarchical inequality. That you want to pretend that they are something else is not only highly disingenuous but revealing.

Now, why would be against talking about this and why?

P.S. —Sorry, but your mention of “whitewashing” in this context is amusingly ironic.