In this archival history, a college writing teacher and recent graduate together challenge the integrationist narrative of Basic Writing, grounded in "white innocence" and dating back to the 1970s. Joining other studies of physical and linguistic segregation in higher education, we recover the true birth of Basic Writing from 1969 to 1971 at City College and we find that racism was not an unintended bug of the first "Basic Writing" program, but it was rather the principal intended feature--a feature that was carefully concealed from students and outsiders with euphemisms and codes. We consider what this troubling birth means for the Basic Writing field today and enduring forms of white innocence that support monolingualism, including in our own experience together. We ask if it is still tenable for college writing teachers and researchers to remain "innocent" or neutral about Basic Writing and monolingualism.