It’s never a good time to be a baby who’s been exposed to drugs. But the brilliant antiracist minds at Mass General Brigham have somehow found a way to make that situation even more risky. Early this month, the Massachusetts healthcare network announced its latest gambit in the fight against racial disparity in medicine: no longer reporting instances of abuse in cases of fetal drug exposure.
The rationale for this baffling new policy? The DEI-rich language of ‘health equity.’ As per Mass General’s <a href="https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/press-releases/updating-system-policies-perinatal-testing">announcement</a>, “Black pregnant people are more likely to be drug tested and to be reported to child welfare systems than white pregnant people.” The decision was further portrayed as “the latest step in our efforts to address long-standing inequities in substance use disorder care.” But will it?
As the <a href="https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/press-releases/updating-system-policies-perinatal-testing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">updated policy</a> reads:
<blockquote>First, the new policy requires written consent for toxicology testing of any pregnant individual or infant outside of emergent situations. At the same time, it limits toxicology testing to circumstances where results will change the medical management of the pregnant person or infant.
The policy also notes that an abuse/neglect report to state child welfare agencies in Massachusetts and New Hampshire after delivery should be filed only if there is reasonable cause to believe that the infant is suffering or at imminent risk of suffering physical or emotional injury and that ‘substance exposure’ alone, including treatment with methadone or buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, does not require a report of abuse or neglect in the absence of protective concerns for the infant.</blockquote>
Under Brigham’s no-report policies, black babies exposed to drugs can be passed over for potentially life-saving care if their mothers refuse help. How is erecting new barriers to treatment for these children a step toward any serious concept of justice?
As psychiatrist Sally Satel <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/mass-general-brigham-antiracism-maternity">notes</a>, the new policy would reduce not only the amount of reporting involved in the Boston system, but strip healthcare providers of the ability to meaningfully intervene in cases where a baby’s health appears compromised.
This is hardly the first time Brigham’s chosen to mix racial politicking with its patient care. The Brigham and Women’s Hospital, as part of its United Against Racism campaign, <a href="https://www.brighamandwomens.org/about-bwh/newsroom/addressing-heart-admission-disparities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently introduced</a> a program where patient admissions to cardiac units would weigh the race of the patient, as a supposed ‘righting of the scale’ against historic health disparities.
Let’s be clear here: these practices, while perhaps palatable to the modern advocates of equity, cannot be conscionable to modern advocates of justice. Brigham has made its stand: prioritizing marginalized patient populations in a bid to right historical wrongs. Yet the obvious problem remains: Such policies attempt to right historical wrongs by risking modern ones.
The system may purport to advance ‘health equity,’ but it runs a real risk of hurting innocent children. We must evaluate these systems based on what they do, not merely on what they purport to do. To do otherwise is to adopt an uncritical perspective on equity that cedes legitimacy to unserious and dangerous solutions.
We are sometimes asked, in the name of charity and good faith, to pretend that arguments over DEI and equity-based policies are low-stakes questions. We’re told that the real diversity argument is between “validating the feelings and lived experience of people of color” or “propping up white supremacy with our complicit silence.” I’ve <a href="https://rlo.acton.org/archives/124960-the-strange-death-of-dei.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">written</a> <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2023/12/14/willour-dei-oklahoma-universities-nikole-hannah-jones-racism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/3-things-my-future-children-need-to-know-about-race" target="_blank" rel="noopener">length</a> about how this isn’t the case, but the actions and results of the DEI movement speak far louder than its critics’ most pointed words.
For a further example, let’s take a closer look at Brigham’s cardiology policy. Brigham alerted physicians when a black or “Latinx” patient presented with heart failure to “educate the clinician about the fact that, historically, this population has had inequitable access to specialized cardiology care and offer a recommendation to consider changing admission.” It’s not an override of a clinician’s judgment or even a treatment prescription, meaning that it’s actually a relatively impotent policy in the aggregate. By any modern standard of DEI, it doesn’t even qualify as intersectional. But that’s actually the point — the policies that work aren’t the ones being dreamed up for ‘health equity’ brownie points.
Intersectionality, particularly in medicine, only works at the most basic level: the differentiation of the individual patient. The only morally serious option is for healthcare providers to evaluate patients based on individual history and symptoms — and avoid the kind of DEI-esque language of ‘health equity’ that makes observers and patients alike start raising questions about what forces are actually driving the boat over at Mass General Brigham.
That practical and rhetorical vision isn’t what modern DEI proponents want you to sign up for. Accepting their view of equity, in this case, means systems that risk passing over treatment for innocent children. Is that equity? It’s certainly not equality, it’s certainly not justice, and it’s not what anyone really wants for the future of American healthcare: we can’t validate people’s lived experiences if they die as babies in a maternity ward.
* * *
Isaac Willour is an award-winning journalist focusing on race, culture, and American conservatism, as well as a corporate relations analyst at Bowyer Research. His work on race &amp; DEI has been featured at outlets including National Review, USA Today, C-SPAN, and the Daily Wire. He is a member of the Young Voices contributor program, and can be found on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/IsaacWillour">@IsaacWillour</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.

Ambulance Service In Chelsea, Mass., Grapples With State’s Coronavirus Surge

‘Health Equity’: Why Mass General’s DEI-Infused Policy Update Places Infants At Risk

'Health Equity': Why Mass General’s DEI-Infused Policy Update Places Infants At Risk

Anti-Racism

Boston

Drugs

Equity

Health Care

Hospitals

Massachusetts

Opinion

Pregnancy

A Harvard law professor is calling on the country&#8217;s most prestigious school to &#8220;abandon&#8221; forcing academics to make <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion</a> (DEI) statements.
Randall Kennedy, who <a href="https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/randall-l-kennedy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">teaches</a> criminal law and contracts at Harvard Law School, <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/column/council-on-academic-freedom-at-harvard/article/2024/4/2/kennedy-abandon-dei-statements/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">penned</a> a scathing column Tuesday in The Harvard Crimson, the school&#8217;s newspaper.
Kennedy, who is black and also teaches courses on the regulation of race relations, skewered the Ive League&#8217;s commitment to requiring DEI statements as part of the school&#8217;s hiring process.
&#8220;Candidates for academic positions at Harvard should not be asked to support ideological commitments,&#8221; Kennedy wrote.
He noted the &#8220;howl of protest&#8221; that would erupt if Harvard were to ask academic candidates for statements about their positions on capitalism, patriotism, or Making America Great Again &#8220;with a clear expectation of allegiance.&#8221;
&#8220;By requiring academics to profess — and flaunt — faith in DEI, the proliferation of diversity statements poses a profound challenge to academic freedom,&#8221; Kennedy wrote.
He criticized the &#8220;expectation that DEI statements will essentially constitute pledges of allegiance that enlist academics into the DEI movement by dint of soft-spoken but real coercion: If you want the job or the promotion, play ball — or else.&#8221;
The DEI statement requirement discourages conservative candidates, Kennedy said.
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&#8220;It does not take much discernment to see, moreover, that the diversity statement regime leans heavily and tendentiously towards varieties of academic leftism and implicitly discourages candidates who harbor ideologically conservative dispositions,&#8221; he wrote.
Kennedy also called out the &#8220;cottage industry&#8221; of diversity statement counselors that has sprung up in the last few years.
&#8220;By overreaching, by resorting to compulsion, by forcing people to toe a political line, by imposing ideological litmus tests, by incentivizing insincerity, and by creating a circular mode of discourse that is seemingly impervious to self-questioning, the current DEI regime is discrediting itself,&#8221; Kennedy wrote.
Academics at Harvard and beyond already feel &#8220;intense and growing resentment&#8221; toward the DEI movement, he said.
&#8220;I am a scholar on the left committed to struggles for social justice. The realities surrounding mandatory DEI statements, however, make me wince,&#8221; Kennedy said.
&#8220;The practice of demanding them ought to be abandoned, both at Harvard and beyond,&#8221; he wrote.
Kennedy&#8217;s column comes in the wake of a slew of woes for Harvard over the last few months.
Harvard faced <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harvards-chief-diversity-officer-plagiarized-work-too-complaint-claims" target="_blank" rel="noopener">backlash</a> in recent months for its former president Claudine Gay&#8217;s highly criticized congressional testimony on Harvard’s response to anti-Semitism on campus.
The Ivy League school is currently facing a congressional probe on how it handled anti-Semitism on campus, as well as the school’s response to the plagiarism allegations against Gay.

Harvard University

Harvard Law Professor Says School Should ‘Abandon’ Mandatory DEI Statements: ‘Ideological Pledges Of Allegiance’

Harvard Law Professor Says School Should 'Abandon' Mandatory DEI Statements: 'Ideological Pledges Of Allegiance'

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Education

U.S.

Seattle Public Schools is shutting down its program for gifted and talented students, where the majority are white or Asian, citing &#8220;equity&#8221; concerns.
The school board voted to scrap its Highly Capable Cohort program in 2020 after a 2018 survey <a href="https://www.parentmap.com/article/equity-teams-seattle-hcc-racial-disparity-gifted" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> that only 3.7% of participating students were Hispanic and 1.6% were black. Meanwhile, 11.8% were Asian, and the majority were white.
“Numbers would suggest that within our city … predominantly white children are more gifted than other cultures and races, and we know that is absolutely not true,” Kari Hanson, the district’s director of student support services, <a href="https://www.parentmap.com/article/equity-teams-seattle-hcc-racial-disparity-gifted" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Parent Map in 2018.
“Clearly we’re not identifying our children of color and we need to get down to why,” Hanson said.
The district began phasing out the gifted program in the 2021-22 school year, and it will be gone entirely by the 2027-28 school year.
Starting next year, every school will have a new &#8220;more inclusive&#8221; Highly Capable Neighborhood School Model.
&#8220;The program is not going away, it’s getting better,&#8221; the school district said in a <a href="https://www.seattleschools.org/departments/advanced-learning/services-and-programs/service-delivery/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">release</a>. &#8221;It will be more inclusive, equitable, and culturally sensitive.
&#8220;In particular, students who have been historically excluded will now have the same opportunities for services as every other student and get the support and enrichment they need to grow,&#8221; the district said.
Currently, the district has three elementary schools, five middle schools, and three high schools for students in the Highly Capable Cohort program.
Under the new program, gifted students <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240331204001/https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/why-seattle-public-schools-is-closing-its-highly-capable-cohort-program/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">will not be</a> separated from other students but will remain in the same classroom, and teachers will have to develop individualized education plans for each student.
Critics <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240331204001/https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/why-seattle-public-schools-is-closing-its-highly-capable-cohort-program/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">argue</a> that the new model puts an unfair burden on teachers who do not have the time or resources to give 20 to 30 students an individualized plan, especially since the district is currently facing a $105 million deficit.
Some parents also worry that the new model will overlook more advanced students.
Minority representation in the Highly Capable Cohort program has improved since 2018. In the 2022-23 school year, 8.2% of gifted students were Hispanic, and 3.4% were black.
The school district is made up of about 14% Hispanic students and 15% black students.
Nevertheless, it is still replacing the program after years of attacks from critics.
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In 2021, Rita Green, the education chair of the Seattle Chapter of the NAACP, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/new-york-education-new-york-city-united-states-race-and-ethnicity-f8cbdb50edba9802fe9ad503cfe7d467" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> for the elimination of Seattle&#8217;s gifted program.
“We want the program just abolished. Period. The Highly Capable Cohort program is fundamentally flawed, and it’s inherently racist,” Green said.
The district&#8217;s decision also comes amid broader <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leaders/leadership/a-formula-for-creating-more-equitable-gifted-and-talented-programs/2023/02" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticism</a> of gifted programs due to equity concerns.
In 2021, then-New York City Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio <a class="color-link" title="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/08/nyregion/gifted-talented-nyc-schools.html" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/08/nyregion/gifted-talented-nyc-schools.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-ga-track="ExternalLink:https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/08/nyregion/gifted-talented-nyc-schools.html" aria-label="ordered">ordered</a> the city’s elementary schools to stop testing for giftedness.

Rear view of large group of students raising arms during a class at amphitheater.

Seattle Public Schools Cites ‘Equity’ In Shutting Down Gifted Program With Majority White And Asian Students

Seattle Public Schools Cites 'Equity' In Shutting Down Gifted Program With Majority White And Asian Students

Politics

Public Schools

Seattle

Washington

The bar exam will no longer be required for people who want to practice law in Washington state, the state Supreme Court ruled last week, prompted by equity concerns.
In a pair of orders Friday, the Washington Supreme Court approved &#8220;alternative pathways to lawyer licensure,&#8221; the court <a href="https://www.courts.wa.gov/newsinfo/?fa=newsinfo.pressdetail&amp;newsid=50389" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a press release.
The decision follows recommendations made by the state&#8217;s Bar Licensure Task Force, which was formed in 2020 to examine the issue. The task force recommended getting rid of the mandatory bar exam in order to &#8220;advance the cause of diversity, equity, and inclusion.&#8221;
The task force found that the traditional bar exam &#8220;disproportionately and unnecessarily blocks historically marginalized groups from entering the practice of law.&#8221;
&#8220;In addition to the racism and classism written into the test itself the time and financial costs of the test reinforce historical inequities in our profession,&#8221; the task force <a href="https://www.courts.wa.gov/content/publicUpload/Supreme%20Court%20Orders/Orders%2025700B710%20and%2025700B711.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in its recommendations. &#8220;Despite these issues, data indicates that the bar exam is at best minimally effective for ensuring competent lawyers.&#8221;
Under the court&#8217;s new changes, Washington will create three &#8220;experiential-learning&#8221; alternatives to the bar exam.
Law school graduates will have to do a six-month apprenticeship under the guidance and supervision of a qualified attorney as well as take three more standardized courses.
Students still in law school must complete 12 qualifying skills credits and do 500 hours of work as a licensed legal intern. They must then submit a portfolio of this work to waive the bar exam.
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Law clerks who are not attending law school must also complete 500 hours of work as a licensed legal intern as well as meet certain benchmarks and complete standardized educational materials.
The state is also lowering the minimum score to pass the bar from 270 to 266, a lower threshold previously adopted during the pandemic. Those who do take the rigorous test will take a new, updated bar exam that &#8220;addresses many of the identified flaws in the current bar exam by focusing on real-world skills and practice&#8221; starting in summer, 2026.
The court is also calling for assessments and programs to help lawyers remain competent throughout their careers, not just when they are licensed. A timeline for all the changes is not yet set, but they will be implemented by the Washington State Bar Association.
Last week&#8217;s decision makes Washington the second state to nix the bar exam requirement after Oregon <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/careers/2023/11/09/oregon-approves-alternative-bar-exam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made</a> the same decision for similar reasons in November.

Setting the page on fire with some hard work

Mandatory Bar Exam Nixed In Washington State Over ‘Equity’ Concerns

Mandatory Bar Exam Nixed In Washington State Over 'Equity' Concerns

Lawsuit

Lawyer

Oregon

Race

Denver Public Schools has an &#8220;ethnic studies&#8221; course that teaches ninth graders racial equity and gender ideology, according to a parental rights group.
Parents Defending Education (PDE) said they obtained the <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/denver-public-schools-has-mandatory-ethnic-studies-curriculum-for-ninth-grade-students-that-teaches-them-to-embrace-collectivism-over-individualism-teaches-students-that-gender-exists-on-a-spectrum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curriculum</a> for the Denver school district&#8217;s ninth grade &#8220;Introduction to Ethnic Studies&#8221; course, which allegedly includes lessons on &#8220;Building a Collective Society&#8221; and &#8220;Intersectionality in Action.&#8221;
Other topics reportedly include “Mapping Identity Through Poetry,” “Beyond the Binary,” “The Intersectionality Lens,” and “Systemic Change.”
Scott Pribble, the district&#8217;s Director of External Communications, said in an email that the course is &#8220;not a required course for any of our students&#8221; and that they have &#8220;not received any concerns from parents.&#8221;
In the collective society lesson, students are asked to &#8220;analyze and critique dominant individualist ideologies in the United States,&#8221; according to PDE.
One lesson reportedly asks students to &#8220;reflect on the 20th century American concepts of the American Dream and the Self-Made Man&#8221; and write a brief summary of a pretend movie that &#8220;captures the essence of the American Dream through an individualist perspective.&#8221;
&#8220;Then, students learn about collectivist values from Indigenous Plant Teachings&#8221; and rewrite their movie summaries to &#8220;integrate collective values.&#8221;
The lesson provides an example of a movie summary: &#8220;In the roaring 20s New York City, a determined young Irish immigrant dockworker, fueled by a passionate love for a wealthy socialite, embarks on a perilous journey to transcend his humble origins and earn her love.&#8221;
The lesson suggests changing that movie summary to: &#8220;In 1920s New York City, a compassionate young Irish immigrant accepts a position as a dockworker, and fueled by his commitment to his community, joins forces with his fellow workers to challenge oppressive class divisions and create a more just and equitable society,&#8221; according to PDE.
Several lessons focus on American Indian culture, including one that asks students to use a Navajo Four Cardinal Directions map to &#8220;design a classroom worldview.&#8221;
Students are also reportedly asked to explore how different representations of an Aztec deity &#8220;helps build deeper understanding of the truth and meaning,&#8221; according to the lesson plan.
The curriculum also has students learn the term &#8220;anti-racism&#8221; and watch an Ibram X. Kendi <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY4jK__2GsE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a>, PDE reported. That lesson also teaches students the quote, &#8220;In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist&#8221; from Angela Davis.
In the unit on gender ideology, students &#8220;analyze statistics on anti-trans politics&#8221; and learn about &#8220;gender fluid cultures,&#8221; according to the group.
The Denver Public Schools <a href="https://www.dpsk12.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">serves</a> more than 88,000 students at more than 200 schools.

Close-up of a chair on a student’s desk inside a classroom in a secondary school.

Denver School District’s ‘Ethnic Studies’ Course Teaches 9th Graders Racial Equity, Gender Ideology

Denver School District's 'Ethnic Studies' Course Teaches 9th Graders Racial Equity, Gender Ideology

Colorado

Denver

Gender

Transgender

A group of middle schoolers in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/new-york" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York</a> were taught about “equity” versus “equality” using resources from the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/united-nations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United Nations</a>, according to lesson plans obtained by a parental rights group. 
Fifth graders from Herricks Middle School in Long Island were instructed on the differences between equity and equality while on a field trip to Herricks High School in December. The lesson was heavily based on materials from the U.N., according to a <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Equity-Lesson-Resources.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">document</a> obtained by Parents Defending Education and shared with The Daily Wire
“The theme of Educational Equity is taken from the [U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 4] in providing educational equity across the developing world,” a document from the school with links to U.N. resources said. “Using the goals of the UN to evaluate the steps thus far to achieve their goals the following research was explored for students to create their own projects to showcase what is being done across the developing world to meet the UN goals and how the UN is supporting the achievement of those goals.”
Parents Defending Education obtained the document after it filed a public records request for documents on the lesson after the <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/herricks-public-schools-provides-lesson-from-united-nations-to-fifth-grade-students-promoting-equity-over-equality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">school posted</a> on its Facebook page that some fifth-grade students had learned about the difference between equity and equality while on a trip to the high school. 
While some of the materials address the plight of education in places like Africa, the concept of equity in education has been utilized by some teachers to push <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/beyond-allyship-to-anti-oppression-california-school-district-spends-170k-on-critical-race-theory-teacher-training" target="_blank" rel="noopener">politically charged activism</a> in the classroom. As highlighted by Parents Defending Education, one of the aims of the U.N.’s <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4#targets_and_indicators" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sustainable development goal four</a> is to promote “global citizenship education” around the world, and many of the materials focus on climate change. 
“Equity and equality are not the same thing. Equality means providing the same resources to everyone. Equity signifies giving more to those most in need. Countries with greater inequity in education results are also those in which governments distribute resources according to the political pressure they experience in providing education,” one of the U.N. <a href="https://www.un.org/en/un-chronicle/recognizing-and-overcoming-inequity-education" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resources</a> referenced in the lesson plan says. 
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Caroline Moore, the vice president of Parents Defending Education, said that using U.N. concepts put traditional education in danger of being politicized. 
“UN standards are contrary to American exceptionalism and merit-based principles,” Moore told The Daily Wire. “No one should be looking to the UN for anything, let alone so-called ‘equity’ standards. Herricks Public Schools should be embarrassed they are teaching students that they are either ‘oppressed’ or ‘oppressors’ and have preconceived outcomes because of their race. All students have the ability to achieve their academic goals, especially when districts prioritize academics over activism.”
The Daily Wire reached out to Herricks Public Schools for comment.

UN Flag

New York School Turns To United Nations To Teach 5th Graders About ‘Equity’

New York

United Nations

A new “equity” initiative in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) aims to declare more black people to be mentally disabled.
Black veterans currently receive disability payments for mental health conditions at nearly twice the rate of whites. But the Biden administration&#8217;s <a href="https://department.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/final_Equity-Assessment-and-Action-Steps-for-Mental-Health-Compensation-Benefits-.pdf">Equity Assessment and Action Steps for Mental Health Compensation Benefits</a>, released Wednesday, said that to attain &#8220;equity,&#8221; that number needs to be even higher.
“A higher percentage of Black Veterans currently receive disability compensation benefits than white Veterans for mental health conditions (21.7% vs. 12.7%),&#8221; the assessment said. &#8220;On average, Black Veterans also apply for disability compensation at higher rates and receive slightly higher disability ratings from VA than white Veterans. However, Black Veterans have lower grant rates than white Veterans for mental health conditions (70.3% vs. 76.0%). &#8230; In response to these new findings, VA will [be] taking immediate and aggressive action to eliminate this gap and ensure that Black Veterans get the benefits they deserve.&#8221;
The justification uses a tortured logic in which, although there is a large discrepancy in blacks&#8217; favor when it comes to actually being granted government disability checks, the Biden administration sliced the numbers until they found a secondary metric in which blacks were slightly behind: The percentage who apply for disability but are deemed ineligible.
The &#8220;grant rate&#8221; means the portion of people who sought a disability rating who had it granted by the VA, as opposed to the VA saying that the evidence did not support a finding of disability. The Biden administration contends that the &#8220;grant rate&#8221; needs to be equal by race — even though that would make the percentage of each race actually receiving checks even more unequal.
The move appears to put pressure on evaluators to either look the other way at fraud and rubber-stamp unjustified disability ratings for blacks, or deny benefits to potentially suicidal whites. It also puts the Biden administration in conflict with science, with the result of ostensibly objective medical evaluations being swayed for political reasons.
Ironically, the six-point discrepancy in grant rate, used to justify more equity policies, was likely caused by an existing VA &#8220;equity&#8221; policy that encouraged blacks to apply for disability. “In recent years, VA has worked to engage Black Veteran [sic] to encourage them to file for the benefits they’ve earned,” the VA said. People who have to be persuaded that they are disabled are likely to have borderline cases more prone to be rejected, causing the &#8220;grant rate&#8221; to go down for their group.
The VA said it plans to continue that effort, even though it mathematically contradicts its own purported goal. “Throughout 2024, VA will work to continue this trend by working with directly with Black Veterans and organizations to spread the word about this study and encourage Veterans to apply,” it said.
The VA declined to answer questions from or share data with The Daily Wire.
But it acknowledged in its paper that even when it comes to grant rates, blacks are actually ahead of whites in one category, and behind in the other. “There has not been a grant rate gap by race since 2011 for Veterans who filed within one year of discharge,” the paper admitted, but “the gap remains for Veterans who filed more than a year after discharge.”
About half of veterans seek disability within a year of leaving service, while half wait longer. The VA said there was a racial &#8220;gap&#8221; in the second category, with whites about 2% ahead of blacks, but that there was no racial &#8220;gap&#8221; in the first category, when blacks were about 2% ahead of whites.
Rather than try to ameliorate the disparity in which blacks are more likely than whites to get disability if they apply within a year of leaving the service, it will lean into it by “doing direct outreach to encourage Black Veterans to file for disability compensation benefits within the first year of discharge,” VA said.
The argument that VA assessors reject certain blacks&#8217; applications out of racism, while readily granting other blacks&#8217; applications, is a more convoluted one than the simple explanation that assessors make decisions based on whether the evidence supports it.
Black people are overrepresented among VA employees by double their portion of the population. They make up a quarter of the VA’s workforce, giving the VA the fourth-highest rate of black employees out of 19 Cabinet agencies, a Daily Wire review of Office of Personnel Management data showed. Nonetheless, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) released a <a href="https://department.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/final_VBA-Benefits-Equity-Assurance-Plan.pdf">Benefits Equity Assurance Plan</a> in conjunction with the study that said it will seek to hire more blacks by recruiting employees at HBCUs.
The VBA also said it will &#8220;mandate unconscious bias and implicit bias training for all VBA employees.&#8221; Implicit bias training has been derided by scholars as <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/3/7/14637626/implicit-association-test-racism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">junk science</a>.
The Equity Assurance Plan said it stems from &#8220;President Biden’s Executive Order (EO) 13985 on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, and EO 14091, which charged the Federal Government with advancing equity.&#8221; It said it “has created a new Office of Equity Assurance led by a career senior executive to assess any disparities,” and will use artificial intelligence to try to make sure all numbers are equal by race.
“VBA will continue to champion  uniform training and curricula related to inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (I*DEA) to ensure consistent messaging and instruction to its workforce in the respective benefit programs and services,” it said.
The military is undergoing a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-pronouns-less-recruits-u-s-military-facing-unprecedented-recruiting-crisis-under-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recruitment crisis</a> driven largely by a decline in white people who want to enlist.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

Biden Admin Wants More Black Veterans Declared Mentally Disabled In The Name Of ‘Equity’

Department of Veterans Affairs

Military

The University of Michigan has built a sprawling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy, which now boasts over 500 jobs dedicated to advancing the agenda, and costs the university more than $30 million every year according to an analysis by one of its own professors.
The university has at least 241 employees whose main duties “are to provide DEI programming and services as either their exclusive or primary job responsibility,” according to an <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WbFztg7z0oQKdNlL73L6q9FeMaCSucq0/edit">analysis</a> conducted by Mark Perry, an economics professor at the University of Michigan-Flint, on behalf of <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/umich-now-has-more-than-500-jobs-dedicated-to-dei-payroll-costs-exceed-30-million/">The College Fix</a> reveals.
Full-time DEI staff at the university cost the institution an estimated $30.68 million every year, with $23.34 million for staff salaries and another $7.44 million for benefits. The total sum could pay for in-state tuition and fees for 1,781 undergraduate students, according to Perry, who is also a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
Some DEI staff at the University of Michigan raked in enormous salaries, with Tabbye Chavous Sellers, UM’s Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion &amp; Chief Diversity Officer, enjoying a whopping $402,800 a year, roughly double what the average full-time professor on campus makes in a year.
But Sellers isn’t the only one pulling in a lucrative salary while engaging in DEI work. Thirteen DEI staff members earn over $200,000 every year while another 66 make more than $100,000 per year. The average yearly salary for DEI staff members is $96,000 not including benefits.
In addition to the full-time DEI staff members, there are also another 76 faculty and staff members who serve as “DEI Unit Leads,” who push the diversity agenda across the university’s various schools in service of the institution’s <a href="https://report.dei.umich.edu/">five-year DEI plan</a>.
When accounting for those who push the DEI agenda in both full-time and part-time capacities, as well as unfilled positions and those who further DEI at the institution on an unpaid basis, it “brings the total number of UM employees who advance DEI on either a paid or unpaid basis to well more than 500 and possibly as high as 600,” Mark Perry explained.
The University of Michigan disputes the findings, however, calling the analysis “misleading&#8221; and claiming “Diversity, equity and inclusion are core values at the University of Michigan. As such, there is not a specific budget set aside for diversity outreach and recruitment.”
“Most employees working on DEI are not solely dedicated to DEI efforts but do so in addition to their other roles and responsibilities,” a university spokesperson continued. “The university’s DEI efforts are appropriate to the size, scope, and complexity of our university – spanning the university, including 51 units over our three campuses, our academic medical center, and our over 100,000 students and employees.
The institution’s five-year academic plan mandates that DEI practices be implemented across the university, with even non-academic units like its botanical gardens, IT department, art museum, and athletics, among others, each being required to adopt a DEI plan.
Perry blasted the institution’s DEI bureaucracy, asserting that the University of Michigan’s diversity plans “are reminiscent of the Soviet Union’s and Communist China’s five-year central plans to achieve ‘Ideal Communist Societies’ which are examples of top-down oppressive bureaucratic blueprints to socially engineer outcomes decided by the top leadership of the dictatorial regimes.”

University of Michigan

University Of Michigan Estimated To Have Over 500 DEI Jobs, Costing Over $30 Million A Year

Diversity

Billionaires <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mark-cuban" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark Cuban</a> got into a social media spat this week over the controversial race-based hiring practice adopted by numerous companies and institutions known as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
The argument began Wednesday when Cuban, the former owner of the Dallas Mavericks, took exception to Musk’s definition of DEI after the X owner <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1742653436393406618">said</a>, “DEI is just another word for racism,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1742669186130755700">adding</a> that it discriminates “on the basis of race,” which “is literally the definition of racism.”
Cuban <a href="https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/1742690628465484204">responded</a> to Musk’s comment in a lengthy post on X, attempting to defend DEI in hiring practices. In his post, Cuban argued that diversity, equity, and inclusion are all good goals for companies to pursue, writing, “Having a workforce that is diverse and representative of your stakeholders is good for business.” He added, “Equity is a core principle of business. Put your employees in a position to succeed.” Cuban then gave his defense for companies focusing on equity.
“Great companies create environments that reduce unnecessary stress of their employees (I’m not talking hitting quota or getting the product out the door stress), which in turn increases productivity. This is what inclusion is all about,” Cuban wrote. “Making all employees, no matter who they are or how they see themselves, feel comfortable in their environment and able to do their jobs.”
Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1742994070195094002">replied</a> to Cuban’s post on Thursday, writing, “Cool, so when should we expect to see a short white/Asian women [sic] on the Mavs?”
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Cool, so when should we expect to see a short white/Asian women on the Mavs?
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1742994070195094002?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Musk’s question caused Cuban to post another lengthy post, attempting to explain what he meant by his defense of DEI.
“Since this seems to be the most common response, let me address it. DEI does not mean you don&#8217;t hire on merit. Of course you hire based on merit. Diversity &#8211; means you expand the possible pool of candidates as widely as you can,” said Cuban. “Once you have identified the candidates, you HIRE THE PERSON YOU BELIEVE IS THE BEST.”
“What makes the whole ‘what about the players’ comment ridiculous is that it presumes that all positions are hired based on some quantitative rather than subjective version of merit,” the billionaire businessman continued. “They aren&#8217;t. Even choosing the best basketball player is very much a guess. Which is why the best players weren&#8217;t always the first pick in the draft and some go undrafted. The reality is that most positions hired in a company don&#8217;t have a quantitative metric you can use to hire someone. How do you pick the best barista, sales assistant, marketing or salesperson, etc? More often than not it&#8217;s an educated guess.”
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The two billionaires then appeared to agree on at least one aspect of looking at diversity in the hiring process.
“I do think that if merit for a given job is roughly the same, then the tiebreaker should be diversity (of all kinds),” <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1743025029900579277">said</a> Musk to which Cuban <a href="https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/1743085683969806535">responded</a>, “Which is no different than what I have been saying. You expand the candidate pool and you are going to find great people that others ignore.”
Large companies in the U.S. have integrated DEI policies into their hiring practices, causing some companies to be accused of race and sex discrimination. Technology company International Business Machines (IBM) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ibm-hosts-internships-that-bar-whites-asians-and-men-with-exception-for-men-who-identify-as-women">sponsored</a> paid internship opportunities, one of which barred white and Asian applicants, and another that was only for women, with an exception for men who identify as women.
Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/blatantly-illegal-nascar-bans-white-applicants-from-diversity-internship">NASCAR</a> offered a paid “diversity internship” that excluded white people from applying, which was first reported by The Daily Wire. After the Daily Wire report, NASCAR <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nascar-takes-down-blatantly-illegal-racial-requirement-for-internship-after-daily-wire-report">removed</a> the racial requirement for its internship.

Mark Cuban/Elon Musk

Elon Musk, Mark Cuban Debate DEI: ‘When Should We Expect To See A Short White/Asian Woman On The Mavs?’

Elon Musk, Mark Cuban Debate DEI: 'When Should We Expect To See A Short White/Asian Woman On The Mavs?'

Business

Elon Musk

Mark Cuban

Social Issues

One of the largest hospitals in Georgia is letting employees know that Christmas Eve is no longer an observed holiday because its commitment to &#8220;diversity, equity, and inclusion&#8221; means it must recognize Juneteenth instead.
Emory Healthcare, a part of Emory University and the “most <a href="https://www.emoryhealthcare.org/about">comprehensive</a> health system in Georgia,” told employees that starting in 2024 they will have to use paid time off to observe Christmas Eve.
“Thanks to your feedback, the Executive Leadership Team and I have decided to make Juneteenth (June 19th) an EHC observed holiday,” the hospital&#8217;s CEO Joon S. Lee announced. “Beginning January 2024, we will remove Christmas Eve from our holiday calendar and replace it with Juneteenth.”
<div class="image"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-616565 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/Screen-Shot-2023-09-07-at-10.53.20-AM-300x253.png" alt="" width="740" height="624" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/Screen-Shot-2023-09-07-at-10.53.20-AM-300x253.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/Screen-Shot-2023-09-07-at-10.53.20-AM-683x576.png 683w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/Screen-Shot-2023-09-07-at-10.53.20-AM-768x648.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/09/Screen-Shot-2023-09-07-at-10.53.20-AM.png 1088w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /></div>
The memo explains “diversity, equity and inclusion at Emory Healthcare is about creating an environment of true belonging for our patients and team members, while ensuring equitable outcomes for all,” and that, although Christmas Eve will no longer be a recognized holiday, “team members will still have the flexibility and option to use paid time off for Christmas Eve.”
It contends “diversity, equity and inclusion at Emory Healthcare is about creating an environment of true belonging for our patients and team members, while ensuring equitable outcomes for all.”
The memo goes on to explain the decision, reading “For each observed holiday, our clinics and business offices close, which means our patients are unable to make clinic appointments for those days. To minimize impact to patient care, we will not be adding another paid holiday to our calendar.”
Some Americans have lamented what they see as a decline in the celebration of Christmas and the general secularization of the holiday. One 2021 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20211223143522/https://www.fdu.edu/news/belief-in-war-on-christmas-bigger-than-ever-nationally/">poll</a> from Fairleigh Dickinson University found that 37% of Americans believe that there is a “war on Christmas,” marking a significant jump from the 29% who said the same in 2013.
Juneteenth was <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/06/17/remarks-by-president-biden-at-signing-of-the-juneteenth-national-independence-day-act/">established</a> as a federal holiday by President Joe Biden on June 17, 2021, who declared that the holiday reminds us of “the ongoing work to … bring true equity and racial justice into American society.” He went on to remark “this day doesn’t just celebrate the past; it calls for action today.” It recognizes the date in 1865 that news of the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in the United States reached Texas.
Other Democrat officials have seized on Juneteenth as a tool for “black liberation,” which, according to Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), includes reparations, an end to the war on drugs, and teaching “the truth about white supremacy in our country.”
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It’s Juneteenth AND reparations.
It’s Juneteenth AND end police violence + the War on Drugs.
It’s Juneteenth AND end housing + education apartheid.
It’s Juneteenth AND teach the truth about white supremacy in our country.
Black liberation must be prioritized.
&mdash; Cori Bush (@CoriBush) <a href="https://twitter.com/CoriBush/status/1670797693407354882?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 19, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Emory Healthcare did not respond to a request for comment.

Emory Healthcare

War On Christmas Rages On: Major American Hospital Ditches Christmas Holiday For Juneteenth

Christmas

Democratic legislators in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California</a> are pushing to establish diversity audits of gubernatorial appointments.
Such audits would occur with the passage of their proposed legislation: Senate Bill 702, which would require an annual report on the demographics of individuals appointed by the governor to serve on the over 400 boards and commissions in the state. The annual diversity audits would include an appointee’s age, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, disability status, race, region, party affiliation, veteran status, and sexual orientation.
The bill is steadily advancing; it <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB702" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> out of committee last week.
State Senator Monique Limón introduced the bill. She held a press conference with the California Senate Democrats on Wednesday to advocate for the legislation’s passage.
Limón said during the press conference that the goal of the bill is to reach equity in appointments and “achieve a California that looks like us.”
“I truly hope that this year, the governor will agree that the collection of gubernatorial appointee demographic data is a critical step to achieve and maintain geographic, gender, and ethnic equity at the executive level,” said Limón.
Limón predicted that the audits would directly result in greater diversity in gubernatorial appointments.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Disparities in representation at the top level aren’t only found in private firms but also at the state level. 
Despite making up 39.1% of the state population, Latinos are only 18.4% of executive appointees. My bill, SB 702 will help us close these gaps. <a href="https://twitter.com/HOPELatinas?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HOPELatinas</a> <a href="https://t.co/ptwlqjB11U">https://t.co/ptwlqjB11U</a>
&mdash; Senator Monique Limón (@MoniqueLimonCA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MoniqueLimonCA/status/1697352996269785352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 31, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Also present at Wednesday’s press conference were representatives of Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE), who sponsored the press conference, as well as the University of California, Los Angeles Latino Policy &amp; Politics Institute Researchers (UCLA LPPI), the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment (CAUSE), the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, and the National Women’s Political Caucus.
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Although Limón expressed confidence in the ability of both chambers to pass the bill, she told reporters that she wasn’t sure whether the governor would support it.
Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a version of the <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB702" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bill</a> during the last legislative session in 2021. That version was more expansive in its requirements than the current version; it required not only the demographics of appointed individuals, but the demographics of rejected candidates as well.
That last version of the bill also required the governor to create an 11-member working group of community activists and academics last year to “discuss and make recommendations on the most effective way to ensure the state’s leadership on boards and commissions reflects the diversity in age, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, disability status, region, veteran status, and sexual orientation, among other things, that are representative of the state.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
One of the best ways Californians can represent their communities at the state level is through state boards and commissions. Bringing transparency to our gubernatorial appointments ensures California is leading the way, and reflecting our state’s true diversity. <a href="https://t.co/qw9yxDVaBK">pic.twitter.com/qw9yxDVaBK</a>
&mdash; Senator Monique Limón (@MoniqueLimonCA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MoniqueLimonCA/status/1699478107818975396?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The original version of the bill earned the <a href="https://www.events-latinas.org/calikeme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">support</a> of many progressive organizations: in addition to HOPE, CAUSE, and UCLA LPPI, the bill had the backing of Action and Equality for Employees with Disabilities (ACSED), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) California Action, Alliance for a Better Community, Asians and Pacific Islanders for LGBTQ Equality (API Equality-LA), California Black Chamber of Commerce, Centro Community Hispanic Association (CHA), Compton Advocates, Courage California, The Campaign for College Opportunity, Latina Coalition Silicon Valley, Latinas Contra Cancer, Latino Corporate Directors Association, Latino Donor Collaborative, Latino Network, Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP), Los Angeles Urban League, LULAC, Mana de San Diego, MILPA Collective, NALEO Education Fund, St. Joseph Center, UC Student Association, and The Unity Council.

Support Group

California Democratic Legislators Push For Diversity Audits Of Gubernatorial Appointments

California

A Maui land company said its request for water to help fight the wildfire that raged last week on the island was delayed during critical hours by a state agency that first had to consult with local farmers. 
The West Maui Land Company, which manages agricultural and residential subdivisions and water jurisdictions, alleged in a letter sent to Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) Deputy Director Kaleo Manuel that the government agency delayed its request for hours and by the time the request was granted, it was too late, Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/maui-company-says-request-water-fight-wildfire-delayed-several-hours-govt-consulted-farmers">reported</a>. The death toll from the fires hit 111 and included children, but much of the burn area still needs to be searched as hundreds of people remain missing. 
Glenn Tremble of the West Maui Land Company said he made the initial request for the state agency to divert water from streams on August 8 as the fire spread through the town of Lahaina, but hours went by before he heard anything, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/18/us/hawaii-diverting-water-delay-maui-fires/index.html">according</a> to CNN. 
“We anxiously awaited the morning knowing that we could have made more water available to (the fire department) if our request had been immediately approved,” Tremble wrote in the letter. “We cannot know whether filling our reservoirs at 1:00 p.m. (as opposed to not at all) would have changed the headlines when dawn broke… We know that we need to act faster during an emergency.”
Manuel was criticized earlier this week for past comments on “water equity” as a resurfaced clip spread on social media showing the deputy director discussing how water “requires true conversations about equity.”  
&#8220;My motto has always been: let water connect us, not divide us,&#8221; Manuel says in the clip. &#8220;We can share it, but it requires true conversations about equity.&#8221;
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M. Kaleo Manuel, the Hawaiian official in charge of water resources is under fire for refusing to divert water from streams and release it to quell the raging Maui fires explains that water must never be used, but revered. <a href="https://t.co/fc5lqZGS0Z">pic.twitter.com/fc5lqZGS0Z</a>
&mdash; Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) <a href="https://twitter.com/CatchUpFeed/status/1692087984034861314?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The state’s website says Manuel &#8220;has focused on bringing planning and indigenous knowledge to the fields of water advocacy and management in Hawai‘i.” 
The West Maui Land Company blasted CWRM in the letter, writing, &#8220;We are all devastated. No one is happy there was water in the streams while our homes, our businesses, our lands, and our lives were reduced to ash.” 
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Manuel has been reassigned to a different division, according to a press release from the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, which insisted that the reassignment was not for anything he did wrong, Fox News reported. 
&#8220;DLNR is re-deploying First Deputy of the Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM), Kaleo Manuel, to a different DLNR division,&#8221; the press release said. &#8220;The purpose of this deployment is to permit CWRM and the Department to focus on the necessary work to assist the people of Maui recover from the devastation of wildfires.&#8221;
&#8220;This deployment does not suggest that First Deputy Manuel did anything wrong. DLNR encourages the media and the public to avoid making judgments until all the facts are known.&#8221;
Hawaiian Electric is also under <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hawaii-utility-pursued-green-energy-goals-while-fire-mitigation-projects-were-delayed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scrutiny</a> for allegedly slow-walking modernization and repairs of its electrical grid as it devoted resources to building out the utility’s green energy network. The state attorney general <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/hawaii-attorney-general-asking-third-party-organization-assess-wildfir-rcna100493" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> it will use a third party to investigate how state and local government agencies responded to the devastating fires.

Maui Wildfire

State Agency Led By ‘Water Equity’ Advocate Delayed Water Request During Wildfire To Consult With Farmers, Maui Company Says

State Agency Led By 'Water Equity' Advocate Delayed Water Request During Wildfire To Consult With Farmers, Maui Company Says

Disasters

Hawaii

Maui

Wildfires

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