Well, that didn't last long. Yesterday, Milt talked about a newsletter issued by Dr. Sherita Hill Golden, the head of the Diversity, Inclusion, and Health Equity office at Johns Hopkins University.
Milt dissects the letter in his piece. In a nutshell, the newsletter lists all of the characteristics of a person of privilege, or should we say "POP" (Hey! I just invented a new woke acronym!). A POP is someone who is white, male, Christian, middle-aged, middle class, and speaks English. On one hand, I want to shake my head since this is yet another iteration of the same list that is used to trumpet the doctrine that men are responsible for every evil thing that has happened in the cosmos since God called for a cleanup in the produce aisle in the Garden of Eden.
On the other hand, I feel included. I meet every one of those criteria! I'm finally included in something! I am privileged! Who knew?
When I had to go to work bussing tables in high school so we could make ends meet, I was so privileged! When I worked in a lumberyard in zero-degree temps in college, I was privileged! When I picked up every hour I could to feed my family at work to the point of exhaustion, I was privileged! Later in life, when I had to take a job filling hand sanitizer bottles on an assembly line because no one wanted to hire an older white man, I was privileged!
According to Dr. Golden, I was unaware that this is part and parcel of being a member of the "dominant" group. Well, now I know. If I could only remember where I put my ashes and sackcloth.
Okay, enough of that. Milt was not the only one who noticed that Dr. Golden was privileged enough to issue a screed about people she didn't like. The rest of the world took note as well. It was not pretty, nor should it have been. American Wire reports that Golden was quickly called out on X for her ham-handed, high-horse, self-righteous, and, frankly, prejudiced missive.
One commenter noted, "Black female Chief Diversity Officers are more privileged than nearly everyone covered under that list. They're paid far more than the average middle-class person, and they have the privilege of being hired and treated above criticism because of their race and sex."
Another said, "Johns Hopkins University is proud to promote racism. They’re actually doing everyone a favor by being this blatant about it. Now, people know not to send their kids there. This is the beauty of free speech — it allows evil people to expose themselves." This is one of the more biting retorts:
"have membership in one or more of these groups..."
— MAZE (@mazemoore) January 10, 2024
Does she speak English? Is she middle class? Able bodied? She's got a lot of privilege.
Golden issued a statement, telling her colleagues that she deeply regretted her definition of the word "privilege." She is also sorry for the "exclusionary and hurtful" nature of the letter. And, of course, there was the usual promise to do better going forward.
UPDATE: The Johns Hopkins DEI Office has retracted their "privilege list" after our post went viral and drew massive outrage https://t.co/DWirlJBpKg pic.twitter.com/j26FUKSp2w
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 11, 2024
So Johns Hopkins can pretend, at least for the moment, that all is right with the world and we can all have a Coke and a smile. But as the old saying goes, too little, too late. People on X continued to take Golden to task, with one user noting that "demons retreat once the sunlight hits them." Another opined that such people never repent. They find new ways to express their hatred. And that person is right.
After all, Golden's original statements were made under the title "Diversity Word of the Month" (I can't wait for the February issue), and she would not have published it in the first place if she did not want to be exclusionary and hurtful. Besides, the message is already out there. It's an old lawyer's trick. You say something inflammatory to sway the jury. The opposition objects. The judge agrees and tells the jury to disregard the statement. But it's too late. It's already in the heads of the jurors. There is a chance that the remark, no matter how outlandish, will have an effect on their decision.
Dr. Golden and those of her ilk learned an important lesson from this episode, but that lesson is not to be more thoughtful. The takeaway for the DEI crowd is that in the future, they simply need to be more careful.
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