Johns Hopkins Medicine Backtracks After Diversity Official Labels Whites, Males, Christians, and Others as ‘Privileged’
“The January edition of the monthly newsletter from the Johns Hopkins Medicine Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity used language that contradicts the values of Johns Hopkins as an institution”
A chief diversity official at Johns Hopkins Medicine recently fired off an email to employees describing whites, males, Christians, and other groups as privileged. This is what DEI policies do. They separate people into groups and stoke animosity based on who is supposedly oppressed and oppressor. It’s purposely divisive.
Spencer Brown writes at Townhall:
Johns Hopkins Medicine Scrambling After Publishing Its Definition of ‘Privilege’
Proving again that inane leftist ideology still doesn’t go over well in the real world, Johns Hopkins Medicine is scrambling to explain the thinking behind the decision for its “Chief Diversity Officer” Sherita Hill Golden to include a “privilege list” in January’s issue of the “Diversity Digest” from the “Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity.”
This list was included as part of the digest’s discussion of the “Diversity Word of the Month”: privilege.
Privilege is defined in Golden’s digest as “a set of unearned benefits given to people who are in a specific social group” and operating “on personal, interpersonal, cultural and institutional levels” in a way that “provides advantages and favors to members of dominant groups at the expense of members of other groups.”
According to the digest, in the United States, privilege has been “granted to people who have membership in one or more of these social identity groups,” before providing the following list of identities:
- White people
- Able-bodied people
- Heterosexuals
- Cisgender people
- Males
- Christians
- Middle or owning class people
- Middle-aged people
- English-speaking people
John Hopkins just sent out this hit list of people automatically guilty of "privilege" whether they know it or not:
-Males
-Whites
-Christians
-Mid-aged people
-Able-bodied people
-Middle & owning class
-English-speaking peopleThis message was emailed directly to employees… pic.twitter.com/xor1wjo17B
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 10, 2024
This message is toxic
And divisive. We need to push back against the identity targeting and appreciate each individual for their own character. God made us all uniquely special. https://t.co/UplJhAKuS2— Mercedes Schlapp (@mercedesschlapp) January 11, 2024
This must end! https://t.co/TDo5Wi3qIm
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 11, 2024
As often happens in a case like this, once people noticed, the school and the diversity official started backtracking.
FOX 5 in Baltimore reports:
Johns Hopkins walks back diversity email stating straight white Christian male ‘privilege’
In an email to The National Desk (TND) Thursday, a Johns Hopkins Medicine spokesperson explained the message did not represent its values.
“The January edition of the monthly newsletter from the Johns Hopkins Medicine Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity used language that contradicts the values of Johns Hopkins as an institution,” they said. “Dr. Sherita Golden, Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Chief Diversity Officer, has sincerely acknowledged this mistake and retracted the language used in the message.”
An image circulating X Thursday appeared to show an internal apology from Golden to recipients of the email.
“The newsletter included a definition of the word ‘privilege’ which, upon reflection, I deeply regret,” it reads. “I retract and disavow the definition I shared, and I am sorry.”
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
This ideology is toxic. It doesn’t improve anything for anyone and should have no place in education, medicine, or any other industry.
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Comments
Somehow I just know the sentiment is “why do these bigots keep getting angry?” rather than actual contrition or realization.
Pity the poor DEI officer, constantly beset by the quandary of whether or not it is yet the right time to feel free to reveal to the serfs the most basic tenets of the divine truths of which she has always been unequivocally positive.
I checked all of the boxes…. what do I get? Probably a one way ticket to a FEMA camp.
Guys this isn’t new, it has been going on in admittance, funding, hiring and promotion decisions for decades behind the scenes; especially so in Gov’t. The difference today is that the purveyors of tribalism and their oppressor v oppressed ideology feel emboldened to announce their playbook in the open and no longer feel compelled to implement it in the shadows.
“in a way that ‘provides advantages and favors to members of dominant groups at the expense of members of other groups'”
Hmmm, I don’t understand how my learning algebra, trig, calculus was done at the expense of some other group.
I’m sure this POC sistah will have some jive for me.
You are making it way too complicated. Here’s the easy answer. If you are a white, male, heterosexual you got three strikes. If in addition you are also religious that’s another strike. If you display traditional markers of success in Western/Modern society such as punctuality, hard work, delayed gratification, impulse control, adherence to civic norms of behavior, dress and speech those are all additional strikes.
The problem the woke/lefty tribalism ideology is currently facing by moving out of the shadows and into the open is very simple. Many of those who previously benefited from this ideology are now realizing they have been shifted from the category of oppressed to that of oppressor. These ‘tribes’ thought they were along for the ride permanently and would always be able to enjoy protection and/or a sort of non aggression pact at minimum. Instead they are discovering they are useful idiots. Many will resist the recognition of their own part in this.
Two prominent examples are heterosexual white women and Jews. Both of those ‘tribes’ were invited to share power and benefit from ‘protected minority’ status as ‘oppressed’ while tribalism was working to gain and consolidate power over our institutions. Now that tribalism has largely triumphed as evidenced by DEI and CRT and other policies neither Jews nor heterosexual white women are needed to advance the agenda so they are being discarded to oppressor status.
Obviously that’s a way oversimplified explanation and there is much more nuance. This situation primarily applied to lefty members who embraced it but many who may not have wholeheartedly agreed with the leftists did passively benefit and IMO are at least a bit complicit unless they were actively and publicly strident in their opposition to their neighbors, brothers, friends or just ‘straight, white men’ in general being unfairly cast as the ultimate societal villain.
Maybe it could be argued that our society needed this to set up broader acceptance and to advance members of ‘disadvantaged’ groups and they were historically disadvantaged but societal and cultural conditions 2023 is not the same as in 1973 much less 1923. Whatever possible justification may arguably have existed for active discrimination in the form of selecting some ‘tribes’ for AA and thus the active disadvantage of others …those conditions no longer apply. Stop discrimination in all forms based on immutable characteristics and we will be far better off as a Nation and as a society.
Very well put (as usual).
“Stop discrimination in all forms based on immutable characteristics and we will be far better off as a Nation and as a society.”
The challenge, of course, is that the Grievance Industrial Complex just isn’t going to give up their power and the gravy train without a massive fight.
Once the peak victim within intersectionalism gets the goodies they are no longer peak victims and slide down the pyramid … to keep at the top requires newly discovered victimization. Failure to return to the top and a general excuse for failure is found in that Hopkins document.
Chutes and ladders. A game for children.
“If you are a white, male, heterosexual you got three strikes. If in addition you are also religious that’s another strike…”
Explains perfectly the disparity in prosecution between Antifa/BLM rioters and J6 defendants, or California shop looters and New York subway heroes. Thank you.
Thanks for articulating what I have long thought, but did not have the ability to put into words.
Yup. Diversity promotion was being conducted in the Army in the middle 1970s (when I served). If there weren’t enough POCs on the promotion list, a certain number of white soldiers on the list were cut in order to make room for the promotion of the next-qualified (which meant “not-quite qualified,” either for lack of time in service, lack of time in rank, or lack of specific training, or some combination thereof) of POCs. The whites who were cut would end up on top of the next promotion list months later, so they were being denied months’ worth of higher pay and time in rank.
This BS is not new.
Same for the Navy. All of what you listed, plus getting a bye on an unfavorable disciplinary record.
I was in HR in the Air Force in the mid 70’s and worked in HR. We were tasked with building the database for computerizing all the personnel records. This meant conducting “records reviews” with every enlisted person. Their records were transcribed by data entry clerks and we would sit down with the Airman and do verification and corrections.
Finally, to my point: something that was NOT in the records was “Ethnic Group Preference”. We were required to ask every person which ethnic group they felt “most closely affiliated with”. I was young and naive and this was new (to everyone) at the time and I thought it was absurd.
So, I had A LOT of fun with it. It started when corn-fed Iowa boy told me that he felt most closely affiliated with Asians because his girl friend was Korean and he loved the culture. Well, who was I to argue? The phrasing was “affiliated” after all, not “a member of”. After that it was off to the races. I would do things like “we are running a special on American Indian this week. Do you prefer Apache or Comanche? had a lot of takers on those – everybody was young and had no concept of this racial profiling. Eskimo was a big seller too…. * I probably did close to a thousand of these reviews and screwed with this question on every one that I could.
How was I to know that the Air Force was rigging the promotion system on the basis of race?
It was only later that I realized what I’d done…. when I saw a couple of my Eskimos who couldn’t even spell ‘snow’ getting promoted…
* Interestingly enough, it was specified that “Eskimo does not include Aleutian Islander” and vice-versa. I had a running joke – “Do property values go up or down when an Aleutian moves into an Eskimo neighborhood?”
How about the unearned privilege of being born?
Not to mention the fact that Dr. Sherita Hill Golden has the unearned privilege of not being aborted, since the rate of abortion for blacks is three times that of whites (900 per day), 20 million since 1973.*
She’s lucky to be alive, let alone being a doctor with a C-Suite job at a leading medical institution. Talk about PRIVILEGE!!!
*Since we are recognizing that proper attribution is necessary to avoid plagiarism complaints 20 years from now (https://rtl.org/multicultural-outreach/black-abortion-statistics/)
Like everything the Left does, the language it uses od always Orwellian. DIE which is supposed to be: diversity, inclusion and equity is really: division, intolerance and exclusion.
Typical, vile Dhimmi-crat behavior. When called out after spewing their utterly infantile, obnoxiously and brazenly racist “DEI” garbage, they feign regret and remorse.
“I’m sorry I got caught.”
The diversity hire that sent that racist drivel is the only one privileged here.
“Some animals are more equitable than others.”
I don’t think it’s toxic, just humorous, highlighting that management are morons.
What’s toxic is the cost of pointing it out, anyway if you work there.
East Asians ought to be even more privileged since they have a higher average IQ, by the way. They seem to have been overlooked.
And think- if they allowed Christian missionaries to proselytize on campus they could make more of their students privileged. Seems like a winning strategy. Why would you want to hold them back?
Raising anyone’s circumstances is verboten. Only dragging everyone down to the lowest common denominator is officially permissible. This is because collectivists know the former is beyond them, but the latter is something even animals can do.
Minor correction to the post.
It is “Fox 45,” not “Fox 5” as the source of one of the articles.
Privilege is having a well north of six figure job that does not contribute to revenue generating or directly impact patient outcomes but browbeats those that do.
I’m sure 90% of the excellent physicians at Hopkins are middle aged, speak English, and own a home. Way to call them out.
When it comes to patient outcomes, the janitor that cleans patient rooms contributes 1000% more to patient outcomes than the Chief Diversity Officer.
Hmm but not White anymore
Look at the medical schools amd
Residents
Hard to find a white male,
Very hard
While I always give the devil his due, at this point, approximately 54% of medical school students are white. But you are correct. 56% of those are female.
While approximately 5% of physicians are POC, the number has risen to 8% in medical schools.
We should celebrate this because that increase indicates that black and Hispanic medical students are passing the requirement to be accepted to allopathic and osteopathic medical education.
That does not mean that all will graduate, but it does mean that more are passing the MCAT.
MCAT not being used as much anymore.
“‘Dangerous Trend’: Medical Schools Are Ditching Standardized Tests In The Name Of ‘Diversity’”
https://dailycaller.com/2023/04/22/dangerous-trend-medical-schools-are-ditching-standardized-tests-in-the-name-of-diversity/
Why did she leave this obvious factor when it comes to privilege, listing the degrees either before or after your name, in her case M.D. M.H.S. I guess that listing your degrees doesn’t separate you from rest of the herd and screams I’m special, I’m more accomplished than you.
My question is why does a physician have a bullshit hate white people job, instead of taking care of patients?
There is a shortage of endocrinologists nationwide, but this privileged twit would rather write “over 200 articles” on racial disparities in medicine instead of practicing medicine.
What she can do if she really wants to help, is spend some time in the shithole Baltimore schools helping blacks obtain grades where they can be contenders to enter medical schools and become doctors themselves.
Less than 5% of physicians are black, and black children could benefit from her mentoring.
But like many blacks who “make it,” she would rather turn her back on helping those around her and reap the benefits of her “privilege.”
Where do you think she stood in her class at med school? Last? Next to last? Pity pass?
What do you call a medical student who graduates last in their class?
“Doctor”
would you really want her treating you?
The first technology company where I worked had a personnel director in Phoenix whose hobbyhorse was to get up on the roof of the factory and identify all the workers who arrived late in the morning. He was roundly hated by pretty much everybody. The C-suite “took care of” the problem to everyone’s short-term satisfaction by creating the new position of “Vice President for Affirmative Action” and promoting him into it.
This was in the late ’70s, but it’s clear from clownshows like this that the tactic persists.
No. But I am sure that many blacks who have endocrine problems and diabetes would be happy to have a female black physician care for them.
But it’s not that she black that I wouldn’t want her to treat me. It’s because she’s militant.
“It’s because she’s militant.”
This! My experience has not included any black female doctors, but has included black nurses.
The experiences were polar opposites: grudge-bearers who wet out of their way to be nasty or to cause discomfort, or, were the most considerate, gentle, caring people one would want to meet.
Her subspecialty in medicine is grif
She subspecialty in medicine is affirmative action grifting.
Is that an ACGME accredited residency or fellowship?
😏
I see this in the corporate world. Fat, middle aged, overpaid, white honchos think it’s clever to set up an office with a highly paid officer to pay homage to this garbage. The DEI officer has nothing to do other than create agitprop to justify her position. The corporate heads hide under the bed wetting themselves lest they interfere with this disaster of their own making. When things get too hot they issue mealy mouthed clarifications and give the DEI officer another raise.
This is the ecological niche occupied for centuries by the clergy, in both western and many non-western cultures. It’s 100% appropriate, because it’s all about extra-rational “revealed truth.”
WitchDr you say?
Can we send in Bill Ackman to do a deep dive on “Dr. Sherita”?
Ever notice there is hardly any diversity among DEI executives?
Angry non-white women mostly.
To be fair, some of them aren’t lesbians.
Cringe jean pierre said she is historic figure. lol
He misspoke hysteric.
Yes, but so are Genghis Khan and Savonarola. Nothing necessarily virtuous about being historic.
But they hide it.
Subotai Bahadur
Time to cancel Sherita Hill Golden for toxic anti-white rhetoric. DEI is such a fraud. There will be NO REPARATIONS.
What!?!!?!??!??)?
No reparations?
But Governor Hair Gel said he was giving reparations!
Uhhhh, never mind. 😁
Don’t the DEI-ists need to assign scores to each of these privilege levels? Suppose a BLACK person, is male, cis, able-bodied, hetero, Christian, middle class, middle aged, and speaks English. Now what? Is this black person an oppresee or an oppressor? How do they rank? I dare say there are a lot of black men who fit this description. If any one of these privileges is all that’s needed to make one an oppressor, then by definition all male POCs are oppressors, right?
If JH doesn’t fire “Chief Diversity Officer” Sherita Hill Golden AND eliminate this position entirely. their walk-back statement is meaningless IMO.
To them there was a term for such black people…. “a house _____”.
Yes indeed DEI has “matrix” for assigning level of victimhood.
[QUOTE]“I retract and disavow the definition I shared, and I am sorry.”[/QUOTE]
She and Hopkins disavow the “definition” and the “language” used to describe the concept of DEI, but not the concept itself.
Got it!
I don’t trust any Dr under 40 amd I really try to stick with White
Just to be safe. Seems Drs of color are very vocal about giving treatment to “their own” first so much so I wonder if I’m getting adequate care
Just the way it is
There’s always Dr Ben Carson however, but he’s over 40
I am indeed privileged. 1) I was born in America, 2) I was raised by two loving parents of rather modest means, 3) My parents made sure that there were plenty of books and magazines to read while growing up, 4) My parents had expectations that I would do my best and lead a virtuous life (my parents had more than a few disappointments) 5) I was privileged to serve in the Marines for four years greatly maturing along the way, 6) I was privileged to go to excellent universities paid for in part by the GI bill (as well as tax payers and alumni) and to learn a profession that was built on the vast accumulation of knowledge developed by previous practitioners, 7) I was privileged to hire into a fortune 500 company that presented me with interesting, challenging, and rewarding work involving creative and sharp people from all but one continent 8) I have been privileged to live in an area of extraordinary natural beauty, 9) I have been privileged to have the opportunity to raise a family 10) I have been privileged to have the opportunities to help others in rather modest ways. I can go on and on but I am just trying to make a point that all of us can point to various elements in life that are privileges. Yes I have been privileged in life.
I do not, however, feel any jealousy for ambitious people such as Elon Musk or Bill Gates that far exceeded my rather modest accomplishments and reaped riches well beyond my imagination. Nor would I expect anyone to feel guilty for any such privilege that they may have enjoyed.
This newsletter’s content reveals the jealous mindset that is seems to be set on placing barriers in front of people rather than enabling people. The whole DEI with its pernicious mentality of oppressor vs oppressed dichotomy needs to be removed root and branch from all organizations here in America.
“I do not, however, feel any jealousy for ambitious people such as Elon Musk or Bill Gates that far exceeded my rather modest accomplishments”
I recognize the “unfair” privilege of wastrels in the mold of Paris Hilton or Nat Rothschild, who never did a thing to deserve their vast inherited wealth except be born to the proper parents. On the other hand, I’d sooner shake the hand of either of these people than the hands of self-made tycoons George Soros or Bill Gates.
It’s about neither inherited privilege nor personal effort — it’s about honor.
Well said, except I am
Jealous of billionaire wealth
And bezo, he’s a pig, his people make so little many are on taxpayers food stamps.
That just shouldn’t be allowed
Being envious is like drinking poison in hopes that the other guy will die.
If the author of the e-mail is looking for a person of privilege, she has but to look in her mirror to find one.
How would middle age be privilege? Too old to do physical work. Too old to do tech work in silicon valley.
Experience and maturity creates inequity I suppose is the reasoning. Some FNG doesn’t have it and the middle age folks do so….obviously ‘problematic’.
The privilege is that they were smart enough to avoid making all the stupid, common mistakes that kill bravos or destroy their futures at earlier ages. Like crime time in prison, gang membership, employment in the drug trade, having a stable of welfare babies.
They are only sorry they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
The people who wrote and initially approved it still believe it and are still there. Just because someone exposed it and they were forced to change the words doesn’t mean they aren’t still practicing it. They will just be more cautious for a while.
Until people who believe and promote this hatred are rooted out, they will continue to try to enforce their beliefs
Exactly. Not sorry. Just sorry they got caught. This person comes from the Claudine Gay School of ‘Bout Time Reparations.
Wow, I tick all of those boxes. I’m still trying to figure how these were “given” to me.
This the exact place where I get my radiation treatments. Do you suppose they’ll exclude me now?
Do you have a choice? If so, you are in the enviable position of being empowered to send them a letter letting them know you have “become uncomfortable” about the level of care a “privileged” patient like yourself can expect from their facility, at the hands of staff who are being taught to consider you an “oppressor,” They understand loss of revenue.
Privilege is defined in Golden’s digest as “a set of unearned benefits given to people who are in a specific social group” and operating “on personal, interpersonal, cultural and institutional levels” in a way that “provides advantages and favors to members of dominant groups at the expense of members of other groups.”
To me, the definition of Privilege goes back to a 1970’s PSA by the Pennsylvania Dept of Transportation …
Driving is not a Right, It is a Privilege
The Johns Hopkins definition just doesn’t seem to work with this old usage
What “they” want is all of the benefits and none of the “responsibilities.” We used to call that credentials without credibility.
Ask them what a “vaccine” is.
The truly privileged get to change the meanings of all sorts of words, in order to bolster their political narrative.
In my opinion, this crap started in the late ’60s after the “Great Society” began. We started making excuses and giving special treatment to one group in the false belief that they would rise to a higher level. Trillions of dollars later, it was a failure. Of course, many did climb the ladder of success but most didn’t. Programs and federal rules did not change the outcome. Under obama, he brought the “Victimhood” mantra out and waved it everywhere. Now, even though many are almost animalistic, they want to be treated as equals and given the respect that they haven’t earned. They are the one group who have refused to assimilate and have adopted a cultural identity that is almost the opposite of the norm. DEI is their weapon to get even more favorable treatment and advancement. The outcome will be the same because many jobs require intelligence and commitment at a higher level than many of the advanced possess. Boeing put out a video showing a group of mostly overweight women, black and white, dancing in the hangar and being touted as Boeing’s diversity policy. Did it bite them in the a$$?
Given the news of the past few days, Boeing apparently uses an Open Door policy in more ways than DEIversity.
Ouch.
No one at my place of work has noticed yet that I refer to it as “Diversity, Inclusion, Equity” a.k.a DIE.
“Programs and federal rules did not change the outcome.”
The problem with leftist governments is their reflexive assumption that everything must be either mandatory or forbidden, no middle ground.
The Civil Rights Act converted residents of a number of states from being required not to accommodate minorities to being required to accommodate those same minorities. There was not an hour during the transition when the people being “regulated” were allowed to exercise their personal right to decide who they did or didn’t want to serve.
Similarly, the Great Society programs identified a class of people who had been unconstitutionally oppressed by the federal government, and immediately turned them into a class to be unconstitutionally preferred. Again, not an iota of consideration for just taking the boot off their neck, and then letting them succeed or fail with the same resources and by the same personal efforts as everyone else.
(Here, Ibram Kendi would quote the old saw about what is right to expect immediately after you stop stabbing a person, but it’s a bogus analogy that depends on you collectivizing an entire group so that it can be represented by a single “victim.” When you stop hampering a group, the group is not going to collectively succeed or collectively fail — children will live better than their parents, and individuals will rise far above or sink way below the median. Success and failure are individual – not collective — accomplishments.)
DEI is nothing more than a strategy by people who gained elevated positions from anti-white racism to secure their advantage by instantiating that racism into society and government in a systemic fashion. Gee, those are all words we’ve heard a lot of recently, but never assembled into the one order that doesn’t require gaslighting.
The response from the administration is what makes me sick.
“Dr. Sherita Golden, Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Chief Diversity Officer, has sincerely acknowledged this mistake and retracted the language used in the message.”
Translation: Oh, our affirmative action pet racist bigot messed up, but she is really, really sorry about letting what she really things be printed. Oopsie!
Just because the list was retracted doesn’t mean it won’t be practiced.
As a person who checks all nine boxes at the beginning of the article, and likely a few they haven’t thought of yet (they being slow and all), I can honestly say that the only real privilege that I was aware of when there was the freedom to work flex time, which in our department was the 70hrs a week of our choosing. On the plus side, the air conditioning was free in the hospital and the odds of getting shot slightly lower than were I doing something fun outside.
My experience with the old boys network is simply that it gets one the opportunity to work longer hours. Their problem is that they seem to want diversity in that particular category, and it is one which doesn’t bend well as far as I have seen.