By Betsy McCaughey | Townhall.com
Source: AP Photo/Susan Walsh
If you're white and work for the federal government, get
ready to be labelled a racist, regardless of how fair and open-minded you are.
On Friday, President Joe Biden ordered all federal agencies to ramp up
workplace training on "systemic and institutional racism" and
"implicit and unconscious bias."
Those are buzzwords for critical race theory, which holds
that all whites are biased against people of color, even if unconsciously. Under
this theory, throughout American history and continuing now, whites oppress
Blacks and need to acknowledge their guilt.
Assume you work in an office with people of several races
and, until now, you worked pretty smoothly as a team. Then you and your
co-workers undergo mandated critical race theory training. Whites will be
ridiculed as racists, and if they try to deny that, they'll be told their
denials are proof of their unconscious bias and "white fragility." Black
employees will understandably question if they can even trust their white
co-workers and if they all have the same goals. Critical race theory is a
disaster for workplace morale.
Expect an avalanche of lawsuits challenging Biden's
efforts to saturate the federal workplace with this divisive doctrine. The
Civil Rights Act of 1964 -- still the law of the land, Mr. President -- bars
employers from allowing a toxic work environment. Federal regulation
defines a toxic work environment as permitting "intimidation, ridicule or
mockery, insults or put downs" based on race, religion, age or other
distinctions. That's exactly what goes on in these training sessions. No
one should have to put up with being called a racist as a condition of their
employment.
Or as a condition to serve in the military. No other
institution in American society has been more colorblind since the early 1950s
than the U.S. armed forces. In Korea, Vietnam and the Middle East, Black and
white infantry soldiers have fought side by side in the trenches, trusting each
other with their lives
But on Wednesday, the nation's top military man, Army
Gen. and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, defended
teaching critical race theory at West Point and assigning critical race theory
texts to troops. What could be the outcome except distrust based solely on skin
color?
Requiring employees to hear about "their racial
ancestors or their individual current white privilege runs contrary to an
employer's responsibility to avoid creating a hostile work environment,"
cautions University of Maryland professor George R. La Noue.
Biden is already buried in legal challenges against his
other racially discriminatory policies. Federal judges have suspended his debt
forgiveness program for Black farmers because it specifically excludes white
farmers. Federal courts have also halted grants to restaurant owners hurt by
the pandemic because most white male restauranteurs were told they had to go to
the back of the line, behind minorities and women. Team Biden seems to forget
that discrimination is against the law. Period.
It's one thing to promote diversity and inclusion. We
need to show mutual respect and work together. In the federal workforce, people
of color make up nearly half of entry-level positions but only one-third of
senior positions. More can be done to help minorities succeed. But not by
demeaning whites.
Defending assigning critical race theory texts, Milley
told Congress that it's important for military personnel to be widely read.
"I've read Karl Marx, I've read Lenin, that doesn't make me a
communist," Milley said. But that's misleading. Critical race theory isn't
taught as one of many ideas to be debated. It shuts down debate.
Activist Robin DiAngelo says that even keeping your own
viewpoint to yourself and staying silent during a discussion of racism makes
you a racist.
The idea isn't to foster debate. It's used
only to indoctrinate and compel acquiescence.
On Thursday, Sen. Ted Cruz introduced a bill to block
funding for Biden's workplace indoctrination scheme. "The federal government
has no right to force a political agenda on Americans ... and divide us based
on race." The U.S. Constitution agrees.
_______________
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant
governor of New York and author of "The Next Pandemic," available at
Amazon.com. Contact her at betsy@betsymccaughey.com
or on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey. To find out more about Betsy McCaughey and read
features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the
Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
