Politics

‘Deeply Disturbing’: Sen. Hawley Reacts To Documents Detailing ‘White Men’s Caucus’ Race Training In US Nuclear Facility

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Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley wrote a letter on Thursday to U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette demanding an explanation for racially segregated diversity and inclusion training at a federally-funded U.S. nuclear facility.

Leaked documents reported by City Journal contributing editor Christopher Rufo this week revealed a three-day mandatory training in 2019 for white male executives at Sandia National Laboratories, a government contractor that assesses U.S. nuclear weapons.

The “White Men’s Caucus on Eliminating Racism, Sexism, and Homophobia in Organizations” training took place in 2019 at La Posada luxury resort, Rufo reported, and was taught by the organization White Men as Full Diversity Partners (WMFDP).

With the stated goal of prompting white men to accept blame for creating “oppressions,” participants were reportedly required to recite “white privilege statements” and “male privilege statements,” apologize for their own privilege, acknowledge the connection between mass killings and “white male culture” and other tasks.

Hawley claimed the training “likely [violates] federal civil rights law,” calling the training “deeply disturbing” in the letter obtained by the Daily Caller.

He noted in the letter that the workbook “recommends that they be for the use of participants only,” as the contents of the workshop could be “misleading” out of context, but argues that the content of the program “speaks for itself.” (RELATED: Trump Agency Pushes Gender-Neutral Pronouns On Employees, Instructs Them On ‘Gender Spectrum,’ Leaked Docs Show)

As previously reported by the Caller and detailed in Hawley’s letter, participants were asked to do a “free association” exercise using terms like “white supremacists,” “KKK,” “Aryan Nation,” “MAGA hat,” “privileged” and “mass killings.”

“I fail to see how this fixation on the crudest imaginable gender and race stereotypes is productive or worthy of the expenditure of taxpayer dollars,” Hawley continued. “The focus on providing trainings specifically for ‘white men’ is similarly concerning: while the race of the various participants in these workshops is not altogether clear, the use of overtly race-segregated diversity trainings would likely violate federal civil rights law.”

A spokesperson from Sandia National Laboratories offered comment after being contacted in the course of previous reporting on the training sessions.

“Inclusion and diversity are defining elements of Sandia National Laboratories’ culture, which welcomes multiple perspectives, promotes different working styles and leads to the innovation in science, engineering and technology for which we are known,” the spokesperson told the Caller.