Daily Caller columnist Mary Rooke slammed a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) chief officer for Johns Hopkins on Friday over her comments labeling certain groups as privileged.
Rooke appeared on Newsmax’s “Carl Higbie Frontline” to discuss a recent internal email sent by Johns Hopkins DEI chief Dr. Sherita Hill Golden describing multiple groups — included whites, Christians, males and “owning class people” — as members of “dominant groups.”
Rooke (RELATED: Johns Hopkins Medicine Backpedals On ‘Privilege’ List, Says Email ‘Contradicts’ Values)
“It’s just really hilarious that we’re starting to be able to bully these people back into the closet of their bigotry. We have this moment where she’s very clear and it’s not like she is very sorry for it or wishes she could take it back – other than the fact that she got caught and people had an uproar about it,” she said. “Because if no one had said anything about it, the statement would’ve gone through, she would’ve continued with that line of, you know, ‘If you’re white, if you’re heterosexual, if you own a house, all of a sudden you have privilege.'”
“Yeah, in this economy it is a privilege to own a house because no one can do that anymore,” she added. “No one’s going out and buying properties because everybody’s too poor to do it, so in that regard, sure it’s a privilege.”
“But the reality is that whenever you allow these people to continue to hold the narrative or hold the main thought in our country, that’s where real racism is allowed to stand,” she continued. “And that’s where these people are just allowed to sit back and go, ‘Okay you’re white? Then you’re racist. And guess what, I can call you a racist while sitting on top of my Johns Hopkins throne.'”
Golden sent a monthly “diversity digest” email to staff in January, in which she named “privilege” as the “diversity word of the month” and listed English speakers, able-bodied people and “cisgender” people as examples of privileged groups. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Cotton Goes After Recruiting Firms After Reports Accuse Them Of Excluding ‘Non-Diverse’ Candidates)
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
After receiving backlash, the hospital and Golden released a statement Thursday stating that the email “contradicts” Johns Hopkins’ “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,” a Johns Hopkins spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Dr. Sherita Golden, Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Chief Diversity Officer, has sincerely acknowledged this mistake and retracted the language used in the message.”