Disney Employee Training Claims U.S. Was Founded on ‘Systemic Racism,’ Includes ‘White Privilege Checklist’
The Walt Disney Corporation has launched a “diversity and inclusion program” which teaches employees that America was founded on “systemic racism” and asks employees to complete a “white privilege checklist,” according to a new report.
According to whistleblower documents obtained by City Journal, Disney’s new initiative is called “Reimagine Tomorrow” and includes training on so-called systemic racism, white privilege, white fragility, white saviors, microaggressions, and antiracism.
The training claims that the U.S. has a “long history of systemic racism and transphobia” and pushes employees to “take ownership of educating yourself about structural anti-Black racism” and “not rely on your Black colleagues to educate you,” which is “emotionally taxing.”
SCOOP: The Walt Disney Corporation claims that America was founded on “systemic racism,” encourages employees to complete a “white privilege checklist,” and separates minorities into racially-segregated “affinity groups.”
I've obtained internal documents that will shock you.🧵
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) May 8, 2021
White employees should “work through feelings of guilt, shame, and defensiveness to understand what is beneath them and what needs to be healed,” the company reportedly suggests. They must “listen with empathy [to] Black colleagues” and “not question or debate Black colleagues’ lived experience.”
Disney tells employees they should focus not on equality or “equal treatment,” but on “equity” and the “equality of outcome.” Employees should “reflect” on the country’s “racist infrastructure” and “think carefully about whether or not [their] wealth” is derived from racism.
The initiative includes the creation of racially segregated “affinity groups” for minority employees aimed at reaching “culturally authentic insights,” according to the report.
The Latino group is called “Hola,” the Asian group is “Compass,” and the black group is “Wakanda.”
The company, which has come under fire for its relationship with China over the country’s alleged human-rights violations, has sponsored a “21-Day Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge,” according to the report, and has recommended that employees complete the challenge. It begins with a lesson on “systemic racism” and teaches that participants have “all been raised in a society that elevates white culture over others.”
Participants are encouraged to fill out a “white privilege checklist” which includes markers like “I am white,” I am heterosexual,” “I am a man,” “I still identify as the gender I was born in,” “I have never been raped,” “I don’t rely on public transportation,” and “I have never been called a terrorist.”
Participants are then told to shift from “white dominant culture” to “something different.”
“Competition,” “individualism,” “timeliness,” and “comprehensiveness” are “white dominant” values that “perpetuate white supremacy culture,” the training says.
The company recommends that employees read 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice, a how-to guide that tells readers to “defund the police,” “participate in reparations,” “decolonize your bookshelf,” and “find and join a local ‘white space.’”
The report comes after Disney restricted access to classic movies including Dumbo and Peter Pan on its streaming service earlier this year over concerns about racist stereotypes that appear in the films.
The movies, which also include Swiss Family Robinson and The Aristocats, will be removed from Disney+ menus for children under the age of seven, while viewers older than seven will continue having access to the film, according to the New York Post.
Prior to the restriction, Disney added content warnings to the movies in October, which read: “These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”
